"If humanitarian agencies are kicked out of north-east Nigeria then
thousands of Nigerian civilians will needlessly die, including many
children – it will be a humanitarian disaster"
"{Someone needs to ask the Nigerians and the UN some serious questions
about how the government of Nigeria is getting away with this while it
sits on stage in New York, presiding over the UN general assembly and
preaching about ending conflict and fighting poverty in the drive to
reach the sustainable development goals." Aid Agency Worker
"Action Against Hunger delivers neutral, impartial and independent
humanitarian aid to millions of people in Borno and Yobe states by
providing basic services to the most vulnerable people, especially women
and children." Action Against Hunger
Soldiers block the entrance of the aid agency Mercy Corps’ office in Maiduguri after closing it down.
Photograph: Audu Marte/AFP/Getty Images
Nigeria, the most populous of African countries and the most wealthy in natural fossil fuel resources, with its population split between Christians and Muslims has been incapable of defending its people and ridding itself of the dominating, murderous curse of Boko Haram, Islamist jihadists. Its military has been underfunded, foot soldiers using decrepit old weapons, corruption in both the military elite ranks and the government itself at every level is legendary. And ordinary people suffer.
For ten years Nigerians have been victimized by the brutality of the Islamists and the fecklessness of the government. The Islamist extremists have declared war and the government has responded half-heartedly. Allocating more funding to the military, acquiring newer weapons, all the while that Boko Haram is arming itself with even better weapons. Some, in fact, from abandoned armouries looted by the vandals when troops retreat, anxious for their own safety, abandoning their posts.
It's a strategy-without-honour seen played out years ago in Iraq when Islamic State marched on Mosul, the Iraqi defence forces scurried off, allowing ISIL to loot the national treasury of almost a billion dollars and take possession of the hastily departing Iraqi military's weapons caches and vehicles, courtesy of U.S. generosity in the fight against terror. President Muhammadu Buhari's re-election had him boasting about making spectacular progress in defeating Boko Haram; "technically defeated".
A term that has little meaning to the farmers and villagers whose livelihoods have been destroyed, villages emptied, men killed, women kidnapped and raped. Despite the government having 'defeated' Boko Haram, they have now control of four of the ten areas in northern Borno State close to Lake Chad. From their jumping off spots they continue to mount raids on an almost daily schedule. So the people living there don't think much of the defeat of Boko Haram.
The Nigerian military is in a congenital state of demoralization. Initially it was because the military was underfunded, the soldiers not well trained or armed. Now they're on the defensive as well as being demoralized, as though they realize they aren't capable of winning in a fight against the terrorists. Some in the military point out their vehicles and weapons have fallen into disrepair; their organizational skills leave much to be desired.
But a new tactic has gained sway, with the military announcing plans to pull back troops from isolated outposts to gather them within fortified settlements called "super camps" installed inside garrison towns where tens of thousands of civilians have been settled. They're there because either Boko Haram ousted them or soldiers burned their villages, rounding them up with claims this would secure the countryside. Trenches ring the garrison towns in hopes of deflecting invasions by the terrorists.
The end result of this bold new direction in military tactics has been to give Boko Haram free reign in the countryside, barren of its inhabitants. When President Buhari was first elected there was headway made against Boko Haram by the Nigerian military, with fighters routed from the state capital of Maiduguri and small cities taken by Boko Haram, pushing them back toward their forest barricades.
The military commanders in the face of criticism over strategy now say the super camps represent a more effective way of dealing with an insurgency whose attacks against the military are more complex. Among some officials the super camps represent an outright retreat, with one federal official characterizing the new strategy as jeopardizing the situation even further with soldiers barricading themselves out of harm's way.
Giving Boko Haram the opportunity to raid the gear soldiers leave behind them while abandoning their posts for the security of the super camps. According to locals, some soldiers have been seen to flee in the face of attacks, preferring not to remain in fighting mettle. Outside the military's reach, people tolerate the presence of militants because they can do nothing else after returning to their farms, preferring to earn a living rather than submit to crowded camps where cholera and other diseases lurk.
The government itself has turned its attention on the presence of humanitarian groups in the country, doing their utmost to provide medical care and food to Nigerians living in dreadful straits. Inexplicably, the government has charged these charitable groups with using their funding in support of Boko Haram. Aid offices have been closed down after being charged with aiding and supporting Boko Harm or Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
This is a country totally at the mercy of an ineffective government with little idea how to cope with the threats within, and turning instead to outside agencies to blame them for the hopeless inadequacy of their responses to the terror within.
"My left foot below my ankle snapped in half ... the whole bottom of my leg came loose." "I was right down on the creek bed so I had access to water, but if they came back [a helicopter] ... I knew I had to crawl again. I could only get a metre or a metre-and-a-half each time before I had to stop. It was only three kilometres, but two days to cover three kilometres, I thought I was never going to get there." "It was the worst possible scenario ... it was getting very emotional thinking, it's not a nice way to die, just laying here waiting, waiting." Neil Parker, Australian bushwalker
South Pine River near Mount Nebo
Somehow, this man fortified himself psychologically to allow his body to be activated when it was more intent on shutting down entirely. He crawled, he said, for two days with "the whole bottom half" of his leg "loose". Compelled to do so, to move himself to another spot in a forested bush, where helicopters flying overhead might have the chance to spot him, awaiting rescue from a dreadful ordeal.
The incident took place on Sunday last, not far from Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, when the seasoned bush walker slipped and fell six metres down a waterfall, breaking his leg and wrist. He had failed to take the precaution of informing those who knew him or local authorities or anyone at all that he meant to bushwalk Cabbage Tree Creek on Mount Nebo. He knew where he was, but no one else did.
Still, experience and confidence in one's ability to cope in natural surroundings came to his rescue. He fashioned a splint with his hiking sticks, despite the pain he was experiencing. It was either do something to help his survival odds or just surrender to the inevitable. He at least had both the skill and the determination to make an effort to even the odds of survival.
Mount Nebo and South D'Agular
The 54-year-old dragged himself three kilometres in two days to reach an area where he hoped helicopter crews might see him. He had an energy bar, some candies and basic painkillers in his pack, and water. Earlier, before he made his move, he had heard a helicopter overhead but knew his position was not in favour of being spotted. That led to his decision to crawl the three kilometres to a spot more congenial to being detected from above.
When he'd fallen, his mobile phone fell into the creek and disappeared. Somehow, authorities were alerted to the fact that someone was in need of rescue. Perhaps his vehicle was seen parked and hadn't been moved for too long. At Archerfield Airbase the Queensland Government Air Service was alerted and flew out to the last location where he was known to be present.
An hour later, rescue crew officer David Turnbull, despite a heavy tree canopy, managed to spot the injured man. After his rescue, the bushwalker explained he'd been forced to "carry his leg" for the two-day crawl. "Legs are very heavy when they're not connected to anything", he said ruefully. And does he have something to say to other hikers? "Simply don't go alone."
"I was fairly worried because I hadn’t told anybody where I was
going. I had no way of contacting them to tell there where I was. So it
was the worst possible scenario." "[I was thinking how] I’ve done some of the hardest walks in
Australia and not injured myself. And going on a three-hour training
track and I’ve come to grief, big time. So lessons learned and the
training and influence from friends, including my ex-wife, who has
trained me a lot in the long-distance stuff." "My kids live overseas. They’re coming over next week, so it will be
good to see them. Haven’t seen them for a while. So yeah, it was getting
very emotional thinking – it’s not a nice way to die, just laying here
waiting, waiting."
He was forced to carry his leg after it snapped clean in half. Picture: AAP/Albert PerezSource:AAP
"[Cameron
Ortis, high-ranking RCMP intelligence official has been accused of
violating Canada's secrecy laws, accused of breaching the Security of
Information Act and the Criminal Code]." "[Five
charges filed against him include the] unauthorized communication
of special operational information, [possessing a device or software]
useful for concealing the content of information or for surreptitiously
communicating, obtaining or retaining information, [and breach of trust
by a public officer]."
"[The unit within RCMP where Mr Ortis worked is] a fusion centre and a
clearing house [for both internal intelligence and for sensitive
information received from other Canadian and foreign intelligence
agencies and allies]." "[The damage could be] very serious [but] no one knows what the link
between potential and real damage might be at this stage." "The reality of his position is he would have had knowledge of a wide
range of national security files. That's partly what of
course worries Canada and worries Canada's allies." Wesley Wark, visiting professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Ottawa
"He's basically Clark Kent in looks and in his dedication to do the right thing. He's the closest thing I know to a superhero." "He's smarter than everybody -- I don't care who you put him in a room with." "He wanted to be on the undisputed side of good." "He's
been offered all this money so many times to take a cushy job and he's
never taken it. Unless there's some other element to it -- blackmail or
gambling -- it doesn't make sense ... There's got to be more to it." Chris Parry, former journalist, friend of 18 years
"I
remember talking to him a couple of times about books people had
written about crime and terrorism. I was always impressed with the
academic rigour he brought to critiques of those books." Angus Smith, retired senior intelligence adviser
"[I
homed in on East Asia as the focus of study into cyber intrusion in
part because of the region's] growing reputation as a breeding ground
for software piracy, crackers, virus writers and lackadaisical system
administrators." "The region plays host to the most advanced use of the Internet by organized crime groups." Introduction to PhD dissertation, Cameron Otis
Cameron Ortis in 2010. .Handout
No one, not his high school peers who were his admirers and friends at
W.J. Mouat Secondary from which he graduated in 1990, the local pastor
who was his father at the Emmanuel Mennonite Church, those who knew him
at university as mentors and professors, much less his friends of that
period and his later colleagues at the RCMP unit where he worked as a
senior administrator suspected the man of being anyone other than what
they saw him as; a brilliant mind, a dedicated intelligence officer, a
man loyal to his country.
His LinkedIn profile reflects study at the University of British Columbia in Prince George where one of his professors laid "the groundwork for a continuing interest and passion for the study of international relations"(in his words). He completed a master's degree at McMaster University in Hamilton where his thesis title was: "The Asian economic crisis: the changing nature of the relationship between domestic institutions and the international system".
At University of British Columbia, pursuing graduate studies from 1999
through 2006 he remained fascinated with Asia. And so it made sense that
field work of a number of years saw him travelling to eight cities in
Asia to interview government officials, engineers and members of the "hacker community", where he described the "precarious undertaking" involved in pursuing face-to-face interviews in dealing with sophisticated crackers -- network intruders -- and not low-level "script kiddies".
His computer expertise attracted large firms, but their job offers were
turned down, irrespective of the sky-high salaries on offer. He
maintained a laser focus on travel and research and then in 2007 his
career with the RCMP began, as a civilian analyst. The first years with
the National Security Criminal Investigations program where he was a
tactical/operations analyst, taking information gleaned from
investigations to find linkages.
When the national police force underwent a major reorganization within
its federal policing branch in 2013, a new unit was created named the
National Intelligence Coordination Centre, and Cameron Ortis was
elevated to the position of director-general with access to not only
Canada's intelligence files but those of its allies as well, which would
include the 'Five Eyes', group of the United States, Britain, New
Zealand and Australia. Any breach in intelligence would include the
entire group's intelligence, shared between them.
In 2015, Cameron Otis was alleged to have communicated "special operational information".
There was suspicion that between September 2018 and September 2019 he
began to access information -- inclusive of possessing a device or
software useful for concealing or surreptitiously obtaining information
to enable him to hare it with a foreign entity or terrorist
organizxation; clear "internal corruption". This was revealed when the agency was involved in an investigation led by the FBI.
A probe focused on a man in Richmond, B.C., Vincent Ramos, whose
company, Phantom Secure, aided in facilitating the flow of cocaine and
allied drugs globally through supplying high-level traffickers with
encrypted communications devices designed to throw law enforcement off
their scent. Investigators appear to believe that Cameron Ortis reached
out to Ramos by email with an offer of "valuable" information.
"If
the allegations are proven, it would be frustrating that someone who
perhaps had the highest-profile career [within the intelligence
investigations branch of the RCMP] as a civilian ... has made these
missteps." "My
concern would be this would be a setback to those efforts [where senior
managers "sweat a lot of blood to attract people outside the core
policing stream into the RCMP] because they're still important." Allan Castle, civilian member in charge of criminal intelligence analysis, RCMP E-Division, British Columbia
RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki provides an
update on the ongoing investigation, arrest and charges against Cameron
Ortis at RCMP National Headquarters in Ottawa on Sept. 17, 2019.Chris Wattie/The Canadian Press
"Erdogan's recent comments on unleashing a new refugee wave are a product of his growing frustration with the huge number already in Turkey." Bulent Aliriza, director, Turkey project, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington
"We felt like in the next five minutes they [Turkish authorities] could come and throw us out." "The situation is such that many [other Syrian refugees whose stay in Turkey is no longer tolerated] are going to come [to Lesbos, Greece]." Youssef al-Hasssan, 44, Syrian refugee from Turkey, recent Lesbos arrival
Migrants and refugees waiting to board a ship at the port of Mytilene
"[Erdogan is welcome to discuss any renegotiation of the agreement with the EU, but] not with threats." "It can't be possible for a country to refuse to take in 50 or 100
children. Some states want all the benefits of freedom of
movement afforded by the Schengen agreement, but refuse to share
burdens." Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis
A total of 547 people landed on arrived at Skala Sikamias, Lesvos Island, including 177 men, 124 women and 246 children.Credit:
REX
"[Sixteen rubber dinghies carrying about 650 mostly Syrian and Afghans,
including 240 children, some had to be
rescued from the water.]" "It surprised us. It’s highly unusual to have so many boats at the
same time, it’s an anomaly." "It’s the highest
number in a single day for three years. We can’t say for certain what
the reason is." Boris Cheshirkov, spokesman, United
Nation’s refugee agency in Greece, August 30
At 5:45 p.m. the first dinghy landed near a remote Greek fishing village. And then there were others. About 35 minutes later when the 13th dinghy arrived, 547 migrants had landed in broad daylight, on the Greek island of Lesbos. The European Union, flooded with refugees in the past several years had pledged over $6 billion to Turkey to help it deal with the three-and-a-half million Syrian refugees that had crossed from Syria into Turkey to live in crowded refugee camps. Turkey had just recently begun to 'return' Syrian refugees back to Syria.
The funding was to convince Recep Tayyip Erdogan it would be in everyone's best interests for him to ensure tightening border patrols to keep more migrants away from Europe reflected a mutual agreement. Since that pact, few refugee boats had appeared on the Greek coast. And then came August and suddenly a new wave of migrations appeared, feeding fear in Europe of another mass movement on its way.
The refugees were transferred to Moria Reception and Identification CentreCredit:
REX
Lesbos was the most frantic entry point into Europe in 2015 for people fleeing the civil war in Syria, primarily. At the height of the crisis in 2015 over 210,000 refugees had entered Greece, while last month close to 10,000 migrants arrived in the country; a much reduced burden. The latest migration comes courtesy of President Erdogan, once again threatening to allow greater numbers to make their way to Greece through Turkey.
Turkey has certain demands of European politicians and should they fail to surrender additional financial support or challenge his plans to extend Turkish influence in northern Syria: "This either happens or otherwise we will have to open the gates", to the 3.6 million Syrian refugees living in Turkey as well as the hundreds of thousands from other countries if Turkey makes their life untenable or relaxes vigilance to ensure they stay out of Europe. To Europe such another invasion would be devastating.
Turkey's Coast Guard failed to respond on August 29 when smugglers from Turkey gathered the 600 to send them to Greece; obviously complicit in the interests of sending a warning. Turkey's Coast Guard vessels patrol in the morning, knowing that smugglers tend to send refugees to Greece in the afternoon. Over 80 percent of migrants landing on Lesbos in August were Afghans, where precarious situations in Turkey and Iran spur their efforts to reach Europe.
On Lesbos some ten thousand migrants are crammed into a camp built to hold three thousand. The European Union has allocated $1.9 billion in subsidy aid to Greece in the interests of refugee welfare, but Greece refuses to improve camp facilities, fearing this would serve to encourage the arrival of greater numbers of migrants. Residents in the camp live in tattered tents, waiting up to 12 hours daily in line for food distribution, which is often short.
Fights and sex assaults are a regular feature of life in the camp, as well as raw sewage occasionally leaking into tents. Medical workers are overwhelmed by the struggle to treat a rising number of patients. Fleeing the fear of death and lives of deprivation, only to find themselves living in a situation of absolute hell.
Syrians from
the country's northern countryside demonstrate by the Bab al-Hawa
crossing between Turkey and Syria's northwestern Idlib province Credit:
AFP
"I want someone I can talk to about my everyday worries and joys, somebody who will feel what I feel, believe what I say and never reveal my secrets." 1939 "It was dark; we couldn't find the way. We got lost, yes, we got doubly lost, or rather -- only just found ourselves." "It was so sudden and unexpected and sweet and intimidating. I was at a loss for words and terribly mixed up. He said: 'Renuska, give me a kiss', and before I knew it, it happened." 1941 Renia Spiegel, 15, Przemysl, Poland
"Three shots! Three lives lost!" "Fate decided to take my dearest ones away from me. My life is over." "All I can hear are shots, shots ... shots." Zygmunt Schwarzer, 17, 1942 -- Auschwitz survivor
"This is such a complete text." "It shows the life of a teenager before the war, after the war breaks, until she has to move to the ghetto and is executed." "It's absolutely remarkable." Alexandra Garbarini, professor, historian, Williams College, Massachusetts
"I just remember him telling me one day: 'Look, this is my first girl's journal! We were incredibly close. She was my spiritual soulmate'." "He made copies of it [the diary] and read it for hours. God knows what my mother made of this." Mitchell Schwarzer, son of Zygmunt Schwarzer
"Renia was like a mother to me when our own beloved mother was far away." "Every time I opened her diary, I started crying. It was too emotional." Elizabeth Bellak, Holocaust survivor, New York City
Renia Spiegel, left, with her mother and younger sister in Przemysl, Poland, in 1937. (Bellak Family Archive)
Another publication, another Jewish teen's diary surviving to tell her story of a brief life and a sudden death. A testament to life and love. Memorializing love and tragedy. A life not yet half-lived, but eager to try and anxious to love and be loved. Living in a small Polish town just before the outbreak of World War II, it was a time of high anxiety and deprivation for Europe's Jews. Renia Spiegel left behind 700 pages comprising her diary. It came into her sister's possession and the journal has now seen publication.
Again the need to cry takes over me When I recall the days that used to be The linden trees, house, storks and butterflies Far... somewhere...too far for my eyes I see and hear what I miss The wind that used to lull old trees And nobody tells me anymore About the fog, about the silence The distance and darkness outside the door I will always hear this lullaby See our house and pond laid by And linden trees against the sky...
Renia Spiegel, right, with her younger sister and her mother in 1935. (Bellak Family Archive)
Her sister Elizabeth, now 88 years of age, mourned her older sister's death every day of her long life. The publication of Renia's memoirs is a dream fulfilled, a gift from the present to the misery of the past. The published book has been sent to 13 countries to be featured in bookstores in Canada, Britain, Germany, Russia and the United States, among others. The world is familiar with Anne Frank's diary, is it prepared for Renia Spiegel's? Two young girls whose lives were cut short, among the hundreds of thousands of other young girls who suffered similar fates.
Renia was 18 years old when she died in 1942. She had met and fallen in love with a boy a year older than she was. Renia and Zygmunt Schwarzer, the boy she loved's parents were in hiding in the attic of a Przemysl house. The Nazis discovered the hiding place and dragging the three out of their safe haven, shot them to death in the street. Zygmunt had been given Renia's diary for safekeeping. His was the very last entry in the diary, an entry of utter despair at his loss of the three people he loved.
He was sent to Auschwitz and survived. How the diary did is a mystery, but he was able to retrieve it from wherever it had been placed for safekeeping during the war, when he lived in New York. The journal reflects for the most part the young Renia's transition into young womanhood, her desire to love and be loved, and her passion for the-then young man with whom she found that love -- and their first kiss in 1941 after months of quiet courting.
Two days after that first kiss the Third Reich declared war on the Soviet Union and swept into eastern Poland. Renia's mother and younger sister found a new life for themselves in New York after the war. Eventually the journal kept in the possession of Zygmunt Schwarzer was given to Elizabeth who placed it in a safe-deposit box for decades in New York. She could not bear herself, to read her sister's intimate account of her young life.
"The
president talked about our use of those [cyber weapons] previously, but
I'm certainly not going to forecast what we'll do as we move forward." "This
was Iran through and through [from drone downing to missile strikes on
two Saudi oil facilities], and the United States will respond in a way
that reflects that act of war by this Iranian revolutionary regime." U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
U.S. Intel: Saudi oil field attacks originated from Iran
"Cyber can certainly be a deterrent, it can be a very powerful weapon." "It is an option that can cause real damage." Senator Angus King, Maine, Chairman, Cyberspace Solarium Commission
Visitors gather at Tehran's Islamic Revolution and Holy Defense museum
during the unveiling of an exhibition of what Iran says are U.S. and
other drones captured in its territory, in the capital Tehran on Sept.
21, 2019. ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images
"To the extent that Iran is conducting unlawful operations, I think [the
cyber strike] was an appropriate measure to take to preclude their
ability to conduct further unlawful operations." "Sometimes
cyberspace allows you to take operations that are not as escalatory as
other options on the table. And this would strike me as one such
operation." Michael Schmitt,
international law professor, US Naval War College
The purported wreckage of the destroyed US drone. File photo: Reuters
"Clearly those who conducted this attack were not deterred. That means
inflicting pain." "But we want that pain
to be inflicted in a wise way that does not increase the credibility in
the eyes of the Iranian people of a regime that is not credible." Bradley Bowman, senior director, Foundation for Defense of Democracies
From piracy in the Strait of Hormuz to prove to the world that the
Islamic Republic of Iran through the expert terrorism credentials of its
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, can give as good as it gets when one
of its oil tankers was taken into custody in the belief that it was
headed to unload its cargo in Syria where EU sanction against such
traffic was being enforced at Gibraltar, to the downing of a
sophisticated American surveillance drone which Iran claimed had
overflown its territorial air space, the Republic has gone out of its
way to prod, goad, provoke its Gulf neighbours and their ally, the
United States of America.
Speedboat of the Iran’s Revolutionary Guard moves around a
British-flagged oil tanker, Stena Impero, in the Iranian port of Bandar
Abbas two days after it was seized in the Strait of Hormuz by the Guard
on Friday, July 19. File photo: Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump has warned Iran that the United States is
'locked and loaded', should it indulge in any further violent
expressions of contempt for its adversaries, even while it reacts
increasingly recklessly in its frustration over the strict sanctions
most latterly imposed on the oil-rich but distribution-and-sales-poor
nation aspiring to expand its authority and command in the Middle East
and beyond. Iran's use of coercion and threat followed by violence it
claims has nothing to do with it is a strategy that has worked for it up
to the present.
The American president exercised restraint after the destruction of the
U.S. drone, preferring, it seems, to bide his time rather than risk an
all-out war on a country that continues to agitate for war even while it
claims it seeks peace and to make certain that foreign elements stay
well away from its territory. This, even while it sends its proxy
terrorist groups abroad to indulge in destabilizing violence meant to
further Iran's territorial and conquest interests. That big stick
Washington carries is withdrawn in exchange for blasting rhetoric
mimicking Tehran's.
Ah, and then there is the U.S. Cyber Command, the world's purported most
potent arsenal of cyber weapons that cyber professionals are preparing
to implant in enemy networks. Tougher sanctions have only made the
Islamist Shia tiger gnash its teeth in rage and fulminate over violent
attacks on its Sunni neighbours delivered mostly via proxies, if not by
the IRGC. The original Stuxnet cyberattack meant to disable Iran's
centrifuges enriching uranium to bomb-grade succeeded in setting the
Iranian nuclear program back temporarily.
A number of following cyberstrike launched by the U.S. and another three
months ago which the Pentagon claims would be disabling to the
Republic, which is not yet aware of it -- which makes the uninitiated
wonder just how powerful and useful such a cyberattack could be if its
results have not yet been detected by the target -- is being considered
the beginning of a series, the next of which is now being considered to
wreak as much damage to the country's cybernetworks as possible;
presumably in a manner that would be catastrophic and not readily given
to repair.
Trump, it seems, is unwilling to widen the conflict into a potential war
footing, given his promise that the U.S. would be leaving the region.
But a strike to significantly damage Iran's oilfields just as it has
done to Saudi Arabia, and put its refineries out of immediate business
is being considered for its "proportionate response"
value. The administration is not, however, convinced that a cyberattack
alone would be sufficient to convince calculating Iran that its ongoing
belligerence is not paying off.
The mission is meant to convince Iran that it should set aside its
ambitions for nuclear and missile programs. To punish the theocratic
executive powers sufficiently so as to move them toward the kind of
self-preservation that would convince them to step back from their
regional destructiveness, much less its dedicated support and direction
of terrorist groups acting at its behest, from Shiite militias, to
Hezbollah, to Hamas.
Restraining themselves from overt military action in favour of reliance
on cyberwarfare may not, however, be the answer to the dilemma, as
pointed out by General Paul Nakasone, commander of U.S. Cyber Command,
and the director of the National Security Agency who has warned the
president and his aides that the nation's cyber arsenal represents "no magic bullet" for Iranian aggression deterrence.
So, back to the drawing board. Perhaps. Perhaps not. The big question is
how far is Iran willing to push and shove the U.S. into a responsive
'proportionate' military reaction?
Air and missile defense units are at the top
of the list for a deployment in support of Saudi Arabia, following an
Iranian attack on oil fields there. (Capt. Rachael Jeffcoat/Army)
Pestilence in a Country of Violence and Oppression
"You spend half your time just shooing them away." "If your car window is open, they fly in. If
you’re having a cup of tea, don’t leave the sugar out." "In fact, don’t
leave out any food of any kind." "[It isn’t unusual for flies to proliferate following Eid al-Adha]. But usually it ends after a week." "And as the sun rose after the [heavier-than-usual seasonal] rain — so did the flies." "Take the sludge and the rain and the offal: the three combined to
create a very warm bed for flies. The city stinks. It’s hard
to breathe." "There are no mosquitoes in the afternoon, but
there are flies in the light, in the dark, in the cold, in the rain,
without rain, in the sun, everywhere." "They [people coping] adopt
different methods. Some burn neem tree leaves, or simply
shut their doors and windows. Some try fumigation and clean the floors
with disinfectant. You can’t leave food unattended or uncovered. And
they’re swatting at the flies with whatever comes to hand. Geo TV even
suggested 'seven quick DIY methods to rid your house of flies'." Karachi resident
In this picture taken on August 31, a butcher's stall is pictured next
to a street flooded with rainwater in a market in Karachi. — AFP
"There are huge swarms of flies and mosquitoes. You can't walk straight on the road." "[It is the worst fly infestation ever seen.] It’s not just
affecting the life of the common man — they’re so scary, they’re
hounding people." Dr. Seemin Jamali, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center
People wading through a flooded street after a heavy rainfall in Karachi, Pakistan, July 30, 2019.Fareed Khan,AP
Monsoon rains deluged Karachi for weeks, sending sewage and trash through the largest city in Pakistan, leaving its 15.5 million people to cope with the aftermath. But first came power outages, for 60 hours at a time and even longer. As though that didn't represent misery enough, a swarm of flies has descended in what appears to be biblical-plague numbers. They are everywhere, in and out of stores, cars, homes, settling on any surface, whether animate or inanimate.
According to Dr. Jamali of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center, the current situation represents the absolute worst infestation she has ever experienced. So the city responded by initiating a fumigation drive. The flies were not impressed, it seemed to make no difference whatever to their numbers. And people in the city are becoming increasingly frustrated. This, in a city with longstanding problems with garbage disposal and sewer drainage.
In this picture taken on August 31, 2019 flies sit on rice being sold at a market in Karachi. — AFP
Evidently the infestation as far as experts are concerned, was in all likelihood the result of the combination of stagnant rainwater alongside street garbage, topped up with waste from slaughtered animals in honour of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha. "If there are a couple of more spells like this, then the city will become completely dysfunctional", observed Dr. Noman Ahmed, dean at the NED University of Engineering and Technology.
This is a country that prides itself on its nuclear weapons stockpile. The better to threaten its nemesis-neighbour India with. A country that supports terrorism, where both al-Qaeda and the Taliban found a handy haven as a jumping-off spot from which to terrorize Afghanistan and the world at large. Where Osama bin Laden had a family compound at Abbottabad, a stone's throw from an elite Pakistan military academy.
It was able to navigate the technical mystery of nuclear fission, but engineering and building a sewage treatment system to service a crowded city was obviously too trifling a matter to be tended to. There are probably more engineering graduates than any other profession in Pakistan. Urban development and the required civil infrastructure to produce a decent living environment for its population is too challenging for the municipal government of the city.
The city's natural drains are utilized as a dumping ground, it would appear. Malaria, gastroenteritis, typhoid, dengue fever, the chikungunya virus, respiratory disorders and Congo fever predictably enough were on the rise in Karachi thanks to all these failures in urban development.
Karachi produces around 12,000 tons of waste daily, despite which its resources and infrastructure have failed to maintain pace with the constant expansion and lifestyle changes among its immense population. Waste management and municipal services are handled by different city agencies. "The city requires a kind of sanitation emergency" urged Dr. Ahmed, one capable of mobilizing resources to clear away waste and ultimately build a new sanitation management system.
"[In previous years government fumigated in early morning] but there's nothing now -- we can't do anything, we're helpless. Business has completely ended." "Whoever comes just looks at the flies." Muhammad Ismal Siddiqui,54, Bohri Bazaar, sweets-seller
In this picture taken on September 2, a vendor arranges grapes as flies swarm around his cart in a slum area in Karachi. — AFP
The Fruits of Israeli Proportional Representation's Competing, Complex Issues
"These are early days indeed to try to make sense of what government
may emerge from the migraine-inducing complexity of Israel’s elections." " But the outcome everybody professes to want to avoid is already starting to loom in the distance." "If Netanyahu sees it as his last hope, and Gantz thinks he’ll emerge
from it stronger, we may yet have to go through this all again." David Horovitz, founding editor, Times of Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and President Reuven Rivlin.
Photograph: Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP/Getty Images
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has had two stints as his country's prime minister, the second one lasting a decade. He has always been hounded by scandal of one kind or another, charged with inappropriate behaviour, fairly unspectacular in their illicit nature, of a kind that wouldn't raise a murmur of reaction in most countries, but does in Israel. He has also achieved an enviable reputation as a man whose political skills have become legendary in his ability to manipulate events to his advantage.
That legendary skill, it might now appear, is no longer sufficient to keep him at the helm of government. His rivals feel it's time for him to move on. And those who had formerly supported his ambitions to continue as head of government can no longer be relied upon. He gambled with this second election and he lost. His manic campaigning, his promises, his international alliances that he touted would advantage Israel, his hard line against surrendering territory though popular simply failed to impress the electorate to the extent he anticipated.
Israel, originally conceived and governed as a secular Democratic liberal state under a left-leaning Labour government has become increasingly split between the push and pull of secularism and orthodox Judaism. Mr. Netanyahu's party's reliance on the support of the religious parties has failed to endear him to the greater public in Israel.
Proportional representation in a nation of fractious political parties reflecting Jewish, Arab, Druze, Bedouin, Christian and other elements of the population and their diverse and often opposing values eludes majority governments with all the public confidence and authority available to them throughout their mandate. Israel's is a complex society with nettlesome issues.
No clear election victory for Benjamin Netanyahu the second time around, and this time Likud lost three seats. And the centrist Blue and White party has no interest in propping up a Likud government. The very fact that Blue and White and its leader Benny Ganz gained over Likud's 31 seats, with 33 of the Knesset's 120 seats translates to a new government waiting in the wings. Former military chief Benny Ganz has the support of the Knesset's Arab bloc, another advantage.
"Benny Gantz is not our cup of tea." "But
we promised our constituents that we would do everything to topple
Netanyahu, and the default here is recommending Benny Gantz." Arab lawmaker Ahmad Tibi
During the first election in April the Prime Minister was seen to be denigrating the Arab bloc and the voting record of Israeli Palestinians, much less their loyalty to Israel. With good reason in many instances, given both the propensity of some Arab Knesset members to dialogue with Hamas and appear to support their agenda of violence, much less the incidences of Israeli Arab citizens continuing violence against Israeli Jews.
"As we warned, the Arab parties that oppose Israel as a Jewish and
democratic state and glorify terrorists recommended Gantz for prime
minister", stated Mr. Netanyahu in response.
"If the center-left parties of Israel believe that Arab Palestinian
citizens have a place in this country, they must accept that we have a
place in its politics." "There is no shared future without the
full and equal participation of Arab Palestinian citizens." Ayman Odeh, leader, Joint List
This too is a complicated issue. The State of Israel represents a return to Zion, the heritage geography of Biblical-era-and-beyond Judaism. It was a state meant for a Jewish nation in the realization that nowhere else on Earth could Jews feel free to be themselves. Diaspora Jews have suffered the agony of discrimination and oppression, of violence and of genocide. The re-creation of the State of Israel was meant as a remedy, a place of refuge.
Despite which, of its nine million population, almost two million are Arab. There is a sizeable African refugee population. There are Copts, Bedouin, Arameans, Circassians, Assyrians, a hodge-podge of ethnic and religious groups. All are citizens, all have the rights of citizenship. As a large minority group, Arabs hold prominent positions of authority in various levels of government, including those elected to parliament. The Jewish state, in other words, is all-inclusive.
Whereas in Arab countries they are excluded. Should a new Palestinian state ever see the light of reality, its leaders have stated unequivocally that no Jews would ever be permitted to live among them. This is the reality of the region that Israel and its Jewish population live with. Walking a fine line, playing a light tune of conciliation and acceptance.
Defending its existence and that of its Jewish population as its reason for existence. Governing such a nation is an uneasy task.
It will be left to Israeli President Reuven Rivlin to determine his choice for prime minister.
"The one-million prize is available to those who can capture them dead or alive." "But maybe dead would be a better option. I will pay you smiling." Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte "'Dead or alive' should not be taken literally." "Law enforcers are supposed to effect peaceful arrests, but they may use reasonable force if the subject of the arrest violently resists." "We want to make sure that those remaining are actually people
that need to be arrested." "We find it prudent to pause for a while, tally the count and make sure those who surrendered are those on the list." Philippines Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra
Duterte had offered prize money for each felon released by the government in a botched programme [File: Damir Sagolj/Reuters]
The Philippines has some of the world's most crowded jails. To address that problem the administration in power prior to that of Mr. Duterte passed a 'good conduct' law in an effort to reduce the jail population in the country. The good-behaviour reward program recently resulted in the release of a staggering number of prisoners in Philippine prisons. Over 1,700 criminals were mistakenly released alongside thousands of other prisoners, but the 1,700 represented those found guilty of seriously violent offences.
When the error was discovered, the crime-busting President Duterte offered a million pesos ($25,000) prize for tracking down each of those violent convicts remaining at large. Initially just under 700 of the erroneously-released prisoners had responded to the president's call to surrender. As a former mayor and prosecutor who once boasted of a plan to kill up to 100,000 criminals once he became president, Duterte is livid with rage over the release of rapists, drug pushers, killers.
As president he has attained notoriety for allowing police full rein to do as they wish when encountering what they claim to be drug traffickers. His "war on drugs" has caused police to kill thousands of urban poor dealers and users, killings considered executions according to rights activists. His inciting of vigilantism has drawn many criticisms, but he shrugs them all off, claiming tough talk like his is popular with millions of Filipinos.
And he is president, duly elected by Filipinos who expressly wanted an end to the rampant crime fuelled by drugs, so perhaps the manner in which he gauges his reputation with the ordinary person on the street is fairly accurate. Over 21,000 prison inmates had been released, with over two thousand of that number sentenced for crimes of rape, drugs, murder, bribery, plunder, kidnapping and arson making them obviously ineligible for release.
Two of Duterte's own appointees of the prison sentence were responsible through the corrections bureau, loyalists both, for the freeing of the 1,700 who failed to qualify for release.
When Duterte first ordered the released inmates through GCTA law to
surrender, he warned they should turn themselves in or they would be
treated as criminals. “Well, you know, things can go wrong,” he said on
September 4.
"Because of the tension and sensitive situation, our region is like a powder keg." "When these contacts come too close, when forces come into contact with one another, it is possible a conflict happens because of a misunderstanding." "[The Revolutionary Guard forces are ready for a counterattack if America responds.] Wherever they are, it only takes one spark and we hit their vessels, their air bases, their troops." "[The Islamic Republic is ready for] full-fledged [war]." "All
American bases and their aircraft carriers in a distance of up to 2,000
kilometers around Iran are within the range of our missiles." Iranian Brig.Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh
"[The Saudi Arabian area with char marks, the Abqaiq plant and the Khuraus oil field includes] storage tanks and processing and compressor trains -- which greatly increases the likelihood of a strike successfully disrupting or destroying its operations." Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington
"Amid all the calls for de-escalation, Iran has now launched an unprecedented attack on the world's energy supply." "There is no evidence the attacks came from Yemen." U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo "[Pompeo's remarks are] blind and futile comments." "The Americans adopted the 'maximum pressure' policy against Iran, which, due to its failure, is leaning toward maximum lies'." Abbas Mousavi, Iranian Foreign Ministry
"The main point for Iran, in my opinion, is not necessarily to derail a meeting between Trump and Rouhani but to increase its leverage ahead of it." "By carrying out such a major attack, Iran wants to send the message that the only way to decrease tensions is to comply with its demands regarding sanctions relief." "There will be no political benefit for Trump in a meeting with Rouhani if this meeting sends the message that the U.S. simply surrendered to Iranian demands." Michael Horowitz, head of intelligence, LeBeck International, Bahrain
Workers fix the damage in the Aramco's Khurais oil field
in Saudi Arabia, Sept. 20, 2019, after it was hit during Sept. 14
attack the U.S. alleges Iran carried out.
Amr Nabil/AP
The Islamic Republic of Iran is playing hardball with seeming impunity, from attacks on Saudi and other Gulf State oil-carrying vessels in the Persian Gulf, to threats of holding the Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar and Al-Dhafra Air Base close to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates hostage, as immediate targets, alongside U.S. Navy ships in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea. And so, Iran demands the lifting of sanctions before it will deign to allow the United States to discuss issues with the Republic.
Last Saturday's surprise attack on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia has that oil-producing country reeling, both in disbelief that their own systems failed to warn of incoming attacks and as did the warning system of the United States, both on land and at sea. As in 'how did they manage that feat?', but no one is as yet any the wiser, or if they are, it is not being publicly divulged, that a huge failure to detect the threat was not intercepted.
Although the Houthi rebel contingent in Yemen, supported by Iran's Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah, claimed to have been responsible for the drone attacks knocking out over fifty percent of Saudi oil production and 5% of the world oil supply, U.S. intelligence aided by satellite imagery indicate the direction of the 19 points of impact on the Saudi facilities were launched west-northwest of the targets, in the direction of Iran or possibly Iraq, and not south, from Yemen.
Saudi investigators claim to have identified the cruise missiles used in the attack of Iranian origin. "There's no doubt that Iran is responsible for this. No matter how you slice it, there's no escaping it. There's no other candidate", pointed out a high-placed U.S. investigative official. A charge that Tehran was quick to reject. The heartland of Saudi Arabia's oil industry, with the globe's largest petroleum processing facility was hit with astonishing accuracy, far beyond the capability of Houthi forces, and in line with Iran's ongoing cruise missile technical developments.
A picture taken on
September 18, 2019 shows displayed fragments of what the Saudi defence
ministry spokesman said were Iranian cruise missiles and drones
recovered from the attack site that targeted Saudi Aramco’s facilities,
during a press conference in Riyadh.
Fayez Nureldine | AFP | Getty Images
According to Saudi Aramco, the State oil giant, the attack cut production by 5.7 million barrels a day. No timeline for resumption of output was given, but it was expected that restoration would take weeks, if not longer. Tehran characterizes as "maximum lies", the charge by both Saudi Arabia and the United States that they were responsible, even though officials claim photographs indicate impacts consistent with the attack arriving from Iran's or Iraq's direction, not Yemen.
Irrespective of which, it is abundantly clear that the message Iran is sending is that if they cannot market their oil freely, and if their economy continues to suffer as it is doing at the present time, resulting from the increased sanctions imposed by the U.S., then no other oil-producer in the region will be assured that their shipments will reach their destination. Two days following the strike on the Saudi oilfield, the Revolutionary Guards took another ship into custody, arresting the eleven crew members.
The lengths to which Tehran is reaching into the region to disrupt and threaten and attack, attests to the desperation it feels over its economic situation worsening as time goes by, which is the intent of the U.S. administration in applying maximum pressure, but no one appears to have foreseen the lashback of bold and violent reaction from Iran. The previous downing of the U.S. drone, the ongoing threat to shipping in the Gulf, and this latest attack on Saudi Arabia calls out for a firm response.
So far, although there have been threats and counter-threats, no convincing reaction has yet taken place to inform Iran that its actions will not be tolerated. At the present time in actual fact, those actions are indeed tolerated. Washington claims to be awaiting direction from Riyadh on whether an imminent attack is being prepared before it takes action. What is obvious is that no one in the region wants an all-out war. New sanctions are being imposed on Iranian banking. And an increase of U.S. troops is in the books for the region.
"I
would expect we would see more [sanctions]."
"The conventional
wisdom out there that we've pretty much exhausted all the sanctions we
can impose on Iran is completely false. There are many, many more things
that can be done and there are many more actions in Treasury's
pipeline. ..."
"We may be at seven on the sanctions dial and maximum
pressure requires an 11."
Mark Dubowitz, chief executive, Foundation for Defense of Democracies
This represents a general opinion site for its author. It also offers a space for the author to record her experiences and perceptions,both personal and public. This is rendered obvious by the content contained in the blog, but the space is here inviting me to write. And so I do.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/65311907/Screen_Shot_2019_09_24_at_10.33.37_AM.0.png)
/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-mco.s3.amazonaws.com/public/Z56V474PORH6PLLUSH2EFQEZGI.jpg)
![Duterte had offered prize money for each felon released by the government in a botched programme [File: Damir Sagolj/Reuters]](https://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/imagecache/mbdxxlarge/mritems/Images/2019/9/20/6137c5653ef04434ac1f63a20a8cb063_18.jpg "Philippines police told to stop manhunt after Duterte reward")
