Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe delivering a special statement said the fundamental law of the country is the Constitution. “It is now well over 87 years after we received the right to vote or franchise. Our people protected the Constitution for 87 years. We protected Fundamental Rights and whenever there was a threat, the people came forward to protect the Constitution and their own rights,” the Prime Minister said.

“That was what happened at the 2015 Presidential election. You all joined hands to end an era where the Constitution and human rights were crushed. We passed the 19th Amendment to the Constitution with the aim of protecting and strengthening the rights of the people. I wish to emphasize here that by acting contrary to the Constitution, democracy will not be protected,” he said.

“The Prime Minister of the country should have the highest confidence in Parliament.The Prime Minister cannot take forward the country without the support of the majority. At the same time when a No Confidence Motion is passed in Parliament against the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet of Ministers should resign and vacate the post they held. According to the Constitution, when a new Parliament is appointed, until the completion of four and half years, no one has the power to dissolve that Parliament. That could only be done by passing a motion with a two thirds majority,” Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said.

“The wrong action committed violating the provisions of the Constitution cannot be rectified under the cloak of a General Election. The Supreme Court decision has stated that no room should be given to conduct an illlegal General Election”.“I wish to translate and read the passage found on page 85 of the Supreme Court ruling”.

“It has been said by some of the added Respondents, that by refusing the petitioner’s, applications will enable a General Election in pursuance of the Proclamation marked “P1” and, therefore, justified because it will give effect to the franchise of the people. That submission is not correct. Giving effect to the franchise of the people is not achieved by Court permitting a General Election held consequent to the dissolution of Parliament which has been effeted contrary to the provisions of the Constitution. Such a General Election will be unlawful and its results will be opened to question. A General Election is valid only if it is lawfully held. Thus, a General Election held consequent to the dissolution of Parliament which has been done contrary to the provisions of the Constitution, will not be a true exercise of the franchise of the people.”

“That was what I said on October 26 at Temple Trees. I said on that day our fight was for the sake of democracy; justice; to protect the Constitution; adherence of the rule of Law and civilized and moral conduct of society. And I also said that at the end, we would win the fight. I say the same thing even today and I will say the same tomorrow too. I will abide by my word. I will do what I say and I only say what I can do,” the Prime Minister said.

“Most of the people in this country joined together to protect the Constitution, democracy and the rights of the people. Hundreds of thousands of people who adhere to their conscience came to the forefront of this fight as Sri Lankans, disregarding their race, religion and party politics. Sri Lankans living abroad too supported this move to the best of their ability. They joined this on behalf of their country and democracy without any personal gain,” he added.

“I take this opportunity to salute them all,” Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said.“Similarly, I would like to pay my homage to the Maha Sangha and the clergy of other religions who guided us in this endeavour. The Honourable Speaker, Ministers and Members of Parliament fully dedicated to uphold the supremacy of the Parliament and democracy. I offer my sincere gratitude to all of them. Our judicial institutions, including the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, exhibited their independence and the identity to the whole world. I would like to extend my gratitude to the Judiciary as well as to the lawyers who made their legal submissions. And also, I offer my gratitude to members of the Public Service, Armed Forces and the Police who upheld the rule of law and justice”.

“My gratitude should go to the journalists who fought for the impartiality of the Media in the midst of the pressures of errant journalists and to all who toiled day and night voluntarily to tell the truth to the world through social media.“In January 2015 and August 2015, we gained the mandate of the people to bring good governance, to preserve democracy and the Rule of Law to eliminate frauds and corruption, to empower Parliament after abolishing the Executive Presidency and to uphold the sovereignty of the people. During the past three and half years we have done a lot to the Country”.

“It is due to progressive steps including the establishment of the Independent Commissions that many institutions including the Judiciary could act independently.

“The whole country is enjoying the harvest of the seeds we sowed during the past three and half years. We are happy about that. However, there are things that we could not implement in this period. Some work got delayed. We could not finalize some work. But, we haven’t lost our dedication and determination. We are determined to rectify our shortcomings. We will take steps to expedite the litigation regarding fraud and corruption. We have created an environment in which different ethnic groups can live together in harmony and co existence. We will dedicate ourselves to maintain harmony among different ethnic groups.

“Now, we should go forward. Even by now, we have initiated discussions with a number of political parties in respect to abolishing the Executive Presidency. And also, we will have discussions with the Tamil National Alliance and Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna to bring about a political solution in which all citizens can live in harmony in a unitary state”.

“I didn’t take any steps to enter into any agreement with the LTTE in order to win the Presidential Election. In the past, I dedicated the victory at the Presidential Election for the sake of my motherland. I haven’t yet changed that stand”.

“Our intention is to form a broad alliance to protect democracy. It is only through the democratic environment in which the voice of the people is considered and the rights of the people are protected. We can bring about a dignified society where the future generation can do without fear”.

“Our efforts to create a strong democratic environment that any external force cannot suppress. My heart-felt wishes is to create such a Sri Lanka. You all wish for such a country. It is the hope of all Sri Lankans.

Therefore, I appeal to all of you to forget all differences and join hands with this broad alliance for the sake of our Motherland, democracy,rights of the people and to create a free country for future generations.”

“Let us allow our heart-felt wish”.

“Thank you all”

Financial institutions and banks face opportunities, as well as challenges in providing financial services to the agricultural sector. The agriculture sector particularly lacks financing in Pakistan, specifically after the crises of sugarcane and cotton in last fiscal year, further the position of wheat crop selling was not as per the expectations of farmers.

Ultimately, they are going to face the challenge of access to financial services in coming fiscal year, while they have a limited ability to access appropriate financial services for their farming needs and house hold expenses. In this scenario; it’s difficult for financial institutions and banks to expand financial services to farmers SMEs by innovative financing, risk mitigation and distribution models, as the previous models are not as successful as they can provide financial access to small land holders as well with digitizing its distributions channels to provide low cost financial services to its customers.

Innovation could be defined as new models that are not widely used yet, adaptation of existing models in Pakistan’s context and downscaling models for small land holders. Overall, these innovative models could mobilize additional resources for agriculture through the financial institutions and banks that finance agricultural SMEs and farmers. These models also show the need to forge partnerships between various private sector actors along agricultural supply chains, as well as between private and public sector institutions.

Agricultural investment particularly to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is also known by the business and financial sectors as a profitable growth business. Agricultural enterprise finance offers banks and financial institutions a major growth opportunity for the following reasons. G-20 report reveals that global food demand is likely to grow 50 percent by 2030, led by emerging middle classes in urbanizing populations. Rapid sector expansion through strong buyers with profitable value chains will drive product procurement from SMEs. Secondly, financing allows farmers to invest in new technologies and access better inputs, thus increasing yields significantly and contributing to food security and better incomes. Thus, access to finance will help farmers move from the subsistence/semi-commercial level to become commercial farmers. Third, agricultural lending provides the opportunity to diversify larger portfolios. Lastly, innovative financing, risk mitigation, and distribution models hold some promise that the risks and costs of agricultural SME lending can be managed.

The innovative financing models are divided according to their repayment source or collateral into three categories: farmer, movable collateral, and buyer. First model is in which financial institutions targeting the farmer or groups of farmers, collateral generally involves cash flow analysis by banks in order to underwrite anticipated earnings, overall savings, and/or group guarantees. Second financing model using by financial institutions is movable assets as collateral often include leased equipment or harvested commodities in warehouses. The third financing model that rely on buyers as the repayment source are based upon an overall value chain analysis in which strong business relationships persist between farmers and buyers, and formal or informal contracts provide security to lenders.

Similarly, innovative distributions model including mobile banking, branchless banking, and mobile payment and recovery systems help support the innovative financing models. As banks provide low-cost financial services to the rural agricultural sector, they connect with their clientele through a transaction history, learn about their needs, and develop relationships all of which are essential to build and maintain a profitable loan portfolio. This model may also reduce banks’ transaction costs through efficient loan disbursement and repayment systems, also provide access to customers that previously was out of reach.

It is hard to envisage sympathy for a person who made a name as a home secretary (prisons, detentions, security and such) taking the mast and banner of her country before hopeless odds, but inadequate opponents will do that to you. Vicious, venal and underdone, the enemies from within Theresa May’s own Tory ranks resemble the lazily angry, the fumingly indulgent. These are the same men, and a few women, who managed to derive enormous satisfaction from a Britain pampered and spoiled by EU largesse but questioning of its bureaucracy and demands. Patriotism has an odd habit of making one jaundiced, but manic self-interest will also do that to you.

May remains British prime minister after a botched effort to overthrow her within conservative party ranks. She faced the unenviable situation of being stonewalled in Europe and by Parliament itself. President of the European Council Donald Tusk assured May that the deal for the UK leaving the EU is not up for renegotiation, “including the backstop”.

The border with Ireland – soft, hard, or middling – is proving to be a rattling affair. Should it go “hard”, Britain will find itself trapped. As The Irish Times noted, “It evokes genuine fear, not least in those who live near the Border or rely on trade for their livelihoods or count themselves among the silenced majority in Northern Ireland who voted Remain.”

As for Parliament, May has ducked and weaved in putting the deal to its irritable members, thereby depriving MPs a hack at sinking it. May fears, rightly, defeat over a proposal that has satisfied few. What is now being run in certain circles is the idea of “indicative votes” which might throw up various Brexit models (Canada-styled; Norwegian adapted).

The May plotters, however, showed the skills and talents of marksmen who end up shooting themselves in a fit of drunken enthusiasm on a poorly planned hunt. The leadership challenge on December 12 served to demonstrate a good level of incompetence, amplified by the likes of Jacob Rees-Mogg and Boris Johnson.

The fact that May received 200 votes against 117 to stay on as PM was not enough for the righteous Rees-Moog, who spoke as if some inscrutable victory for the rebels had been attained. “She said in 2017 she would lead the Conservative Party if she had the support of the parliamentary party.” It was clear that a third of members voting against her suggested she did not. “So if she honours her word she will decide in the interests of the party and the nation she will go.”

This all seems to amount to a stay of execution. May survives, but faces daggers on a daily basis. Home Secretary Sajid Javid is nipping at her heels in the hope to land a blow. Welfare Secretary Amber Rudd has made it public that she likes the idea of a UK-EU arrangement along the lines of Norway’s relationship with the union. Naturally, as with so many such ideas, the EU response is automatically assumed.

The idea of a second referendum, long seen as the ultimate betrayal of the Brexit result, has received more than a decent fanning. Vast swathes have changed their mind since the populist up swell of 2016, goes the view of conservative Dominic Grieve and New Labour’s former spin doctor Alastair Campbell on Good Morning Britain, a bastion of rusted reaction few can match on British television. The panel, as ever, was on the hunt for the elusive idea of democracy in Britain, and found wanting. The Remainers remain desperately confused.

If there is a good reason to be suspicious of a second referendum, former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s endorsement of it would be one. Frankly Tony, whose rule was characterised by long spells of deception and arrogance (remember the Iraq War?), had a singular contempt for democracy that should not be forgotten. He is now spending time slumming in Brussels in the hope that people will take notice, advocating for a second people’s vote. Should parliament be unable to reach agreement on each of the forms of Brexit being put forth, he suggests, “then the logical thing is to go back to the people.”

To Blair can be added May’s own de facto deputy prime minister, David Lidington and chief of staff at 10 Downing Street Gavin Barwell. The latter has supposedly discussed the issue of a second people’s vote with Chancellor Philip Hammond and Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd.

May is having none of it. “Let us not break faith with the British people by trying to stage another referendum.” To do so “would do irreparable damage to the integrity of our politics, because it would say to millions who trusted in democracy, that our democracy does not deliver.”

Brexit is the great exercise of imperfection, an experiment that the EU would like to quash just as many in the UK would like to see reversed. It has been disheartening and cruel; it has divided and disturbed. It has also demonstrated levels of marked mendacity fitting for countries British citizens tend to mock. Facts have become fictions; fictions have been paraded as exemplars of truth. The dark spirits have been released, and there are not going to be bottled any time soon.

An eerie video, composed of a recorded audio prayer and a photo of one Hajj Jamal Ghalaini, occasionally pops up on Facebook. The voice is that of an alleged religious sheikh praying for the wellbeing of the man in the photo for saving the Palestinian refugee youth of Lebanon by facilitating their departure to Europe.

The video would have been just another odd social media post were it not for the fact that Ghalaini is a real person, with his name recurring in the ongoing tragedy of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. Many have credited their successful “escape” from Lebanon by citing this person who, they say, has made the journey to Europe far cheaper than all other human smugglers.

We know little about Ghalaini except that he seems to operate brazenly and without much legal repercussions from Lebanese authorities or the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which is supposedly the caretaker of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.

Something strange is going on. Immediately after the Trump administration began to promote its “deal of the century,” Palestinian refugees — a fundamental issue in the Palestinian national struggle that was relegated years ago — have once more taken center stage.

Although US President Donald Trump’s plan is yet to be fully revealed, early indications suggest it sidelines Jerusalem entirely from any future agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA). Moving the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and Trump’s own assertion that “Jerusalem is off the table,” are enough to confirm this assumption.

Another component of Trump’s “deal” is to resolve the issue of refugees without their repatriation and without respecting international law, especially UN Resolution 194, which calls for the right of return for Palestinian refugees who were driven out from their homes in historic Palestine in 1948, as well as their descendants.

Many news reports have been pointing to an elaborate American plot to downgrade the status of refugees, to argue against UN figures indicating their actual numbers, and to choke off the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) — which is responsible for refugees’ welfare — from badly needed funds.

Lebanon has been a major platform for the ongoing campaign targeting Palestinian refugees, particularly because the refugee population in that country is significant in terms of numbers, and their plight most urgent in terms of its need for remedy. 

There appears to be an active plan, involving several parties, to deprive Lebanon’s Palestinian population of their refugee status and to circumvent the right of return. To some this may seem like wishful thinking, since the right of return is inalienable, thus non-negotiable. 

Yet obviously, without refugees collectively demanding such a right, the issue could move from being an urgent, tangible demand into a sentimental one that is impossible to achieve. This is why the depopulation of Lebanon’s refugee camps, which is happening at an alarming speed, should worry Palestinians more than any other issue at the moment.

I spoke to Samaa Abu Sharar, a Palestinian activist in Lebanon and director of the Majed Abu Sharar Media Foundation. She said the nature of the conversation among refugees has changed in recent years. In the past, “almost everybody from young to old spoke about their wish of returning to Palestine one day; at present the majority, particularly the youth, only express one wish: To leave for any other country that would receive them.”

It is common knowledge that Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are marginalized and mistreated most compared to other refugee populations in the Middle East. They are denied most basic human rights enjoyed by Lebanese or foreign groups in Lebanon, and even rights granted to refugees under international conventions. This includes the right to work, as they are denied access to 72 different professions.

Left hopeless, with a life of neglect and utter misery in 12 refugee camps and other “gatherings” across Lebanon, Palestinian refugees have persisted for many years, driven by the hope of going back to their homeland one day. But the refugees and their right of return are no longer a priority for the Palestinian leadership. This has been the case for nearly two decades.

The situation has worsened. With the Syrian war, tens of thousands more refugees have flooded the camps, which lack most basic services. This misery was further accentuated when UNRWA, under intense US pressure, was forced to cancel or downgrade many of its essential services.

A suspiciously timed census, the first of its kind, by the Lebanese Central Administration of Statistics, conducted jointly with the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics last December, said the number of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon stands at only 175,000.

The timing is interesting because the survey was conducted at a time when the Trump administration has been keen to lower the number of Palestinian refugees in anticipation of any future agreement between the PA and Israel. According to UNRWA statistics, there are more than 450,000 Palestinian refugees registered with the UN.

There is no denial about an influx of Palestinian refugees wanting to leave Lebanon. Some have done so successfully, only to find themselves contending with the misery of a new refugee status in Europe. Expectedly, some have returned. Clearly there are those who are keen to rid Lebanon of its Palestinian population, thus the disregard for Ghalaini and other human-trafficking networks.

“There is more than one organized network that facilitates the emigration of Palestinians, at prices that have recently gone down to make it more accessible to a larger number of people,” Abu Sharar told me. The conclusion that many of these young men and women now draw is that “there is no future for them in Lebanon,” she added.

This is not the happy, triumphant ending that generations of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon have hoped and fought for over the years. Ignoring their misery is now coming at a heavy price. 

Relegating their plight until final-status negotiations, a pipe dream that was never actualized, is now leading to a two-fold crisis: The worsening suffering of hundreds of thousands of people, and the systematic destruction of one of the main pillars of Palestinian refugees, the right of return.

By Matt Smith

Saudi Arabia is expected to boost spending in its 2019 budget, due this week, even though oil prices have tumbled recently and the Kingdom’s crude output will decline.

A pre-budget statement in September, the first of its kind in Saudi Arabia, predicted next year’s budget would be SR 1.11 trillion ($300 billion), up 13 percent on 2018. It also forecast government revenue would be SR 978 billion in 2019, up 11 percent on estimates for this year. 

“The government will continue to focus on supporting economic activity and we believe the budget will likely remain expansionary,” said Monica Malik, chief economist at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB).

“Given the soft trend in non-oil activity and the need to progress with key investments, we believe government spending will increase and that government-related entities such as the PIF (Public Investment Fund) will also look to up their investments next year.”

The Kingdom has run a budget deficit since 2014 as a slump in oil prices lowered state income. A 2018 budget announcement last December predicted this year’s deficit would be 7 percent of GDP, but it is more likely to be around 5 percent, September’s pre-budget statement revealed, after higher-than-anticipated oil receipts boosted state income. In November, Saudi Arabia’s oil output hit a record high of 11.1 million barrels per day. 

“GDP growth is heavily influenced by changes in oil production,” said Jason Tuvey, Middle East economist at London’s Capital Economics, which forecasts Saudi’s economy will grow by 3 percent this year, up from September’s official estimate of 2.1 percent. “Growth picked up sharply in the latter part of 2018.”

But the renewed downturn in oil prices — Brent crude has dropped from a four-year closing high of $84.16 on Oct. 5 to end at around $60 on Friday — plus a larger-than-expected oil production cut agreed by OPEC and its allies this month, means Saudi Arabia will be unlikely to reach its budget deficit target of 4.1 percent in 2019.

ADCB expects the deficit to widen next year, while Capital Economics believes it will be around 7.5 percent in 2019. Saudi Arabia aims to balance its budget by 2023.

“Fiscal reforms are expected to be weaker in 2019 and we expect an overall loosening in fiscal policy,” said Malik. “At this point, we see more risks to the revenue side than the expenditure side.”

For Saudi Arabia to achieve its 2019-21 revenue forecasts, it will require a Brent crude price of $69-74 and daily oil production of about 10.5 million barrels, ADCB estimates.

The pre-budget statement was published when oil was around $80, however, and Tuvey is less confident that the Kingdom will keep to the spending plans outlined in September. 

“The government has tended to be quite conservative over the past few years,” he said. “With oil likely to remain at $60 or lower next year, fiscal plans are likely to be conservative and there might be a return to modest austerity, although not to the extent we saw in 2014-16.”

Total state revenue in the first nine months of 2018 was SR 663.1 billion, up 47 percent year-on-year. Government expenses were SR 712.1 billion, 25 percent higher than in the same period of 2017. 

The government has introduced reforms to diversify its income, including a 5 percent value added tax and a monthly levy on expat workers, plus an excise duty on products such as soft drinks and tobacco. It also plans to phase out energy subsidies. 

But these measures have also coincided with the restoration of public sector bonuses and greater support for poorer families, which have helped offset the impact of the new taxes. 

“Households have benefited over the course of 2018,” said Tuvey. “Any subsidy cuts are likely to be less aggressive than this year’s. Inflation will probably fall sharply next year.”

Debt as percentage of GDP has soared, from around 2-3 percent in 2014 to about 17.5 percent this year, although that is low by emerging market standards. 

“The government will remain the main driver of economic activity in our view, whether directly or indirectly” said Malik. “The private sector faces numerous headwinds, including labor market reforms.”

By Tushar Ranjan Mohanty*

On December 10, 2018, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Cell, in its briefing to Balochistan Cabinet, revealed that Balochistan’s share in the USD 62 Billion CPEC project was a miniscule nine percent, about USD 5.6 Billion. It was also disclosed that, out of this committed sum, less than USD one Billion had been spent in over five years, since May 22, 2013, when CPEC was launched. The stunned Cabinet members reportedly described CPEC spending in Balochistan thus far, as “a joke”.

In its briefing, the CPEC Cell also disclosed that the current shortfall of 700MW in the Province meant that all the new power injected into the grid as a result of CPEC power projects had not found its way to Balochistan. On October 23, 2018, China engaged the World Bank to undertake a study on the real potential of CPEC investment and its future prospects. 

Expressing concern over the dismal share of the Province in development projects under the CPEC, on December 9, 2018, the Balochistan Government disclosed that only two projects — the Gwadar Port and Hubco Coal Power Plant — had been approved for the Province till that point, since CPEC’s launch on May 22, 2013. The Government, moreover, claimed that even these two projects had no direct benefits for the people of Balochistan. Significantly, the Gwadar Port is the epicentre of the entire CPEC project in Pakistan, yet the residents of the city have a hard time getting drinking water on a daily basis. In order to address the drinking-water shortage in Gwadar, the Federal Government has announced many desalination plants, but none has yet materialized.

On December 5, 2018, the ruling Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) founder Saeed Ahmed Hashmi stated, “despite passage of about five years the people of the Province have witnessed no development project initiated under the CPEC.”

The apprehension that CPEC will not benefit Balochistan has rightly been there for long.  Indeed, the Senate (Upper House of the National Assembly) was informed on November 24, 2017, that 91 percent of the revenues to be generated from the Gwadar port as part of CPEC would go to China, while the Gwadar Port Authority would be left with a nine percent share of the income for the next 40 years. This was disclosed by the then Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping, Mir Hasil Bizenjo, after senators expressed concern over the secrecy surrounding the CPEC long-term agreement plan, with many observing that the agreement tilted heavily in China’s favour.

Moreover, there is also great anxiety that CPEC will convert the Baloch people into minorities in their own homeland. Noordin Mengal, a human rights campaigner from the Province stated, on March 17, 2017, that with an influx of outsiders as a result of the project, the identity of the Baloch was being threatened.

According to the Census 2017, the total population of Balochistan was 12.3 million. Census 2017 indicates the Baloch population (Balochi language speaking population) has shrunk from 61 percent of the total to 55.6 percent over a period of 19 years (Census 1998 to Census 2017) in the 21 Districts where the Balochi-speaking population form a majority.

Pakistan currently hosts a sizable Chinese population and the numbers are only slated to grow as the project progresses. Concerns about the demographic transformation of Balochistan have been reiterated in a December 28, 2016, report by the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), which noted that, at the current and projected rate of influx of Chinese nationals into Balochistan, the native population of the area would be outnumbered by 2048.

Since the start of the groundwork on CPEC, more than 39,000 Chinese have come to Pakistan over the past five years, according to official data and documents reported on March 5, 2018. 7,859 Chinese were issued visas in 2013, at the start of the CPEC projects, soon after the Nawaz Sharif Government came to power. Another 69 visas were issued in 2014; 13,268 in 2015; 6,268 in 2016; and, according to informed officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, an estimated 12,287 in 2017. In addition, about 91,000 Chinese nationals have visited Pakistan on tourist visas over this period.

Due to these reasons, there is persistent discontent among the ethnic Baloch with regard to CPEC. The Province is at the heart of the CPEC scheme – a massive series of projects that includes a network of highways, railways and energy infrastructure spanning the entire country. CPEC is a flagship project in China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This discontent constitutes an enduring threat to Chinese engineers, workers and people associated with the constituent projects, with Baloch nationalists, who consider it part of a ‘strategic design’ by Pakistan and China to loot their resources and eliminate the Baloch culture and identity, strongly opposed.

In a sign of increasing anger against CPEC, in the first of its kind of attack, the Baloch separatist group, Baloch Liberation Army’s (BLA’s) ‘Majeed Brigade’ suicide squad, on November 23, 2018, carried out a suicide attack targeting the Chinese Consulate at Block 4 in the Clifton area of Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh. At least six people, including three civilians, two Policemen, and a private security guard, were killed. Three terrorists involved in the attack were killed by the Security Forces (SFs). No Chinese national was hurt. Claiming responsibility for the attack, BLA disclosed that the attackers had been tasked to target the consulate.

On October 31, 2018, five construction workers of non-Baloch ethnicity were shot dead while another three suffered injuries in an attack near Ganz, some 15 kilometers west of Jiwani town in the Gwadar District of Balochistan. According to official sources, the labourers were working at a CPEC-related private housing scheme on Peshkan-Ganz road, which links Gwadar with Jewani, when a group of unidentified assailants riding motorcycles appeared on the scene and opened fire. Security officials identified four of the deceased as Naeem Ahmed and Hunzullah, residents of Karachi (Sindh); Irshad Ali of Sukkur (Sindh); and Muhammad Shakir of Multan (Punjab). The identity of the fifth deceased is yet to be ascertained. BLA ‘spokesperson’ Azad Baloch, claiming responsibility for the attack, stated,

Significantly, on October 29, 2018, Pakistan had organised a conference of 26 countries – the Asian Parliamentary Assembly Committee on Political Affairs – in its attempt assert the legality of its occupation in Balochistan. Warning against the ongoing ‘colonisation’ of Balochistan Azad Baloch stated,

He added that China and Pakistan were building around 70 housing schemes under the exploitative CPEC colonisation project.

On August 11, 2018, six persons – among them three Chinese engineers – had been injured in a suicide attack on a bus in the Dalbandin area of Chagai District in Balochistan. The bus, carrying 18 Chinese engineers, was being escorted by Frontier Corps (FC) troops to the Dalbandin Airport from the Saindaik copper and gold mines, when a suicide bomber tried to drive his explosives-laden vehicle into the bus. “The explosives-laden vehicle exploded near the bus on Quetta-Taftan Highway – and as a result three Chinese engineers, two FC soldiers and the bus driver were injured,” an unnamed Balochistan Levies official stated. Saifullah Khatiran, Deputy Commissioner of Chagai District, disclosed that the engineers were working on the Saindak Project, a joint venture between Pakistan and China to extract gold, copper and silver from an area close to the border.

Jiand Baloch, a BLA ‘spokesperson’, had then stated, “We targeted this bus which was carrying Chinese engineers. We attacked them because they are extracting gold from our region, we won’t allow it.” In a statement issued on Twitter, the BLA identified the suicide bomber as Rehan Baloch, who died in the attack, as the elder son of BLA’s ‘senior commander’ Aslam Baloch.

On May 4, 2018, six ethnic Punjabi labourers were killed and one was injured in an incident of firing in the Laijay area of Kharan District. Levies sources said the labourers, who hailed from eastern Punjab, were working on a mobile tower and were sleeping in tents at the site when unidentified militants on motorcycles opened fire on them. The assailants escaped unhurt after the attack. There was no claim of responsibility.

Insurgents trying to disrupt construction of CPEC projects in Balochistan have killed 66 persons since 2014. Colonel Zafar Iqbal, a spokesperson for the construction company Frontier Works Organisation (FWO), on September 8, 2016, had stated, “The latest figure has climbed up to 44 deaths and over 100 wounded men on CPEC projects, mainly road construction in Balochistan, which began in 2014.” Since September 7, 2016, according to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), another 22 persons have been killed in different CPEC related projects across the Province (till December 16, 2018).

Meanwhile, the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar stated, on December 10, 2018, “the situation of Balochistan is deplorable” despite the Province having huge mineral resources. The CJP emphasised that the people of Balochistan complained that they were being neglected by Islamabad and they did not even have basic rights.

With the CPEC Cell’s revelation of injustices against the Province coming to light, the enduring discontent among the Baloch people is likely to be further aggravated, and CPEC-related projects will come under an escalating threat in the months to come.

*Tushar Ranjan Mohanty
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management

By Deepak Kumar Nayak*

On December 7, 2018, Security Force (SF) personnel killed an ‘area committee member’ (ACM) of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), identified as Vijender, in an encounter at Muler village in Sukma District. Vijender carried a reward of INR 500,000 on his head.

On November 29, 2018, a ‘commander’ of the CPI-Maoist’s ‘Andhra-Odisha-Border (AOB) region’, identified as Gopal, was killed during an encounter with SF personnel in the Dronavalii Forest in Sukma District. Police recovered the body of the slain Maoist along with a pistol and four rounds from the encounter spot.

On November 26, 2018, at least nine CPI-Maoist cadres were killed in an encounter between Maoists and SF personnel near Sakler village under the Kistaram Police Station limit in Sukma District. Two District Reserve Guard (DRG) personnel were also killed in the encounter. Two of the slain Maoists were identified as Tati Bhima and Podiyam Raje, both CPI-Maoist ‘divisional committee members’. Each carried a reward of INR 800,000. The identities of the other slain Maoist are yet to be ascertained. At least 10 weapons, including one self-loading rifle, one .315 bore rifle, Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and ammunition were recovered from the encounter site.

On November 21, 2018, a ‘Military Platoon Commander’ of the CPI-Maoist, identified as Jyothi Muriyami, was killed in an encounter with SF personnel in an area between the Chintalnar and Dondipadar Forests in Sukma District. Jyothi carried a reward of INR 800,000.

According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), at least 56 Maoists have been killed in Sukma District since the beginning of 2018 (data till December 16). During the corresponding period in 2017, 11 Maoists had been killed in the District. Through 2017, Maoist fatalities mounted to 14.

Since its formation on January 16, 2012, the Sukma District has recorded a total of 140 Maoist fatalities (data till December 16, 2018). The maximum number, 56, has been recorded in the current year. The most successful operation of the year, in terms of fatalities inflicted upon Maoists, took place on August 6, 2018, when at least 15 Maoist cadres were killed in an encounter with SFs in the forests between Nalkatong and Durma villages under the Konta Police Station.

SFs have also arrested 147 Maoists in the District in the current year (data till December 16, 2018), in addition to 167 in 2017. Mounting SF pressure has led to the surrender of 107 Left Wing Extremists (LWEs) in 2018, in addition to 11 in 2017.

On the other hand, SFs have lost 18 of their personnel in the current year so far (data till December 16), as against 41 in the corresponding period of 2017. Through 2017, SFs lost 42 personnel, the highest number of fatalities recorded in this category in the District for any years since the formation if the District in January 2012. Indeed, the Maoists were able to carry out only one major attack (killing three or more SF personnel) in 2018, as against three such attacks in 2017. In two major attacks in rapid succession, the Maoists killed 37 SF personnel: on March 11, 2017, at least 12 personnel of the 219^th battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were killed and another four injured when CPI-Maoist cadres ambushed a road opening party in the dense forests near Kottacheru village under Bhejji Police Station in the Sukma District; on April 24, 2017, at least 25 CRPF personnel were killed and another six injured in an ambush at Kalapattar in the Burkapal area of Sukma District.

The performance of the SFs in the fight against the Maoists has improved noticeably during the current year. The kill ratio of 1:3.29 secured by SFs in 2018 is the second best ever in favour of SFs during the course of a year [though 15 days remain in the current year] since the formation of the District in 2012. The best ratio of 1:3.54 was recorded in 2016 [39 Maoists, 11 SF personnel]. This is a dramatic turnaround, as Sukma has been one of the most challenging Districts in the country, and the overall ratio, between January 16, 2012, and December 16, 2018, remains marginally in favour of the Maoists at 1:1.03 (140 Maoists, 145 SF personnel killed). Sukma has recorded the maximum number of SF fatalities, 145, for any District across India, since January 16, 2012; with Bijapur, also in Chhattisgarh, standing a distant second, with 65; followed by Gadchiroli in Maharashtra with 43 fatalities.

Moreover, some of the worst Maoist attacks targeting SFs were executed in the Sukma area when it was part of Dantewada District prior to its division in January 2012. These included the April 6, 2010, Chintalnad-Tadmetla massacre in which 76 SF personnel were killed; the May 17, 2010, Chingavaram IED attack in which 44 persons – 16 SF personnel and 28 civilians were killed;the June 20, 2009, Tongapal attack in which 12 CRPF personnel were killed; the April 10, 2009, Minta attack in which 10 CRPF personnel, including a Deputy Commandant, were killed; the December 20, 2007, Tarlaguda attack in which 12 Policemen were killed; the November 29, 2007, Konta attack in which 10 Mizoram Reserve Police personnel and two civilian drivers were killed; and the August 29, 2007, Jagargunda attack in which 12 SF personnel were killed.

Sukma was carved out of Dantewada as a separate District on January 16, 2012, and is spread over a geographical area of 5635.79 square kilometres, of which around 3,500 square kilometres (more than 75 per cent of its total area) is under forest cover. The forest cover, terrain and geography of the District provide the Maoists distinct tactical advantages, allowing them to establish disruptive dominance over much of the area. In addition, the District abuts the Maoist-afflicted Bastar, Bijapur and Dantewada Districts of the State to the north and west; the highly affected Malkangiri District of Odisha to the east; and the Khammam District of Telangana to the South, making it more formidable challenge for SFs.

Maoist violence against civilians in Sukma also persists. According to SATP data, 15 civilians have already been killed in the current year [data till December 16]. The number of civilian fatalities in the District was six during the corresponding period of 2017, and there were no more fatalities in this category thereafter, in the year. The District recorded a maximum of 26 civilian fatalities in 2013.

The Maoists have triggered at least 17 blasts in 2018 (killing 16 persons and injuring 19) so far, as compared to nine blasts (killing three and injuring 11) during the corresponding period of 2017. There was one more explosion (injuring three persons) in 2017.

Moreover, an October 7, 2018, report suggested that the Telangana Police, which is reportedly monitoring the moves and movements of the Left-wing Extremists (LWEs) in neighbouring States as well, revealed that the Maoists were camping in the Sukma District for the preceding two months, formulating strategies to reorganise and consolidate their movement by inducting a new leadership and cadre from the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC) to take on the SFs.

A November 17, 2018, report claimed that intelligence agencies, in an assessment sent to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA) had warned that the CPI-Maoist was trying to build new bases and had identified 100 villages along the tri-junction of Chhattisgarh-Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh for this purpose. Further, Maoist ‘commanders’ active in the Sukma District had held a meeting with villagers, and were contemplating the destruction of a power plant situated at village Penta. They had also urged the villagers to help them (the Maoists) in blocking road construction activities in the area.

Significantly, on November 15, 2018, CPI-Maoist cadres killed a road construction contractor, Hari Shankar Sahu, and set ablaze six vehicles on the under-construction Misma-Chichordguda Road under the Dornapal Police Station limits in Sukma District. Around a dozen armed Maoists stormed the construction site, located about 500 kilometres from the State capital Raipur, and started assaulting labourers directing them to stop work. They attacked Sahu with sharp weapons and fled, leaving him dead on the spot. Before fleeing, the Maoists set ablaze Sahu’s SUV and another five vehicles and machines engaged in the road construction work. Three labourers were also injured after being beaten up by the Maoists. Superintendent of Police (SP), Abhishek Meena disclosed, the road was being constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY), for which the contract had been given to Sahu Mahamaya Buildcon Company owned by Hari Shankar Sahu. Meena disclosed, further, “Sahu was advised by police not to carry out construction work for some time due to security reasons but he ignored the directive and started work on Wednesday (November 14).”

Since its formation on January 16, 2012, the Sukma District has recorded at least 78 incidents of attack targeting road construction activities which has resulted in killing of 44 SF personnel (data till December 16, 2018). On March 15, 2018, Special Director General, anti-Naxal operations, D.M. Awasthi disclosed that Maoists had, for long, tried to disrupt road construction activities in Sukma as they fear that the extension of the road network would directly threaten their dominance. Acknowledging that the Maoists had a strong presence, particularly on the 40 kilometre-long stretch of the track between Kistaram and Chintalnar villages, Awasthi stated, “However, once the security forces gain control over this patch, it would be easy for them to win the war against Naxals in the entire Bastar region, as this forest of Sukma serves as a haven for Maoists, where their military battalion No.1 is active.” He also added that, with SF support, the earthwork of five kilometres of the road on this stretch, between Kistaram and Palodi, has been completed.

SF gains in Sukma have been astounding in the current year, but challenges persist. Sukma is the last surviving Maoist bastions in the country, with much of LWE operational strength intact. Though the Assembly Elections 2018 were a clear win of ballots over bullets in the State, Maoist disruption during the electoral process, was a demonstration of their surviving strength. Very significant security, administrative and developmental consolidation is still needed, if the Maoist threat is to be completely eliminated from Sukma and from Chhattisgarh.

*Deepak Kumar Nayak
Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management

Address migration’s root causes: Rather than fund walls, nations could end wars and offer development aid to help migrants at home.

By Chandran Nai*

A freighter trundles into a harbor, carrying several hundred migrants escaping war. Authorities discover them and refuse to let them disembark. The international humanitarian crisis is resolved only when desperate refugees force the issue by scuttling their ship.

This is not a story from today’s Greece or Italy, but about the Skyluck, a Panamanian freighter carrying 2,000 refugees from Vietnam in early 1979. The freighter sailed into Hong Kong, where it stayed for four months. Refugees, weary of squalid conditions, cut the anchor cable and ran aground on Lamma Island. Vietnamese refugees challenged many countries in much the same way that refugees test Europe or the United States today. Camps sprung up in poorer countries, like Indonesia and the Philippines. Wealthy places like Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and countries further abroad revealed themselves as less open than implied, often to the harsh criticism of international humanitarians.

Decades later, the South China Sea no longer has a refugee crisis. Instead, people are returning to the dynamic economies of Vietnam and Cambodia.

At the time, accepting Vietnamese refugees may have been the moral action, but it did not solve fundamental reasons why people fled. In the end, what “solved” the boat people crisis was a stable, no-nonsense government in Vietnam pursuing a platform of growth and development on its own terms, with the hard work of those who stayed behind and sacrificed.

Building a nation is hard work, especially after the destruction and deprivation of war and colonization. It is often easier for those with resources to pursue a better life elsewhere than to stay and build. The mindset of those who leave is understandable: Opportunities in wealthy countries appear potentially safer in the short term. Yet for many migrants, such moves lead to a life of regret in a foreign land, shaped by an inability or unwillingness to assimilate or a resentment borne out of isolation and discrimination.

“Brain drain” and “brawn drain,” taking able-bodied and educated people and under-employing them in developed ones, is clearly harmful to developing countries. One encounters countless trained engineers, doctors and other professionals working as shopkeepers, domestic help and taxi drivers in Australia, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States. This trained professional workforce endures pain of a different sort while exacerbating a dire situation at home.

Richer countries, in general, take pride in being open societies, especially when migrant flows are small and made up of the skilled and talented. But when migrant flows increase dramatically, as they did in Southeast Asia during the 1970s and 1980s, or in Europe today, this rhetorical commitment becomes more difficult to sustain. In addition, as globalization chips away at the economic privileges of the richer nations and creates a more level playing field, resentment has increased towards immigrants. In Europe, the migrant crisis has empowered several reactionary and populist movements, some of which openly cross the line into discriminatory rhetoric. And while there is a basic humanitarian obligation to absorb people in dire straits it is only realistic to recognize that no country – no matter how liberal and democratic – can or will accept an endless stream of people without conditions. Politicians see to that.

The world can no longer hold on to the illusion that citizens from poor and badly governed places will always have an option to escape for the liberal West. The truth is that the doors have been slammed shut. Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton conceded this in an interview with The Guardian,  expressing admiration for the “generous and compassionate approaches” taken by leaders like Angela Merkel, yet noting, “it is fair to say Europe has done its part,” adding if societies don’t “deal with the migration issue, it will continue to roil the body politic.”

The world must better manage global migration flows, but really solving the problem requires improving opportunities in developing countries, avoiding tragic interventions by foreign powers, often led by the United States, and resolving conflicts as they arise. Closing borders, whether by tightening controls or constructing physical barriers, is not the answer. Anyone desperate enough to leave can evade controls, and others happily smuggle people, worsening tensions: Anti-immigration forces point to “increasing” illegal migration, while pro-immigration groups criticize harsh enforcement.

Ultimately, the only way to solve the migrant crisis is to improve economies and living standards in the most vulnerable countries, encouraging skilled and competent people stay and build the country. Stability while being poor is better than being poor in an unstable environment.  

Interventions in the Middle East and North Africa created instability, triggering mass movements of people. Developed countries need to find ways to understand this simple equation and instead invest in an approach to support people building their lives where they are. For example, in the aftermath of conflict in Vietnam and Cambodia, Asian countries helped these countries rebuild. Japan offered development aid to countries throughout Southeast Asia, sometimes ignoring Western sanctions, betting that improved living conditions would secure these societies better than lecturing and isolation. This has been borne out in Vietnam, now a Southeast Asian economic power in its own right.

Mexico’s new President Andrés Manuel López Obrador after his election made a similar offer to President Donald Trump: Obrador would limit migration from Mexico into the United States in exchange for development aid. Obrador understands that a developed and stable economy would do more to limit migration than any wall Trump might build. Admittedly, the United States has an easier situation when it comes to working with its neighbors to control migration. Latin America countries are, with a few exceptions, functioning states and largely democratic.

Europe’s problem is tougher. Migrants come from nearby war zones, authoritarian, corrupt, crumbling and conflict-ridden. But if Europe wants to limit the flow of migrants, it must start working to improve the governance, economy and social framework of these countries rather than try foreign-policy adventures or military interventions. In this regard, the United States is culpable as its actions have been central in destabilizing the Middle East, including the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, and North Africa. Europe must revamp its foreign-policy positions on the Middle East independent of the United States – by helping countries resolve political tensions or violent conflict, even if that means talking to governments they find odious. It means keeping an eye on long-term economic, social and political development, moving beyond current approaches to aid with conditions and working with governments on their terms, not dictating to them. In poor developing countries where there is no outright war and collapse, Europe must refrain from encouraging elites and intellectuals to seek a better life in the West, supporting them to become armchair revolutionaries undermining the governments of their home countries from afar. Instead, Europe should support leaders to work within their countries and existing institutional structures, with the goal of improving them over time. This means abandoning the pretext of a higher moral ground when advancing geopolitical and other interests.

For example, the most effective action Europe can do to limit the flow of Syrian refugees is to help end the Syrian Civil War – that requires talking to President Bashar al Assad and involving him in reconstruction. Europe will find willing partners in China, Japan, Korea and Singapore to create jobs and restore confidence, peace, stability and economic opportunity. Then the migrant and refugee flows will ease. People will even return to avoid the indignities of being a “migrant.” Europe would be the beneficiary of growing economies in the Middle East and North Africa. Until then, refugees will keep trying to escape devastation in Syria, Libya, Yemen, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Putting up walls and barriers to stop refugees fleeing devastation, while refusing to talk to leaders or end conflict, only perpetuates the refugee crisis and the ugly industry that has grown around this human tragedy.

*Chandran Nair is the founder of the Global Institute for Tomorrow (GIFT) and the author of The Sustainable State: The Future of Government, Economy, and Society.  Read a review of the book.

A team of astronomers has discovered the most-distant body ever observed in our Solar System. It is the first known Solar System object that has been detected at a distance that is more than 100 times farther than Earth is from the Sun.

The new object was announced on Monday, December 17, 2018, by the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center and has been given the provisional designation 2018 VG18. The discovery was made by Carnegie’s Scott S. Sheppard, the University of Hawaii’s David Tholen, and Northern Arizona University’s Chad Trujillo.

2018 VG18, nicknamed “Farout” by the discovery team for its extremely distant location, is at about 120 astronomical units (AU), where 1 AU is defined as the distance between the Earth and the Sun. The second-most-distant observed Solar System object is Eris, at about 96 AU. Pluto is currently at about 34 AU, making 2018 VG18 more than three-and-a-half times more distant than the Solar System’s most-famous dwarf planet.

2018 VG18 was discovered as part of the team’s continuing search for extremely distant Solar System objects, including the suspected Planet X, which is sometimes also called Planet 9. In October, the same group of researchers announced the discovery of another distant Solar System object, called 2015 TG387 and nicknamed “The Goblin,” because it was first seen near Halloween. The Goblin was discovered at about 80 AU and has an orbit that is consistent with it being influenced by an unseen Super-Earth-sized Planet X on the Solar System’s very distant fringes.

The existence of a ninth major planet at the fringes of the Solar System was first proposed by this same research team in 2014 when they discovered 2012 VP113, nicknamed Biden, which is currently near 84 AU.

2015 TG387 and 2012 VP113 never get close enough to the Solar System’s giant planets, like Neptune and Jupiter, to have significant gravitational interactions with them. This means that these extremely distant objects can be probes of what is happening in the Solar System’s outer reaches. The team doesn’t know 2018 VG18’s orbit very well yet, so they have not been able to determine if it shows signs of being shaped by Planet X.

“2018 VG18 is much more distant and slower moving than any other observed Solar System object, so it will take a few years to fully determine its orbit,” said Sheppard. “But it was found in a similar location on the sky to the other known extreme Solar System objects, suggesting it might have the same type of orbit that most of them do. The orbital similarities shown by many of the known small, distant Solar System bodies was the catalyst for our original assertion that there is a distant, massive planet at several hundred AU shepherding these smaller objects.”

“All that we currently know about 2018 VG18 is its extreme distance from the Sun, its approximate diameter, and its color,” added Tholen “Because 2018 VG18 is so distant, it orbits very slowly, likely taking more than 1,000 years to take one trip around the Sun.”

The discovery images of 2018 VG18 were taken at the Japanese Subaru 8-meter telescope located atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii on November 10, 2018.

Once 2018 VG18 was found, it needed to be re-observed to confirm its very distant nature. (It takes multiple nights of observing to accurately determine an object’s distance.) 2018 VG18 was seen for the second time in early December at the Magellan telescope at Carnegie’s Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. These recovery observations were performed by the team with the addition of graduate student Will Oldroyd of Northern Arizona University. Over the next week, they monitored 2018 VG18 with the Magellan telescope to secure its path across the sky and obtain its basic physical properties such as brightness and color.

The Magellan observations confirmed that 2018 VG18 is around 120 AU, making it the first Solar System object observed beyond 100 AU. Its brightness suggests that it is about 500 km in diameter, likely making it spherical in shape and a dwarf planet. It has a pinkish hue, a color generally associated with ice-rich objects.

“This discovery is truly an international achievement in research using telescopes located in Hawaii and Chile, operated by Japan, as well as by a consortium of research institutions and universities in the United States,” concluded Trujillo. “With new wide-field digital cameras on some of the world’s largest telescopes, we are finally exploring our Solar System’s fringes, far beyond Pluto.”

The Subaru telescope is owned and operated by Japan and the valuable telescope access that the team obtained was thanks to a combination of time allocated to the University of Hawaii, as well as to the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) through telescope time exchanges between the US National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) and National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ).

By Ed Condon

Following the conviction of Cardinal George Pell in the Australian state of Victoria last week, new details have emerged about the nature of the crimes for which he has been found guilty.

Pell was found guilty Dec. 11 on five charges of sexual abuse of minors, following accusations that he sexually assaulted two former members of the Melbourne cathedral choir.

A sweeping court injunction prevents the nature of the accusations, the progress of the case, or the even the result of the trial from being discussed by the media in Australia.

Despite the gag order, CNA has spoken to several individuals who attended Pell’s trial in person, as well as others present for pre-trial hearings in early 2018.

During the March preliminary hearings, the defense petitioned for the allegations against Pell to be heard in two separate trials, the first concerning the accusations of the Melbourne choristers, and the second related to allegations from Pell’s time as a priest in Ballarat. Other charges Pell faced were dropped during the pre-trial committal hearings.

Sources say that five counts of sexual abuse were allegedly committed by Pell against the two choristers immediately following a 10:30 a.m. Sunday Mass in Melbourne’s cathedral. Pell is accused of abusing both choir members in the same incident.

Only one of the alleged victims was present in court to give evidence against Pell. The other alleged victim, according a 2017 report from The Australian newspaper The Age, died of a drug overdose in 2014.

Before his death, the deceased man reportedly told his mother at least twice that he had not been a victim of sexual abuse. The other former choir member reportedly told the deceased man’s mother only after the man died that both had been abused by Pell, The Age reported, citing a 2017 book on Pell by journalist Louise Milligan.

According to the prosecution, Pell and the choir members “went missing” from a recessional procession at the end of a Mass celebrated by the archbishop. Pell is alleged to have abused the choristers somewhere within the cathedral sacristy immediately following that Mass.

Milligan has reported that the abuse might have taken place in the early months of 1997, but sources told CNA that the prosecution identified a period between August and December 1996, shortly after Pell was installed as Melbourne’s archbishop.

In June 2017, a priest who says he was with the archbishop every time Pell celebrated Mass at Melbourne’s cathedral was questioned by police about a timeframe that seems to match the one identified by prosecutors.

The priest told police that there was no occasion when Pell would have been alone with choir members. “At no time before, during or after Mass was the Archbishop in direct contact with anyone except that I was present,’’ the priest said, according to The Australian.

“I was always standing next to him and usually at an arm’s length away.’’

Pell was known to habitually celebrate the 10:30 a.m. Sunday Mass, at which the choir regularly sung, while he served as Archbishop of Melbourne.

However, Melbourne’s cathedral was undergoing restoration work at the time of his installation in August 1996, which prevented Pell from being installed in the cathedral building itself or from regularly celebrating Mass there for several weeks.

In fact, during the pre-trial committal hearing in March 2018, records were produced showing that during the period between August and December 1996, Pell only celebrated the cathedral’s 10:30 Sunday Mass twice.

According to a source present for the pre-trial hearing, on both of the occasions on which Pell celebrated the cathedral’s 10:30 Mass during the designated period, the choir held practices for the taping of a Christmas performance immediately following the 10:30 Mass, when the absence of two choristers would have been immediately noticed.

Cathedral and choir leaders and former members testified at the pre-trial hearing that choir leaders kept a close eye on the children and would have noticed if any slipped away. Former choir director Peter Finigan testified at the committal hearing that while it would have been possible for two choir members to slip away, he did not remember that it had ever happened.

“Two altos going missing would have stood out right away, as would their late arrival for the practice straight after Mass,” a source present at the committal hearing told CNA.

“That much was crystal clear.”

During the same committal hearing in March, a pastoral associate at the cathedral, Rodney Dearing, told the court that Pell required help to remove his vestments after every Mass, and it would have been nearly impossible for the archbishop to expose his genitals while fully vested, or to commit other sexual acts in the vestments.

Dearing also told Victoria police that the layout of the cathedral did not align with the accusations.

“I can’t understand, knowing the layout [of the cathedral] and how things worked, how it could have occurred,” Dearing told police, according to Australian media reports filed before a gag order on the trial was instituted.

CNA has previously reported that concerns were raised about the layout of the cathedral sacristy, where the abuse is meant to have taken place, which is open-planned and usually full on people following Mass.

Further evidence was reportedly heard during the November trial confirming that Pell only celebrated 10:30 a.m. Mass in the cathedral twice during the alleged timeframe of the events, and the court heard witness testimony that Pell had been with guests immediately following Mass on one of the two Sundays.

Sources close to the trial underscored to CNA that cases of sexual abuse often rely on the persuasive testimony of the victims, and that due to the nature of sexual abuse crimes, corroborating evidence is difficult to present. In such cases, the relative reliability of the victims can be a crucial factor.

During Pell’s trial, the judge reportedly excluded both the prosecution and the defense from disclosing to the jury or discussing in court anything which could bear upon the credibility of the accuser.

When asked how the jury could have delivered a unanimous conviction despite the seeming weight of evidence in his favor, several trial attendees noted that Pell refused to give evidence in his own defense.

“Pell didn’t take the stand, and that definitely made a negative impression; it doesn’t look good if you won’t deny it with your own lips,” one source told CNA.

Others close to the cardinal defended the decision not to have Pell take the stand.

“If you hire Robert Richter [Pell’s lead lawyer], you bloody well take his advice,” one source close to Pell noted. Some sources believe that Pell’s attorneys were concerned that the cardinal would try to give expansive answers from the witness box, rather than confine himself to narrow responses on points of fact.

Instead of Pell’s testimony, recordings were played for the jury of Pell’s interviews with police and state authorities, in which he had previously answered questions about the charges and denied ever sexually abusing a minor.

The Melbourne trial began in June, ending first in a hung jury and a mistrial, with jurors reportedly siding 10-2 in favor of Pell’s innocence. A second hearing with a new jury began in November, delivering a unanimous conviction on Dec. 11. The gag order remains in place pending Pell’s sentencing and expected appeal, and ahead of the trial on the Ballarat allegations expected to begin early next year.

Prior to the institution of the gag order, questions were raised by Australian media and legal figures about the possibility that jury pools could be tainted by years of negative coverage of Pell.

In other Australian states, high-profile cases like Pell’s have the option of being tried by a judge only, without a jury, called a bench trial. Victoria, where Pell is on trial, is one of the only jurisdictions in Australia not to have this option.

On Dec. 13, two days after the Pell conviction, Victoria state Attorney-General Jill Hennessy told the Australian newspaper The Age that she had asked her department to examine the option of judge-only trials in high profile cases, where an impartial jury might be difficult to find. This followed the exoneration of former Adelaide archbishop Philip Wilson, whose conviction for failing to report child sexual abuse was overturned by a judge on appeal.

In the Wilson case, appellate judge Roy Ellis noted that media portrayals of the Church’s sexual abuse crisis might have been a factor in the guilty verdict.

Such portrayals “may amount to perceived pressure for a court to reach a conclusion which seems to be consistent with the direction of public opinion, rather than being consistent with the rule of law that requires a court to hand down individual justice in its decision-making processes,” he said.

The state of Victoria has faced sustained criticism for the use of suppression orders by the state’s courts. Despite an Open Courts Act passed in 2013 aimed at improving judicial transparency, Victorian courts issued more than 1500 suppression orders between 2014-2016.

It has been reported that local media petitioned Victoria County Court to lift the suppression order on the Pell case, but that no decision had been issued on that request.

By Hadi Azmi and Ali Nufael

Malaysia filed criminal charges Monday against U.S.-based investment bank Goldman Sachs, two of its former executives, fugitive financier Jho Low and a lawyer for allegedly misappropriating money through bonds linked with the 1MDB state fund in 2012 and 2013, officials said.

Goldman Sachs must be held accountable for benefiting from U.S. $600 million (2.5 billion ringgit) for underwriting and arranging the series of bonds, Malaysian Attorney General Tommy Thomas said, as he announced the latest move in a multinational investigation into alleged massive corruption at 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) under the previous government.

“In addition to personally receiving part of the misappropriated bond proceeds, those employees and directors of Goldman Sachs received large bonuses and enhanced career prospects at Goldman Sachs and in the investment banking industry generally,” Thomas said in a statement issued Monday.

“Their fraud goes to the heart of our capital markets, and if no criminal proceedings are instituted against the accused, their undermining of our financial system and market integrity will go unpunished.”

Low Taek Jho, who is better known as Jho Low, former Goldman Sachs executives Tim Leissner and Roger Ng Chong Hwa along with Jasmine Loo Ai Swan, an ex-legal counsel for the cash-strapped fund formally known as 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), made false or misleading statements to misappropriate $2.7 billion (11.25 billion ringgit) from the proceeds of the three bonds, according to Thomas.

They are charged with violating the Capital Markets and Services Act of 2007.

Because the Malaysian government considers the allegations to be grave violations of its securities law, it is seeking a criminal fine of more $2.7 billion along with the $600 million gained by Goldman Sachs, Thomas said. In addition, the defendants could face a maximum jail sentence of 10 years if convicted.

The Malaysian charges related to the bond issues are similar to charges filed by the U.S. government in November against Jho Low, Ng and Leissner. Leissner pleaded guilty to two charges of money laundering related to 1MDB and was fined $43.7 million (182 million ringgit).

Goldman Sachs, a powerhouse on Wall Street, denied any wrongdoing related to the Malaysian charges, the Associated Press reported.

“We believe these charges are misdirected and we will vigorously defend them and look forward to the opportunity to present our case,” Goldman Sachs spokesman Edward Naylor said in a statement. “The firm continues to cooperate with all authorities investigating these matters.”

Three schemes

In its indictment last month, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) alleged that the conspirators cooked up three schemes to collect funds from 1MBD and diverted portions for their own use.

The first scheme, named Project Magnolia, began in early 2012, according to DOJ. Jho Low, Ng, Leissner and other unnamed conspirators allegedly agreed that assistance from Goldman, 1MDB would issue $1.75 billion in bonds guaranteed by an entity owned by Abu Dhabi’s government.

The U.S. government alleged that more than $500 million (2 billion ringgit) was misappropriated and diverted from 1MDB through wire transfers to bank accounts in the name of shell companies owned and controlled by Low, Leissner, Ng and other co-conspirators.

Beginning in May 2012 and running through 2013, the trio and unnamed conspirators pushed through a pair of bond transactions, Project Maximus and Project Catalyze, designed to raise more than $4 billion (16.7 billion ringgit) for 1MDB projects, the DOJ alleged.

“More than $2.7 billion (11.25 billion ringgit) was misappropriated from 1MDB and Jho Low, Ng, Leissner and others conspired to launder this money through the U.S. financial system to pay bribes to foreign officials and for the personal benefit of themselves and their relatives,” the U.S. government said at the time.

Among those named in the U.S. indictment as having received kickbacks were Malaysian Official 1 (MO1) and his wife, referred to as “the Madam,” in email correspondence among the three. MO1 has not been named in previous lawsuits related to 1MDB filed by the Justice Department, but sources have identified him as former Prime Minister Najib Razak, who faces 39 charges related to 1MDB in Malaysian courts.

Najib established 1MDB in 2009 to fund development projects throughout Malaysia. Investigators allege that $4.5 billion (18.7 billion ringgit) was embezzled from the beleaguered fund and laundered through real estate and other assets.

Guilt ‘predetermined by politics’

Jho Low, through a statement issued by an Australian public relations firm on Monday, maintained his innocence and asserted that he would not be given a fair trial in Malaysia.

“Mr. Low will not submit to any jurisdiction where guilt has been predetermined by politics and there is no independent legal process,” the statement attributed to Benjamin Haslem, co-CEO of Sydney-based Wells Haslem Mayhew Strategic Public Affairs.

Ng, who was arrested in Malaysia in relation to the U.S. charges, is the only one of the four defendants in custody. On Dec 13, a Malaysian court declined Ng’s application to be released on bail as High Court Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah branded him as likely to abscond.

“This is a special circumstance case and Ng is a flight risk,” the judge said.

Ng is expected to be extradited to the United States to face trial there.

Malaysian officials have said that Jho Low and Loo absconded and were to be extradited when captured.

By Michael Lelyveld

As sanction threats loom over its export plans, Russia is casting itself as a leading defender of China’s energy security.

At a bilateral energy meeting in Beijing last month, Igor Sechin, the head of Russia’s state-owned Rosneft oil giant, said his company expects to supply China with over 50 million metric tons (366.5 million barrels) of crude oil in 2018, up from nearly 40 million tons last year.

Rosneft “has a ‘leading role’ to play in ensuring China’s energy security,” said Sechin, a former deputy prime minister and close confidant of President Vladimir Putin, according to the Gazeta.ru website.

In his remarks at the first Russian-Chinese Energy Business Forum, Sechin suggested that U.S. trade frictions with China are pushing Moscow and Beijing closer together to pursue mutual benefits, particularly with petroleum exports from East Siberia and the Russian Far East.

“Certain aspects of the current political conditions in the world, increasing protectionism and [the] threat of trade wars in the world economy serve as additional incentives to cooperate more closely and make decisions faster,” Sechin said.

Without directly naming the United States, Sechin made clear that Russia sees pressure from Washington as a driving force that may promote its economic development in relations with China.

“In many ways, Russia ties prospects for increasing economic growth to advancing development of eastern territories and development of natural resources there,” said Sechin.

“China, in turn, is interested in ensuring its energy security and reliable supply channels,” he said, according to the TASS news agency.

China’s Vice Premier Han Zheng generally agreed with the assessment while applying the security issue more broadly.

“I would like to emphasize that the strengthening of the Russian-Chinese energy cooperation is very important for jointly ensuring energy security and forming the open global economy amid the rise in unilateralism and trade protectionism,” Han said, as quoted by Russia’s Sputnik news.

The broad theme of China’s energy security captured most of the forum’s focus in the absence of major deal announcements beyond Rosneft’s pledge to supply 2.4 million metric tons of additional oil to China National Chemical Corp. (ChemChina) over the next year.

Putin has also played up expectations of new openings for Russia in China as a result of U.S. tariffs.

“For us this creates certain opportunities,” Putin told an investment conference in Moscow on Nov. 28, the Russia Today website reported.

Putin cited plans to sell soybeans and other products to China, replacing U.S. supplies. Putin spoke before the United States and China declared a truce on additional tariffs on Dec. 1.

Although the Beijing energy forum yielded no new blockbuster deals, Russia has gradually increased its oil exports to China since Rosneft agreed in 2014 to a 25-year supply deal with China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), then valued at U.S. $270 billion (1.8 trillion yuan).

Russia has surpassed Saudi Arabia as China’s leading oil supplier for the past two years. In the first 10 months of this year, China’s imports from Russia have averaged 1.39 million barrels per day, Reuters said.

Moscow has also promoted its prospects as a major supplier of natural gas to China as the country struggles to curb emissions from coal with greater consumption of the cleaner-burning fuel.

Russia’s monopoly Gazprom is rushing to complete its 4,000-kilometer (2,485-mile) Power of Siberia pipeline project by the end of 2019 to deliver up to 38 billion cubic meters (1.3 trillion cubic feet) of gas per year to China by 2025.

Last month, Interfax reported that Gazprom is considering an expansion of the pipeline’s capacity to 48 billion cubic meters (bcm).

The company has been trying for years to reach an agreement with China on a western gas route to carry 30 bcm per year through Xinjiang, but so far with little success.

Sanction threats to ties

Despite all the talk about its role in energy security, neither side mentioned the risk of existing and proposed sanctions on Russia and the effects they could have on China’s energy ties.

Last week, the Eurasia Daily Monitor of the Washington- based Jamestown Foundation outlined a series of concerns that have hampered relations.

“Particularly troubling, from the Russian point of view, has been the news that Chinese banks are unwilling to support investments in Russia due to the growing risks for potential investors. Namely, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation has reported ‘problems with Chinese commercial banks stemming from economic sanctions imposed by third parties,'” the Monitor said.

Support for new sanctions on the Russian energy sector appears to be growing following Moscow’s seizure of three Ukrainian vessels and 24 crew members near the Kerch Strait and the Sea of Azov on Nov. 25.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has renewed calls on European Union and NATO nations to block Russia’s construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in response.

Kiev argues that the direct Nord Stream route across the Baltic Sea to Germany is aimed at ending Russia’s gas transit through Ukraine, further isolating the country.

On Nov. 8, U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry indicated that the administration of President Donald Trump has been considering sanctions against the U.S. $11 billion (75 billion yuan) project even before the Azov incident, Reuters reported.

“I saw no signals where we would ever get to the point where we can support Nord Stream 2,” Perry said at a press conference in Poland, adding that “sanctions were an option that the president maintained.”

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed separate resolutions condemning Russian aggression in the Sea of Azov and construction of the pipeline. The U.S. Senate passed a resolution denouncing Russia’s “provocative actions” on Nov.  29.

U.S. opposition to Nord Stream 2 is cited as a “statement of policy” in the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), signed into law last year.

The Nord Stream 2 project would double Russia’s direct gas exports to Europe, adding 55 bcm per year to the existing Nord Stream pipeline route, which opened in 2011.

The CAATSA policy statement opposing Nord Stream 2 cites “detrimental impacts on the European Union’s energy security, gas market development in Central and Eastern Europe, and energy reforms in Ukraine.”

Despite Germany’s support for the project, the European Commission has criticized it on similar grounds. The European Parliament passed a resolution against the pipeline on Dec. 12, calling it “a political project that poses a threat to European energy security.”

At a press briefing last week, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the resolution was “the result of lobbying,” Interfax reported.

Blocking the pipeline “is an insane thing to do for Europe, which needs energy supplies,” Zakharova said.

On Dec. 4, an unnamed senior official from the U.S. State Department told a meeting of NATO’s North Atlantic Council that “the Kerch incident should be a reminder to all of our European allies on why Nord Stream 2 is such a bad idea,” according to a transcript released in Washington.

On Nov. 30, Russia’s Gazprom monopoly, the primary shareholder for the project, said that 300 kilometers of the pipeline have already been laid, Interfax reported.

The impact on China of the Ukraine conflict and potential new sanctions on Russia has yet to be determined, but the threats could make Beijing more wary of relying on Moscow for its energy security. Russia’s willingness to use energy supplies for political purposes may also give China pause.

“Sure, Sechin and Rosneft need Chinese money, since medium-term financing from Western banks is no longer available,” said Edward Chow, senior associate for energy and national security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

“But there are sanctions risks for the Chinese side, such as Nord Stream 2 or Rosneft’s involvement in Iran,” Chow said.

It is unclear what effect new sanctions against Russia would have on China, but any obstacle to Russian exports in Europe could make Moscow even more motivated to pursue energy deals with China.

If new sanctions target sources of financing for Nord Stream 2 and other projects, China’s banks could become even more cautious about backing Russian deals.

Chinese caution

Since the Rosneft agreement in 2014, Chinese financing for Russian energy development has been relatively rare.

Despite years of Russian pressure to bankroll the Power of Siberia pipeline and other gas projects, China’s banks have largely steered clear of offering loans.

Instead, China’s commitments have focused on Russian projects where it has taken direct equity stakes, such as the Yamal LNG project led by Russian independent Novatek to develop and export liquefied natural gas from the arctic region to China and other markets.

In 2016, the Export-Import Bank of China and China Development Bank agreed to provide 15-year credit lines valued at some U.S. $12 billion (82 billion yuan) for the project after CNPC and the Silk Road Fund acquired 29.9 percent of the project’s shares.

China’s cautious approach to Russian financing may be seen as a measure of how heavily Beijing is relying on Russia for its energy security.

“I have seen mostly hype about Chinese investment in Russian energy, with the one exception of Yamal LNG, which started before the Ukraine crisis and related sanctions,” said Chow.

“Most of these so-called deals are about trade and maybe pre-financing secured by supply. I don’t see a lot of real investment deals, just a lot of the same ideas that have been circulating for decades,” he said.

British Prime Minister Theresa May and other prominent conservatives denied preparing for a second Brexit referendum, despite reports such an outcome was becoming increasingly likely.

British bookmaker William Hill placed the possibility of a second referendum at 54 percent Sunday after the European Court of Justice ruled that Britain could cancel Brexit without the permission of the other 27 European Union members as May indicated she would rescind a vote on a withdrawal agreement after observing it would be defeated by a “significant margin” in parliament.

“We think she is out of options and the most palatable of the two remaining options is a people’s vote,” William Hill spokesman Rupert Adams told CNN.

Cabinet Office Minister David Lidington also held talks with Labor Party lawmakers in hopes of building a cross-party coalition for a second referendum. Lidington and other senior ministers, including Philip Hammond, Amber Rudd, David Gauke and Greg Clark believe a second referendum is the only way to settle the stalemate in parliament.

May’s chief of staff, Gavin Barwell, denied reports from two Sunday papers that he was among those who believed a second referendum was the only way forward in a series of tweets.

“Happy to confirm I am *not* planning a 2nd referendum with political opponents (or anyone else to anticipate the next question),” he wrote.

Education Secretary Damian Hinds said the government’s policy “couldn’t be clearer” in terms of avoiding a second vote.

“We are here to act on the will of the people clearly expressed in the referendum,” said Hinds. “A second referendum would be divisive. We had the people’s vote, we had the referendum, and now we’ve got to get on with implementing it. Any idea that having a second referendum now would break through an impasse is wrong. It might postpone the impasse, but then it would extend it.”

May on Sunday also spoke out against former Labor Prime Minister Tony Blair, who publicly called for a second vote.

“There are too many people who want to subvert the process for their own political interests rather than acting in the national interest,” she said. “For Tony Blair to go to Brussels and seek to undermine our negotiations by advocating for a second referendum is an insult to the office he once held and the people he once served.”

May plans to meet with the 27 European Union ambassadors in addition to sending her most senior legal officer, Jonathan Jones, to Brussels next week in pursuit of securing legally binding assurances on a plan to prevent reestablishing a hard border with Northern Ireland if the sides fail to reach a trade deal.

Original source

More than one in eight U.S. adults (12.6 percent) used benzodiazepines in the past year, up from previous reports. Misuse of the prescription drugs accounted for more than 17 percent of overall use, according to a study published online in Psychiatric Services in Advance.

The researchers defined misuse as any way a doctor did not direct, including using the drug without a prescription or more often or longer than prescribed. Misuse was highest among young adults 18 to 25 (5.6 percent) and was as common as prescribed use.

Benzodiazepines are a class of medications used to treat conditions such as anxiety and insomnia. They include Alprazolam (Xanax, Niravam) diazepam (Valium), clonazepam (Klonopin), lorazepam (Ativan) and others. Researchers analyzed data from the 2015 and 2016 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

Although there were differences in the studies, research from 2013 and 2014 found about 4 to 6 percent of adults used benzodiazepines. Previous national estimates of use have not accounted for misuse. In addition to finding that overall use has increased, today’s study is the first analysis to find the highest benzodiazepine use among adults 50 to 64 years (13 percent); previous studies found the highest use was among those 65 and older. Whereas women were more likely than men to report any use of benzodiazepines, men were more likely than women to report misuse.

Benzodiazepine use has come under increasing scrutiny given the associated harms and safer alternatives, particularly in light of the opioid epidemic. The study found benzodiazepine misuse was strongly associated with misuse of or dependence on prescription opioids or stimulants.

When asked about the reasons for misuse, nearly half said to relax or relieve tension and just over a quarter said to help with sleep. Among people taking benzodiazepines without a prescription, the most common source was a friend or relative.

The authors, led by Donovan Maust, M.D., with the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, suggest that patients also prescribed stimulants or opioids should be monitored for benzodiazepine misuse. They also note that some misuse may reflect limited access to health care generally and behavioral treatments specifically and suggest that some misuse could be reduced with improved access to behavioral interventions for sleep or anxiety.

Trump has described the payments his bag man, Michael Cohen, made to two women during the 2016 campaign so they wouldn’t discuss their alleged affairs with him, as “a simple private transaction.”

Last Saturday, when ABC’s George Stephanopoulos asked Cohen if Trump knew the payments were wrong and were made to help his election, Cohen replied “Of course … . He was very concerned about how this would affect the election.”

Even if Trump intended that the payments aid his presidential bid, it doesn’t necessarily follow that he knew they were wrong.

Trump might have reasoned that a deal is a deal: The women got hundreds of thousands of dollars in return for agreeing not to talk about his affairs with them. So where’s the harm?  

After two years of Trump we may have overlooked the essence of his insanity: His brain sees only private interests transacting. It doesn’t comprehend the public interest.

Private transactions can’t be wrong or immoral because, by definition, they require that every party to them be satisfied. Otherwise there wouldn’t be a deal.

Viewed this way, everything else falls into place.

For example, absent a public interest, there can’t be conflicts of interest.

So when lobbyists representing the Saudi government paid for an estimated 500 nights at Trump’s Washington, D.C.hotel within a month of his election, and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman rented so many rooms at theTrump International Hotel in Manhattan that its revenues rose in 2018 after years of decline, Trump saw it as half of a private transaction.

The other half: Trump would continually go to bat for Saudi Arabia and the Crown Prince, even after the Senate passed a resolution blaming the Crown Prince for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

“Saudi Arabia, I get along with all of them. They buy apartments from me. They spend $40 million, $50 million,” Trump told a crowd at an Alabama rally in August 2015. “Am I supposed to dislike them? I like them very much.”

Ethics smethics. Without a public interest, no deals can be ethical violations. All are just private transactions.  

So someone donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural committee and subsequently received a $5 billion loan from the Energy Department. What’s the problem? Both parties got what they wanted. (Federal prosecutors are now investigating this.)

Trump aide and former Fox News executive Bill Shine continues to rake in millions each year from Fox News, and Fox News continues to give Trump the positive coverage he wants. What’s the worry? It’s a good deal for both sides.

This private transactional worldview also helps explain Trump’s foreign policy.

According to Trump, North Korea’s Kim Jong Un writes him such “beautiful letters,” that “we fell in love.”

So what if Kim continues to develop nuclear missiles? Trump gets bragging rights as the first American president to have a good private relationship with the North Korean president.

He and Russian President Vladimir Putin have a “beautiful relationship,” presumably opening the way to all sorts of private transactions.

In July 2016, after emails from the Democratic National Committee were leaked to the public, Trump declared “Putin likes me” and thinks “I’m a genius.” Trump then publicly called on Russia to find emails Hillary Clinton had deleted from the private account she used when she was secretary of state.

That same day, Russians made their first effort to break into the servers used by her personal office, according to an indictment from the special counsel’s office charging twelve Russians with election hacking.

So what? Trump asks.

Even as evidence mounts that Trump aides were in frequent contact with Russian agents during this time, Trump insists he wasn’t involved in any collusion with Putin.

Collusion means joining together in violation of the public interest. If Trump’s brain comprehends only private interests, even a transaction in which Putin offered explicit help winning the election in return for Trump weakening NATO and giving Russia unfettered license in Ukraine wouldn’t be collusive.

When private deals are everything, the law is irrelevant. This also seems to fit with Trump’s worldview.

If he genuinely believes the hush money he had Cohen pay was a “simple private transaction,” Trump must not think the nation’s campaign finance laws apply to him. But if they don’t, why would laws and constitutional provisions barring collusion with foreign powers apply to him?

As we enter the third year of his presidency, Trump’s utter blindness to the public interest is a terrifying possibility. At least a scoundrel knows when he is doing bad things. A megalomaniac who only sees the art of the deal, doesn’t.

Seventy-nine years ago, on December 14, 1939, the League of Nations expelled the Soviet Union from membership for its actions against Finland, an act of principle by an organization most people consider to have been incapable of that and one that has not been equaled by international bodies for Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Georgia and Ukraine.

The motion to exclude the Soviet Union for its actions was introduced by Argentina on the basis of the League’s own 1933 resolution defining aggression, Russian commentator Yury Khristenzen recalls, along with information about Stalin’s bombing of Helsinki that has an all-too-disturbing echo in the words of Putin representatives now (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5C153AA75C3E2).

At the time that Soviet planes were bombing the Finnish capital, Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov insisted that the Soviet bombers were not dropping bombs but rather “food for starving Finns.  That led the Finns in turn to refer to Soviet bombers as “Molotov’s bread delivery trucks.”

In a similar way, the Finnish army began to refer to homemade weapons it used to fight the Soviet invaders as “Molotov cocktails,” a name that has survived. Unfortunately, the principled position of the League of Nations has not. To be sure, the League’s actions did not stop Stalin, but they did underscore that the international community viewed him as a criminal.      

The great Russian memoirist Nadezhda Mandelshtam famously observed that “happy is the country in which the despicable will at least be despised.” Sometimes despising evil is all that someone can do; but at the same time, it should be the minimum.  

A new electronic device can developed at the University of Michigan can directly model the behaviors of a synapse, which is a connection between two neurons.

For the first time, the way that neurons share or compete for resources can be explored in hardware without the need for complicated circuits.

“Neuroscientists have argued that competition and cooperation behaviors among synapses are very important. Our new memristive devices allow us to implement a faithful model of these behaviors in a solid-state system,” said Wei Lu, U-M professor of electrical and computer engineering and senior author of the study in Nature Materials.

Memristors are electrical resistors with memory–advanced electronic devices that regulate current based on the history of the voltages applied to them. They can store and process data simultaneously, which makes them a lot more efficient than traditional systems. They could enable new platforms that process a vast number of signals in parallel and are capable of advanced machine learning.

The memristor is a good model for a synapse. It mimics the way that the connections between neurons strengthen or weaken when signals pass through them. But the changes in conductance typically come from changes in the shape of the channels of conductive material within the memristor. These channels–and the memristor’s ability to conduct electricity–could not be precisely controlled in previous devices.

Now, the U-M team has made a memristor in which they have better command of the conducting pathways.They developed a new material out of the semiconductor molybdenum disulfide–a “two-dimensional” material that can be peeled into layers just a few atoms thick. Lu’s team injected lithium ions into the gaps between molybdenum disulfide layers.

They found that if there are enough lithium ions present, the molybdenum sulfide transforms its lattice structure, enabling electrons to run through the film easily as if it were a metal. But in areas with too few lithium ions, the molybdenum sulfide restores its original lattice structure and becomes a semiconductor, and electrical signals have a hard time getting through.

The lithium ions are easy to rearrange within the layer by sliding them with an electric field. This changes the size of the regions that conduct electricity little by little and thereby controls the device’s conductance.

“Because we change the ‘bulk’ properties of the film, the conductance change is much more gradual and much more controllable,” Lu said.

In addition to making the devices behave better, the layered structure enabled Lu’s team to link multiple memristors together through shared lithium ions–creating a kind of connection that is also found in brains. A single neuron’s dendrite, or its signal-receiving end, may have several synapses connecting it to the signaling arms of other neurons. Lu compares the availability of lithium ions to that of a protein that enables synapses to grow.

If the growth of one synapse releases these proteins, called plasticity-related proteins, other synapses nearby can also grow–this is cooperation. Neuroscientists have argued that cooperation between synapses helps to rapidly form vivid memories that last for decades and create associative memories, like a scent that reminds you of your grandmother’s house, for example. If the protein is scarce, one synapse will grow at the expense of the other–and this competition pares down our brains’ connections and keeps them from exploding with signals.

Lu’s team was able to show these phenomena directly using their memristor devices. In the competition scenario, lithium ions were drained away from one side of the device. The side with the lithium ions increased its conductance, emulating the growth, and the conductance of the device with little lithium was stunted.

In a cooperation scenario, they made a memristor network with four devices that can exchange lithium ions, and then siphoned some lithium ions from one device out to the others. In this case, not only could the lithium donor increase its conductance–the other three devices could too, although their signals weren’t as strong.

Lu’s team is currently building networks of memristors like these to explore their potential for neuromorphic computing, which mimics the circuitry of the brain.

Warnings from climate scientists and climate monitoring organizations are growing progressively more dire, frightening and depressing. There is new evidence that the melt rate of Greenland’s mile-thick ice cover is starting to happen at a “runaway” pace — one that could end up raising sea levels by some 23 feet. New evidence too that Western Antarctica, with enough ice to raise sea levels by 65 feet or more is starting to melt, joining Eastern Antarctica which has already been melting rapidly. There are also increasing fear among scientists that massive deposits of methane clathrates, a kind of ice composed of methane and water ice, lying just beneath the bottom of the shallow Arctic Ocean off the coast of Siberia and North America, are starting to boil up through the warming sea bottom, threatening to burst in a series of gigantic methane “burps” into the atmosphere, which would add immeasurably to greenhouse gasses (methane is anywhere from 26 – 80 times as potent a greenhouse gas as is CO2).

Meanwhile, as this crisis grows, we in the US, the second largest contributor of CO2 in the world, are confronted with the criminal negligence and deliberate climate action sabotage of the Trump administration and the Republican majority in Congress (aided by a few key Democrats), who still insist that global heating is a fraud and a conspiracy.

I think it is time that we as a people, we as human beings watching this insane effort to hasten our and much of the whole global biosphere’s extinction, begin contemplating the kind of punishment that would be appropriate to mete out to the criminal class in Washington, DC, beginning at the top with the execrable Donald Trump, whose own flatulence, courtesy of a diet of deep-fried fast food is probably a significant contributor to global atmospheric methane (and would deem him a threat to homeland security if he ever allowed smokers into the enclosed space of the Oval Office with him).

I’m not a supporter of capital punishment, so I can’t call for a guillotine or a hangman’s noose, gas chamber or electric chair. But I think a creative punishment that would likely lead to Trump’s premature demise would be acceptable, as long as it was slow and in some way attributable to the disaster that he himself has helped to bring on us all.

With that in mind, I propose that, once Trump is out of office, and once the evidence of the role his criminal promotion of increased burning of carbon-based fuels has played in accelerating the process of global heating becomes clear to all but the most ignorant and besotted of his backers, he be tried and then transported with all haste up to the North Pole, where he would, following an ancient Inuit tradition applied in times of existential crisis to those deemed a burden on society, be set on a smallish Iceberg, and left to freeze to death, be eaten by a starving polar bear, or drown once the iceberg shrank to a point it would no long hold his bulk above water. He could be provided with a knife and a harpoon, perhaps, and a picnic  cooler full of Big Macs and fries (we don’t have to be heartless about this, after all).

While the Inuit no longer practice senilicide, it was used in times of hardship in times of yore to make it easier for the rest of the group to survive on limited food supplies. Those too old or frail to contribute to the group’s survival in such times were seen as expendable. In Trump’s case, he is demonstrably already too old and frail to contribute to anything useful (can you image Trump planting corn or harvesting sheaves of rice in a paddy?). Indeed, he has not contributed anything useful in a lifetime of building a tawdry real estate empire, and more recently while residing in the White House and Mar-a-Largo..  Moreover, he stands guilty already of helping to make the US and the world a much less secure provider of food for the 7.5 billion humans living on the planet.

I look at our two kids, currently 34 and 25, and at our six-year-old granddaughter, and my blood boils to think that years are being wasted by Trump and his Republican enablers — years that could have, under responsible, inspired leadership,  been used to aggressively attack the cause of climate change, which is the expanding use of carbon-based fuels and the frantic conspicuous consumption of wasteful foods and goods. Perhaps had his two years as President been used that way,  climate change might have slowed its advance,  giving humankind and the biosphere more of a chance to adapt to the inevitable catastrophe.

I am furious that my kids they have such a dystopic future to look forward to, with millions — perhaps billions — starving to death around the globe, with resource wars and migrations that will make today’s fake news “caravans” to the Mexico border look like class trips, with the system of laws in the US breaking down as the desperate have-nots begin to organize to take what they need to survive from the wealthy, as the wealthy turn to the police and military to try and keep them at bay. I weep at the inevitable loss of the world’s astounding biodiversity as millions of creatures that cannot adapt to the rapid changes in their habitat and to the the loss of food that they have evolved over millions of years to rely upon — something that is already happening rapidly.

From my perspective, watching the criminal Trump, no doubt wining and shouting in fear and anger, as he drifts off towards the horizon on a shrinking block of ice, would provide at least a measure of catharsis.

We could do the same with some of the more irresponsible leaders of Congress — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), a rabid climate change denier who for years headed the Senate Committee on the Environment. Both deserve the ice floe treatment for their epic crimes against humanity. Candidates on the House side for similar treatment would be former House Majority Leader Paul Ryan (R-WI) and current House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (D-CA).

But let’s be clear: It’s not just Republicans who have been blocking action on climate change. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), another climate change denier who just narrowly won election in his state, is being awarded by the Democratic leadership with a seat on the Senate Energy Committee, where he will continue to support the construction of more coal-fired generating plants. For this kind of treason against our country’s and our children’s’ future, he deserves his own slow melting iceberg.

The sad truth is it may not be possible to punish all the climate criminals in Congress with one-way rides on icebergs, since by the time we get to a point where the American public is ready to arrest, try and condemn them, there may be little or no ice left to launch them on. According to one analysis done in 2017 by vice.com, there were 53 senators that year who were climate change deniers. That included, several Democrats like Manchin. In the House that year, the article reported that 232 out of 435 House members were climate change deniers, again including some Democrats. That’s a lot of floating ice, and by next summer it may be all gone.

So I hereby invite readers to submit, at TCBHmail@gmail.com or on our facebook page, to suggest your alternative punishments for these politicians whose crimes will, as long as there is still a history of mankind being written, go down as the worst of all time.

By Konradus Epa

Pope Francis has expressed support for Indonesia’s controversial fight against illegal fishing during a meeting with the Southeast Asian country’s Maritime and Fisheries minister at the Vatican.

Susi Pudjiastuti, who met the pope on Dec. 12, has caused controversy for her no-nonsense approach to dealing with illegal fishing, which she says has seriously depleted fish stocks and damaged maritime ecological systems.

As part of her campaign she has ordered Indonesian security forces to blow up and sink hundreds of fishing vessels, both local and foreign, caught fishing illegally in Indonesian waters. At least 448 ships have been sunk since she took office in October, 2014. Some 125 mostly foreign vessels were destroyed in August alone in 11 locations across Indonesia.

The papal Nuncio to Indonesia, Archbishop Piero Pioppo, invited the minister to the Vatican in October while he was attending an Our Ocean Conference (OOC) in Bali. The conference focused on developing ways to maintain the sustainability of oceans. Pudjiastuti said Pope Francis asked her to continue what she was doing and offered to pray for her to succeed in her struggle. 

The Vatican also agreed to back Indonesia on marine environmental issues at the United Nations.

“I am very happy because we have a new friend to support this cause,” she said, adding that she also invited the pope to visit Indonesia. After meeting Pope Francis, Pudjiastuti held talks with Vatican Foreign Minister Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher for 30 minutes to discuss efforts to stamp out illegal fishing and “slavery” in the industry.

Pope Francis has often voiced concerns over environmental issues, including maritime ones, and called on mankind to act concretely to save the earth through his 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si’. 

Franciscan Father Peter Aman, director of Indonesia’s Franciscan Justice Peace Integrity and Creation panel, said the pope invited the minister to the Vatican because what she has done is in accordance with his encyclical. “It was moral support for her to carry on with what she is doing,” he said.

The Iraqi air force on 11 December destroyed two buildings in the city of Hajin in Syria where heads of the Daesh terror group have held regular meetings, the Defence Ministry of Iraq reported.

“The airstrike completely destroyed two buildings. They were used by top Daesh leadership to conduct regular meetings”, the ministry said in a statement.

The information about the airstrikes was confirmed by the US Central Command, which however said that the strikes targeted the city of As Susah.

“Iraqi Security Forces conducted an airstrike against two ISIS locations Dec. 11, 2018 in As Susah, Syria. The airstrike resulted in the destruction of two buildings used by senior ISIS leaders as meeting places; the destruction of these buildings severely degrades ISIS’ ability to have command and control over the remaining fighters in and around As Susah,” the US Central Command said in a statement.

The Iraqi ministry also highlighted that the recent airstrike had diminished the possibility that the remaining Daesh members could carry out terrorist acts in Hajin province.

The recent airstrike by Iraqi forces comes in wake of the killing late last month of a senior leader of the Daesh terrorist group by the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) during a military operation in Syria.

In October, the ISF stated that Baghdad was boosting security at its border with Syria in order to prevent terrorists from infiltrating the country.

Earlier, in August, the Iraqi Air Forces carried out air raids against Daesh on the territory of Syria. The operation was coordinated with the Syrian government.