Epoch INSIGHT Issue 13 (2022)

WARTIME IN A UKRAINIAN VILLAGE Far from the frontlines, villagers are affected by war

By Ivan Pentchoukov

1945 Nuclear Fallout

Driver of Urban Sprawl

The Costs of Food Inflation

New Mexico residents are still seeking justice 77 years later. p.18

Immigration-driven population growth has claimed vast swaths of U.S. open space. p.28

Farmers, now paying triple to grow crops, are not the ones raising food costs. p.30

APRIL 1–7, 2022 | $6.95

NO. 13

Editor’s Note

Wartime in a Ukrainian Village villages are the backbone of Ukraine, and even far from the front lines, the residents are affected by the war.

In Koty, the war came to the backdoor when missiles struck a military training base several miles from the village.

Locals who worked at the base were still reeling from the attack, while others had fled, taking their children.

Viktor Pokrovskiy, a Russian native who has lived in Koty since 1977, views himself as a pure-blooded Ukrainian. But he’s having a difficult time explaining to his family in Russia what’s going on, as the propaganda war has gripped the nation.

Myhailo Romanyshyn’s sister, who lives in Russia, is convinced, from the talks the priests give to the congregation at her church, that Ukrainians kill their own children and eat them.

Koty is small and everyone knows everyone, but in the large cities, suspicions run high that anyone who speaks Russian is a spy.

In the first days of Russia’s invasion, authorities in the Lviv region in western Ukraine received more than 15,000 suspicious person reports each day. All of the reports have been looked into, according to the region’s governor. The volume of reports has dropped since to roughly 1,500 per day.

In Koty, the usual spring cleaning has been slow to restart after the nearby missile attack, but locals are trying their best to retain normalcy, while praying a lot.

Jasper Fakkert Editor-in-chief

2 I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022

JASPER FAKKERT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF CHANNALY PHILIPP LIFE & TRADITION, TRAVEL EDITOR CHRISY TRUDEAU MIND & BODY EDITOR

ON THE COVER Anna Dmitrieva stands in her yard in Koty, Ukraine, on March 25.

CHARLOTTE CUTHBERTSON/ THE EPOCH TIMES

CRYSTAL SHI HOME, FOOD EDITOR SHARON KILARSKI ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR BILL LINDSEY LUXURY EDITOR FEI MENG & BIBA KAJEVICH ILLUSTRATORS SHANSHAN HU PRODUCTION CONTACT US THE EPOCH TIMES ASSOCIATION INC. 229 W.28TH ST., FL.7 NEW YORK, NY 10001 ADVERTISING ADVERTISENOW@EPOCHTIMES.COM SUBSCRIPTIONS, GENERAL INQUIRIES, LETTERS TO THE EDITOR HELP.THEEPOCHTIMES.COM (USPS21-800)IS PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY THE EPOCH MEDIA GROUP, 9550 FLAIR DR. SUITE 411, EL MONTE, CA 91731-2922.

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vol. 2 | no. 13 | april 1–7, 2022

28 | Urban Sprawl

51 | Aid in Ukraine

30 | Food Inflation

52 | Ideological

Immigrants are claiming vast swaths of open space in the United States.

Volunteers assisting refugees from Ukraine are facing traumatic stress.

Warfare A former radical Islamist explains his journey out of extremism.

Don’t blame farmers for your high grocery bill.

44 | Gas Prices

The Green Revolution would make inflation worse.

56 | Brigitte's Villa

A charming estate dating to medieval times, where Brigitte Bardot went to get away.

45 | State-Run

Economy Most economists predict much lower growth in China this year.

46 | US Innovation

Should we fear that artificial intelligence will destroy the job market?

Features THE LEAD 12 | War in Ukraine How the conflict is affecting the residents of a small village in Ukraine.

58| Ice-Covered

Magnificence A wondrous world awaits you on the southernmost continent on earth.

47 | Foreign Affairs

18 | New Mexico ‘Downwinders’ New Mexicans are still seeking justice 77 years after the first atomic bomb test.

60 | Career Do-Overs

48 | Global Trade

32 | Transgender Movement Online influencers are spreading transgenderism to thousands of young Americans, experts say.

63 | Floating Islands

49 | US Real Estate

38 | Cancel Culture A retired banker is paying a high price for upholding the Torah's teachings.

A top Republican warns of growing ties between China and Russia.

Will Saudi Arabia ditch the U.S. dollar in favor of the yuan?

The record-high U.S. housing market is now at a crossroads.

50 | Your Inner Voice We all have some degree of sixth sense that can guide us.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters building in Washington on July 11, 2018. The Federal Election Commission has determined that Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and the DNC likely violated federal law by not accurately describing payments they made to a law firm that funneled the money to ex-British spy Christopher Steele.

It’s never too late to follow your dreams and start a new career.

Bring all the comforts of home the next time you go boating.

66 | Joyful Cuisine

Chef Kim is creating Korean delicacies with a Michigan flair.

67 | Manners Matter

Be a good role model as you teach your children proper manners.

SAMIRA BOUAOU/THE EPOCH TIMES

I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022 3

T H G IL T O P S RECAPTURED TOWN RESIDENTS WAIT FOR FOOD OUTSIDE a church in the northeastern Ukrainian town of Trostianets on March 29. Ukraine said on March 26 that its forces had recaptured the town near the Russian border, one of the first that fell under Moscow’s control during the invasion.

PHOTO BY FADEL SENNA/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

4 I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022

I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022 5

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NAT ION • WOR L D • W H AT H A P P E N E D T H I S W E E K

No.13

The Week

Illegal immigrants walk toward the border fence to wait for Border Patrol after crossing from Mexico into the United States in Yuma, Ariz., on Dec. 10, 2021.

PHOTO BY CHARLOTTE CUTHBERTSON/THE EPOCH TIMES

What’s Driving Urban Sprawl?

NEW MEXICO RESIDENTS who were exposed to radiation feel abandoned. 18

THE INTERNET HAS allowed the transgender movement to advance globally. 32

28 A FORMER INVESTMENT banker is paying a stiff price for upholding the teachings of the Torah. 38

INSIDE I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022 7

The Week in Short US

y n a m o s e r a e r h T“ e v a h o w s nac irem A rieht ni ecnedif noc t so l ,t dn e am n r e v o g ” .e g n a h c o t s a h t a h t

100

PERCENT

— Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio)

“The greatest threat facing America today … the threat that will define this century, is China.”

— Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)

have filed a lawsuit seeking to end the federal mask mandate on public transportation.

5

PERCENT

The U.S. Department of Agriculture expects food prices to soar 5 percent on average this year, marking the highest single-year surge since 2008.

137,500 BALLOTS

were cast through unlawful vote trafficking in several of Wisconsin’s largest cities during the 2020 election, according to the public interest organization True the Vote.

75 PERCENT – of likely voters in a poll believe that President Joe Biden should issue similar sanctions on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as he has on Russia, should the CCP choose to provide aid to Russia.

8 I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022

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21 STATES

Princess Cruises confirmed that one of its cruise liners reported a COVID19 outbreak, despite the ship having a “100 percent” vaccination rate for guests and crew.

The Week in Short US CYBERSECURITY

Election Officials in 9 States Targeted by Cyberattacks: FBI THE FBI HAS WARNED that

President Joe Biden introduces his budget request for fiscal year 2023, in the State Dining Room of the White House on March 28.

WHITE HOUSE

Biden Announces $5.8 Trillion Budget for 2023 PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN has released his $5.8 trillion budget for fiscal year 2023.

Biden’s budget allocates $3.2 billion in discretionary funds for state and local grants, as well as $30 billion in mandatory funds to “support law enforcement, crime prevention, and community violence intervention,” according to the White House.

Biden is also asking Congress to approve legislation that requires the richest U.S. families to pay a minimum of 20 percent on all of their income, including capital gains on unsold assets such as stocks.

The budget also focuses on “confronting global threats,” proposing $773 billion for the Department of Defense, compared to $728.5 billion provided in discretionary spending in 2022.

VACCINES

FDA Clears 4th COVID-19 Shot for All Americans Aged 50 and Above THE FOOD AND DRUG Admin-

istration has granted emergency authorization for a second booster of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, allowing a fourth dose of the jabs to all Americans aged 50 Residents 65 and older receive a COVID-19 and above. vaccine in Tampa, Fla., on Feb. 13, 2021.

In addition, Americans aged 12 and above with weakened immune systems may get Pfizer’s second booster, and Americans over the age of 18 who are immunocompromised may get a second booster of Moderna’s jab. Some of them could already get four shots, making the booster a fifth shot.

election officials in nine states have been targeted in recent cyberattacks, including phishing emails containing malicious links.

“If successful, this activity may provide cyber actors with sustained, undetected access to a victim’s systems,” the FBI said in a report.

“These emails shared similar attachment files, used compromised email addresses, and were sent close in time, suggesting a concerted effort to target U.S. election officials.”

Such cyberattacks have occurred since October 2021, the bureau said, adding that such incidents will likely increase or continue “in the lead-up to the 2022 U.S. midterm elections” in November.

VACCINE MANDATE

Judge Blocks COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate for Entire Navy THE U.S. MILITARY’S COVID-19

vaccine mandate has been blocked for all Navy members seeking religious exemptions.

A preliminary injunction that previously covered 35 Navy SEALs now covers some 4,000 others.

U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor, who entered the original ruling in January, agreed to expand it in part because all members who have applied for religious exemptions “have all been harmed in essentially the same way.”

“Each is subject to the Navy’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates. Each has submitted her religious accommodation request, and none has received accommodation. Without relief, each servicemember faces the threat of discharge and the consequences that accompany it. Even though their personal circumstances may factually differ in small ways, the threat is the same—get the jab or lose your job,” he said in the order.

I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022 9

The Week in Short World COVID-19

IgA Antibodies Appear to Protect Unvaccinated Against COVID-19: Study FINDINGS FROM A STUDY

A sign at World Health Organization headquarters in Geneva, on May 8, 2021.

WHO

WHO Investigating Hearing Issues Among the Vaccinated THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION is looking into reports of hearing

CHINA

Shanghai COVID Lockdown to Cost China $29 Billion: Analysts A FULL-SCALE LOCKDOWN

on China’s financial hub of Shanghai is likely to cost the economy 190 billion yuan ($29.8 billion) in two weeks, or 2 percent of the nation's gross domestic product, according to a minimum estimate by a Hong Kong economist.

Almost 7 percent of the loss would be from the spillover effects to other cities, said Zheng Michael Song, an economics professor at the Chinese Public service workers during a lockdown in Shanghai’s Jing’an district on March 29.

University of Hong Kong.

The cost could reach 295 billion yuan ($63 billion), or 3.1 percent of GDP, if one-tenth of Chinese cities entered into lockdown for two weeks, Song wrote in an article.

10 I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022

MIDDLE EAST

US Sanctions Entities Accused of Supplying Iran’s Ballistic Missile Program THE U.S. TREASURY Department

has announced new sanctions on a number of entities it says are involved in efforts to obtain materials for Iran’s ballistic missile program.

The sanctions target an Iran-based procurement agent, Mohammad Ali Hosseini, and his network of companies: Iran-based Jestar Sanat Delijan, Sina Composite Delijan Co., Sayehban Sepehr Delijan, and P.B. Sadr Co. Hosseini and his companies have been involved in “efforts to procure equipment used to produce ballistic missile propellant and related materials in support of Iran’s missile program,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

THIS PAGE FROM TOP: FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES, HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES; RIGHT PAGE FROM TOP: DALE DE LA REY/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES, JEAN-PHILIPPE KSIAZEK/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES, EZRA ACAYAN/GETTY IMAGES, CHRIS MCGRATH/GETTY IMAGES

loss and tinnitus—constant ringing or other noises in one or both ears—among people who have taken COVID-19 vaccines.

The organization said in a recent newsletter that it found 164 unique cases of hearing loss globally. Women accounted for 104 of these cases while men accounted for 59. Ages of those affected fell within the range of 19 and 93, with 49 being the median age. The United States saw the highest number of incidents, with 66, followed by the UK with 36 cases, and Italy with 15.

Pfizer/BioNTech’s vaccine with 142 cases registered the highest number of cases followed by Moderna with 15 cases, and AstraZeneca with seven. Of the 164 cases, 51 recovered or were recovering while 50 had yet to recover. The situation of the remaining 63 individuals was not known.

in Sweden provide one possible explanation for why some health care workers who were in contact with COVID-19 patients every day remained uninfected, even though they weren't vaccinated against the disease.

“The reason why some of the staff did not contract the disease seems to have been that IgA (immunoglobulin A) was present in their respiratory tract,” the University of Gothenburg announced in a release.

“These antibodies, found naturally in the secretions of mucous membranes in the airways and gastrointestinal tract, can protect the body by binding to viruses and other invading organisms.”

World in Photos

1.

1. Workers wearing personal protective equipment at an isolation facility to house COVID19 patients, in the Tsing Yi district of Hong Kong on March 29. 2. Competitors take part in the 36th edition of the Marathon des Sables (Sahara Marathon) in the central Moroccan desert on March 28. 3. A U.S. Marine CH53 helicopter takes off during a joint amphibious assault exercise as part of the annual U.S.– Philippine war games, off the waters of the South China Sea in Claveria, Philippines, on March 31.

4. Firefighters work to extinguish a fire at a warehouse after it was hit by Russian shelling, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on March 28.

2.

3.

4.

I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022 11

WAR IN UKRAINE

War Touches a Ukrainian Village

FAR FROM THE FRONT LINES B Y I VA N P E N T C H O U K O V

An elderly woman walks through the village of Koty, a two-hour drive from Lviv, Ukraine, on March 25.

PHOTO BY CHARLOTTE CUTHBERTSON/THE EPOCH TIMES

12 I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022

The village of Koty represents a microcosm of western Ukraine, where war is on their doorstep, yet life must go on.

Some residents have family in Russia, while others are still grieving losses from the 2014 conflict.

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The Lead Life Amid War

K

14 I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022

Viktor Pokrovskiy in his front yard. Pokrovskiy says his relatives in Russia tell him that the Kremlin launched the invasion to save Ukraine from Bandera-vites. media an opening to claim that Nazism is rampant in Ukraine. Moscow’s yearslong media campaign has convinced many Russians, including those who have close family and friends in Ukraine.

As a result, the Bandera black and red flags flying over administrative buildings and block posts in western Ukraine mean two entirely different things to mainstream Ukrainians and to Russians who get their news from Kremlin-controlled media.

This is the case for Pokrovskiy’s son, who has broken off all contact with his cousin in Russia. The two men grew up together as best friends and loved each other. The relationship deteriorated after the conflict between pro-Russia separatists and Ukraine in 2014. It came to a painful end after Russia invaded. The man in Russia is convinced of one reality in Ukraine, while the man in Ukraine can only assume his best friend has gone crazy.

“When they were in touch with each other, I told my son to just stop talking to him,” Pokrovskiy said.

“If a man has graduated university and still doesn’t understand that this is all politics, he is ...” he broke off, shrugging.

Pokrovskiy met his wife while working at an All-Union Leninist Young Communist League construction site in Russia’s Saratov region, not far from Ukraine’s eastern border. The two married and had a son there. In 1977, they came to vacation in Koty, where Pokrovskiy’s wife had grown up. By the end of the vacation, she refused to go back. He traveled back to the job site to resign and returned to Koty, where he has lived since.

“What’s not to love here? The apple trees will bloom soon. My six children, I love them. Should I not love my neighbor? He helps me,” Pokrovskiy said.

Pokrovskiy said everyone in the village treats him well. He speaks Ukrainian to

ALL PHOTOS BY CHARLOTTE CUTHBERTSON/THE EPOCH TIMES

O T Y, U K R A I N E— For decades, gunfire and explosions have not surprised the residents of this small village deep in western Ukraine.

The sounds of explosions from artillery training rang out on March 25 from the sprawling Yavoriv military base, the guarded entrance to which lies across the road from the house of Viktor Pokrovskiy.

A self-described pure-blooded Ukrainian, Pokrovskiy moved to Koty from his native Russia in 1977. He has heard gunfire and explosions from the military base at Yavoriv for decades, first from the Soviet army and then from the Ukrainian armed forces, which took over when the nation gained its independence in 1991.

Even for a man used to the sounds of war, nothing matched the blasts Pokrovskiy heard on March 13 this year, when several Russian missiles struck the base, rattling windows in the village and upending the lives of the locals, who had lived in relative calm since Russia invaded Ukraine three weeks earlier.

Pokrovskiy says his relatives in Russia tell him that the Kremlin launched the invasion to save Ukraine from Bandera-vites, a catch-all term Russian state media and politicians use to claim, in part, that Nazis are oppressing and persecuting Russians in Ukraine.

Pokrovskiy, who worked as an electrician at the military base for years before he retired, says he doesn’t need to be saved and doesn’t know where the Nazis are.

“They say, ‘We’re coming to save you from the Bandera-vites,’” Pokrovskiy told Insight while standing in his front yard on March 25. “It’s all rubbish, nonsense, lies.”

Stepan Bandera, who died in 1959, is a controversial figure even in Ukraine, where many view him as a national hero.

Ukrainians who consider their views in line with Bandera’s say they believe that his name stands for Ukrainian independence. Most either gloss over or are unaware of the dark side of Bandera’s legacy, including his movement’s cooperation with Nazi Germany and his involvement in the assassination of ideological opponents.

This gives Russian state-controlled

The Lead Life Amid War

report suspicious Russian speakers. In the first days of Russia’s invasion, authorities in the Lviv region in western Ukraine received more than 15,000 suspicious person reports each day. All of the reports have been looked into, according to the region’s governor. The volume of reports has dropped since to roughly 1,500 per day.

The Russian language can nonetheless be heard spoken, though rarely, on the streets and in the restaurants in Lviv, the unofficial capital of western Ukraine.

While Koty is just a two-hour drive from Lviv, it’s quickly apparent that the villagers are far removed from the nationalist sentiments found in urban areas. The customary greeting in the village, heard both from little boys on bicycles and old women in their yards, is “Glory to Jesus.” The people being greeted respond with “Glory to God forever.”

Koty’s greetings would surprise Ukrainian city dwellers, who over the course of eight years have adopted “Glory to Ukraine” as a common greeting.

The customary response is “Glory to her heroes.” The two phrases, simple in their patriotic appeal, were, unbeknownst to most who use them, adopted by Bandera’s radical faction of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. everyone, but slips in Russian words every now and then for fun.

Although everyone in western Ukraine speaks Russian, after Russia’s invasion, using the language can draw instant suspicion. Russian spies, or “diversanty” as they’re called here, are a reality, and Ukrainian media have advised locals to

‘Now We Know What We’re Fighting For’ Everyone in the village is nonetheless aware that Ukraine has been in a drawnout conflict with pro-Russian separatists in the east since 2014. Mykhailo Login, a Koty native and soldier, was killed in the conflict in 2014, leaving behind his

Oksana Salabai, whose brother was killed in the 2014 conflict, stands in her front yard.

544 BLOCK POSTS (AKA CHECKPOINTS) were

spontaneously erected throughout the Lviv region in the first days of the invasion. wife and child. His photo, surrounded by flowers and ribbons, rests at the village’s cultural club. In the entrance hall of the club, a large poster shows the faces of the Ukrainians killed during the crackdown on protesters in Kyiv’s Maidan square.

Eight years ago, Login’s sister Oksana Salabai was too young to comprehend why he was enlisting.

“When we didn’t let him go, he said, ‘My homeland is there. I’m going to defend you so you can live free,’” Salabai told Insight, as a neighbor’s child played on a swing hung from a tree nearby. “I didn’t understand him then, but I understand him now.”

Although eight years have passed, Salabai, who has since married and had children of her own, still looked stricken with grief, still waiting for Login to come knocking one day. Unlike the confusion of 2014, she’s clear about the significance of the current war.

“In 2014, the men fought, but they didn’t know what for,” she said. “Now we know what we’re fighting for—so we can live in a free land.”

Salabai woke up late in the day on March 25, a sign that her daily life, like those of many other villagers, had been thrown into disarray since the missile

A memorial for Mykhailo Login, a local soldier who was killed in action in the 2014 conflict with pro-Russian separatists.

I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022 15

The Lead Life Amid War

The town of Koty, seven miles from the Yaroviv International Peacekeeping and Security Centre base, which was bombed overnight on March 13. strike at Yavoriv. The usual bustle of springtime cleaning all but disappeared after the attack, according to Tatyana Lunyk, a librarian in the village.

“People would usually be painting fences right now, fixing things up. Instead, no one is out,” Lunyk told Insight.

Coupled with the exodus of women and children after the attack on the military base, the disappearance of the buzz that comes with the first days of spring has left the village quiet even on a sunny Friday afternoon. The crowing of roosters and the distant sound of vehicle-mounted machine guns from another military base to the north punctuated the silence.

There are more than 28,000 villages in Ukraine, not counting the hamlets and tiny clusters of farms that account for the vast majority of Ukraine’s landmass—which is slightly smaller than Texas. The logistics of equipping each village with air raid sirens are so complex that church bells are used instead.

Anna Dmitrieva didn’t run for cover when the church bells rang at 3 a.m. on March 13. The front lines of the war were far away, and Russia hadn’t struck many targets in the west since the start of the conflict. At 5:55 a.m., as the missile explosions from the Yavoriv base shook the house, her son rushed in and urged her to hide in the basement.

The bells have rung many times since, but she doesn’t hide anymore.

16 I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022

Oksana, the sole employee of the village’s medical office, doesn’t hide either.

“I just kneel by the bed and pray,” she said.

Koty is so old that not even the oldest villagers know how long the place has been around or why it’s named with the Ukrainian word for cats. In 1940, the Soviet Union forcefully relocated 125,000 people from the 150-square-mile area next to Koty to make space for the base at Yavoriv, turning some 170 villages into a desert. Nazi German forces held the base for a time during World War II. The Soviets took control after the war and handed the base over when Ukraine peacefully gained independence in 1991.

Myhailo Romanyshyn has lived in Koty under both the Russian communists and the German Nazis. His house, which is steps away from the village store, club, and medical office, was set ablaze when German bullets hit the roof. He pointed at the ground where he stood, saying that was the spot where he buried two of his horses after communist thugs came

to ransack the property. He pointed to the sky to show where a tall linden tree once stood. His father, he said, killed a pig when he heard the communist soldiers were coming, tied it up, and hoisted it up in the tree. The soldiers looked everywhere but didn’t find the pig.

Romanyshyn’s sister moved to Murmansk, Russia, in 1964. A widow, she now lives with her daughter and works as a cashier in a church. She’s convinced, from the talks priests give to the congregation at the church, that Ukrainians kill their own children and eat them. She calls Romanyshyn, screaming and ranting.

He can’t believe his ears.

“Come home, I tell her,” he told Insight.

“It’s all Russian propaganda to make Russian people hate Ukrainians.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin calls the invasion of Ukraine a “special military operation” with a stated goal of denazification and demilitarization.

While claims about a Nazi takeover of Ukraine are false, the denazification goal may be referring to Ukraine’s Azov Battalion. The U.S. Congress prohibited any U.S. support of Azov in 2018 because the group accepted members with explicit neo-Nazi views.

In a recent phone call, his sister insisted that it was Ukraine that had attacked Russia.

“It’s Putin who attacked us,” he told her. “They just dropped a bomb near our village.”

Four women from Koty were wounded in the missile strike on Yavoriv. They

ALL PHOTOS BY CHARLOTTE CUTHBERTSON/THE EPOCH TIMES

‘I Just Kneel by the Bed and Pray’

There are more than 28,000 villages in Ukraine, which has a slightly smaller landmass than Texas.

The Lead Life Amid War

Myhailo Romanyshyn in his back yard. Romanyshyn’s house was set ablaze when German bullets hit the roof. worked cooking meals at the base and had sleeping quarters there. One of the four still lives in a state of terror and refuses to go back to work, according to Oksana, the medical office staffer, who declined to provide her last name.

Russia and Ukraine are at odds over the number of casualties at the base. Ukraine claims 35 Ukrainians and no foreign nationals died there. Russia says it killed up to 180 “foreign mercenaries.” Locals seemed to know that the real number of people killed was higher than the figure put out by Ukraine, but all were tightlipped when asked how many had died.

After the war with Russia started in late February, the Yavoriv base became a destination point for foreign volunteer soldiers who had arrived in the country to fight for Ukraine. A Polish man who was at the base at the time of the attack told Insight there were at least 300 foreigners there divided into two 150-man brigades. The men were in the barracks, which took a direct hit from one of the missiles, the Polish man, who declined to be named, said.

A senior local official told Insight that the real number of dead at Yavoriv was much higher, but declined to elaborate.

Jesper Soder, a Swedish citizen who was at the facility at the time of the attack, wrote on social media that the base, which according to NATO can house up to 1,790 people, was “totally destroyed.”

The locals’ reluctance to say how many people died at the base may suggest that they too have been caught up in the in-

formation war that has unfolded alongside the conventional war in the east of the country. Yaroslav Shevchenko, the priest at the orthodox church in Koty, said there’s a lot that he “just can’t say.”

According to three villagers, the families of the locals who were killed in the attack have yet to receive their remains.

The locals in Koty stayed put after Russia first invaded. Millions of Ukrainians have fled their homes, especially those from the east, where Russia has made steady advances. The villagers in Koty got together to cook food for the refugees who jam-packed the border crossings into Poland in the early days of the war. It was freezing cold outside at the time, and some people spent days waiting to cross.

The flow of people across the border has since slowed to nearly pre-war levels. Stacks of plastic tubs that had been used to take food to the border now stand empty at the village club underneath a table laid with Christian symbology.

Shevchenko said that on the morning after the missile strike, the congregation prayed for peace. Many women and children fled the village after the attack, he said, including one woman who had since given birth to a child in Poland.

There were still enough people left to take care of the fields, Shevchenko said, describing the general mood in the village as one of fear and anxiety.

The border with Poland is eight miles from Koty as the crow flies. Since Poland is a NATO country, the proximity of the strike on Yavoriv had geopolitical impli-

cations. NATO had conducted military exercises at the base for years, making it a symbol for Russia’s concern with NATO’s eastward expansion. A training exercise in 2000 featured 1,500 participants from 27 countries.

Men had been leaving the village to enlist for the war even before the strike.

Those who have three or more children are sent back home under the current enlistment criteria. The men of service age in Ukraine overwhelmingly want to be enlisted for the war. The demand is such that there are rumors of bribes being paid to be enlisted. There are also more volunteers than spots available in the territorial defense forces, which are organized on the regional level.

Like nearly every village observed

by Insight in western Ukraine, Koty has erected a volunteer block post on the road leading into the heart of the village. It was staffed by about a dozen men on the day after the missile strike on Yavoriv. Twelve days later, it was empty, as there was almost no traffic heading onto the dirt road, which runs past a wooden church and a few tiny ponds before forking in three directions near the village store.

The patriotic zeal in the Lviv region in the first days of Russia’s invasion was such that 544 block posts were spontaneously erected throughout the region. The posts became a problem as overly eager locals, paranoid about Russian spies, snarled the roads with traffic, interfering with the movement of military gear, humanitarian supplies, and refugees. Maksym Kozytskyy, the governor of the Lviv region, told Insight that his administration had to crack down on the posts, cutting the number down five-fold and giving each a list of specific tasks to perform.

White storks, prevalent throughout Ukraine, have several large nests in Koty.

Shevchenko said the birds return to the nests on the same day, March 23, every year no matter the weather and despite the constant gunfire and shelling from the training base over the years.

When he spoke to Insight on March 13, Shevchenko said he believed that if the birds returned in 10 days, the war would be over. On March 25, the storks, which are the national bird of Ukraine and symbolize harmony, had not yet returned.

I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022 17

1945 TRINITY TEST

‘Downwinders’ Still Seeking Justice 77 Years Later New Mexico residents who were exposed to radiation feel abandoned

BY ALLAN STEIN

18 I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022

A photo labeled “0.006 Sec” shows the first nuclear test, codenamed “Trinity,”conducted by the Los Alamos National Laboratory at Alamogordo, N.M., circa 1945.

PHOTO BY FOTOSEARCH/GETTY IMAGES

I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022 19

In Focus Nuclear Fallout

S K BER NICE GUTIER R E Z OF

Albuquerque, New Mexico, how old she is and she’ll bluntly tell you, “I’m as old as the bomb.”

BORN JUST EIGHT days before the

20 I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022

her—“downwinders,” they’re called— feel they’ve been abandoned by their government, left without answers. The downwinders got their name for living downwind of atmospheric nuclear bomb tests during the 1950s and ’60s.

When Gutierrez heard about the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium (TBDC), she decided to join in 2014 to help raise awareness of the negative health effects of radiation from America’s nuclear test program.

Tina Cordova of Albuquerque, co-founder of the organization in 2005, said she lost her father and other family

Tina Cordova (bottom C), seen here with her fa

(Top Left) Bernice Gutierrez, just eight days old, is seen with her mother, Eugenia, and father, Bonifacio, near Carrizozo, N.M., following the detonation of the first atomic bomb at the Trinity test site on July 16, 1945.

(Bottom Left) Tina Cordova (C) of Albuquerque, N.M., with her grandmothers.

FROM L: COURTESY OF THE GUTIERREZ FAMILY, COURTESY OF TINA CORDOVA

United States detonated the first atomic bomb at the Trinity test site on July 16, 1945, Gutierrez has lived to see the terrible health effects of nuclear fallout radiation on her family.

“There’s no time frame for when you get cancer,” she told Insight.

It started with her maternal great-grandfather, who was diagnosed with stomach cancer, which proved to be fatal.

“My Mom had three types of cancer. She had skin, thyroid, and breast cancer. My one brother had thyroid cancer. His daughter had thyroid cancer. Another brother had prostate cancer,” Gutierrez, 76, said.

On and on it went. Without letup.

“My sister has had three recurring bouts of thyroid cancer,” Gutierrez said.

“My youngest brother has thyroid disease. And I also have had my thyroid removed on the recommendation of my endocrinologist. So I’m also on thyroid medication.”

At last count, 41 family members have or have suffered from a radiation exposure illness. Of those, 23 have had cancer and seven have died from it.

“These are just the relatives I’m aware of—the ones I know that live here,” Gutierrez said. “A lot of us have thyroid issues.

Brain tumors as well.”

Her husband, Toby Sr., got cancer. His sister never smoked or used tobacco but she died of lung cancer. Another sister had thyroid cancer, and another has lupus, an autoimmune disease. A brother who had prostate cancer now has thyroid disease.

“It’s ongoing. It never ends,” Gutierrez said.

On June 3, 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Bernice, a mother of three, lost her son, Toby Jr., 56, to a blood disorder that foreshadows leukemia.

Her daughter, Eugenia, who was diagnosed with thyroid cancer at the time she gave birth to her second son has undergone three radiation treatments.

Gutierrez said that people like

In Focus Nuclear Fallout

amily, is co-founder of an organization that seeks to bring attention to the negative health effects from the Trinity atomic bomb explosion. members to cancer—which she believes was caused by radiation exposure from the Trinity blast.

Both of her great-grandfathers lived 45 miles from ground zero on July 16, 1945. They died of stomach cancer 10 years later.

“They were given morphine and were sent home to die. And they both died,” Cordova said. “Both of my grandmothers had cancer. My Dad died after having three different cancers.”

Cordova said there were families living as close as 12 miles to the Trinity test site in 1945; thousands more lived in a 50mile radius. However, the government claims the area was sparsely populated.

“The bomb was a plutonium-based bomb, and it was packed with 13 pounds of weapons-grade plutonium, but only 3 pounds of the plutonium fissioned,” the TBDC said in a fact sheet.

The rest of the material went into the environment.

With a half-life of more than 24,000 years, “the remaining 10 pounds of plutonium was joined with the soil, sand, animal and plant life, and incinerated.

The resultant fireball exceeded the atmosphere and penetrated the stratosphere, traveling more than seven miles high.”

Once the radioactive ash fell from the sky as fallout, “it settled on everything— on the soil, in the water, and on the skin of every living thing, both human and animal,” the TBDC said.

I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022 21

In Focus Nuclear Fallout

“My Dad didn’t drink, didn’t smoke, had no viruses, and developed two oral cancers. When I asked the doctors, they said this just doesn’t happen, but it happens here a lot.”

Tina Cordova, co-founder, Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium

22 I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022

A replica of the atomic bomb tower that was used at the Trinity test site stands at The National Museum of Nuclear Science and History in Albuquerque, N.M., on Feb. 26. you still have this feeding tube.’” He said, ‘I don’t care. I have to survive. And that’s going to be part of it.’

“So I would go every day and would carry the heavy bags of concrete and the heavy flagstone he couldn’t lift, so he could work on that,” Cordova said. “Then, he got prostate cancer, which I said was a walk in the park after the first time [with cancer].”

Then eight years later, her father developed a lesion on the side of his tongue that turned out to be cancer.

“My Dad didn’t drink, didn’t smoke, had no viruses, and developed two oral cancers. When I asked the doctors they said this just doesn’t happen, but it happens here a lot. We see a lot of this,” Cordova said.

In 1998, Cordova herself was diagnosed with thyroid cancer at the age of 39.

The first thing the doctor asked her was when she had been exposed to radiation.

Did she ever work with radioactive isotopes? Did she ever work in an X-ray lab?

Did she have a lot of X-rays?

“I said ‘no,’ ‘no,’ ‘no,’ but I lived 45 miles away from the Trinity test site and that was my exposure,” said Cordova, whose younger sister is currently being tested for thyroid cancer.

ALL PHOTOS BY ALLAN STEIN/THE EPOCH TIMES

“In 1945, there were no grocery stores in the small villages surrounding the Trinity site. All the meat, dairy, and produce people consumed was either raised, harvested, or grown by them. It, too, was contaminated.”

A recent study by University of Arizona economist Keith Meyers found that radioactive fallout caused an estimated 340,000 to 690,000 deaths in the United States from 1951 to 1973.

Cordova said the nuclear blast at Trinity poisoned “vast quantities of cows’ milk” in a 150-mile radius of the nuclear blast and was later consumed by families—men, women, and children.

In time, her father developed oral cancer.

“It’s really hard to describe to people what you go through when you have oral cancer,” she said, “but my Dad went through extensive surgery, had to have the lymph nodes removed from his neck, and extensive radiation. He had these beautiful, perfect teeth—not a single cavity in his mouth. The radiation destroyed the circulation to his jaw and he ended up losing all his teeth.”

Physically, her father was an “incredibly strong man who loved his horse, loved to hunt, fish, and worked hard. My Dad was such a hard worker,” Cordova told Insight.

While convalescing at home, her father insisted on doing landscaping in spite of the feeding tube that was still attached.

“If you’ll come and do the lifting, I’m going to do this landscaping,” Cordova recalled her father saying. “I said, ‘Dad,

In Focus Nuclear Fallout

“This is not an exaggeration—all the women in my family, my aunts, my grandmothers, my cousins, were all on thyroid medicine. Everyone has thyroid diseases, primarily low thyroid. My Dad’s older sister just completed radiation for breast cancer. It just goes on and on,” Cordova said.

Her dad was 72 when he died. Cordova said it “breaks my heart” to see a man in his 60s be diagnosed with cancer, even though he didn’t have risk factors or abuse his body.

“But in 1945, in the town where my Dad grew up, we didn’t have running water and we didn’t have electricity. My Dad and everybody else who lived in all these towns grew their own food and hunted,” she said.

Tularosa at the time was home to a large irrigation ditch system from which many local residents would get their water, as well as from open rainwater cisterns.

“When I was a child, we were probably receiving regular doses of radiation,” said Cordova, who fears for her other relatives who could be at risk for cancer.

Luckily, none of them have shown any signs—“yet.”

“And when I say yet, and it’s awful, we kind of live our lives that way. Because we always wonder who’s going to be next?

We don’t ask if we’re going to get cancer, we ask when are going to get cancer? My generation is where this is coming home to roost now,” Cordova said.

She said the only legal avenue of recourse for the downwinders has been the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA).

The legislation, established in 1990, provides lump-sum settlements of $50,000 to those who have suffered health issues related to exposure from atmospheric nuclear testing and $100,000 for uranium workers. Since 1991, RECA has paid out $2.5 billion in claims.

“The United States conducted nearly 200 atmospheric nuclear weapons development tests from 1945 to 1962.

Essential to the nation’s nuclear weapons development was uranium mining and processing, which was carried out by tens of thousands of workers,” according to a RECA program summary.

The program is set to expire on July 10.

Two measures are currently pending in the U.S. Senate and House that seek to

Members of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium in Albuquerque, N.M., including (L–R) Louisa Lopez, co-founder Tina Cordova, Bernice Gutierrez, and Paul Pinot.

Bernice Gutierrez (L), with Tina Cordova listening, describes how cancer has impacted her family, in her dining room in Alburqueque, N.M. Gutierrez's daughter Eugenia had thyroid cancer 12 years ago.

New Mexico resident Paul Pino, 67, says that all of the women in his family have had cancer or other diseases that he believes are attributable to exposure to atom bomb testing in the state.

Louisa Lopez reviews a family tree, keeping track of all the families and their illnesses and those who passed, on Feb. 25.

I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022 23

In Focus Nuclear Fallout

A recent study found that radioactive fallout caused an estimated 340,000 to 690,000 deaths in the United States from 1951 to 1973.

24 I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022

at the time of the bomb test, he said.

All four have gotten sick.

His mother, Esther Pino, 78, died of cancer that began as skin cancer and spread to her bones. His older brother, Greg, 68, died of stomach cancer.

“She died a horrible death in terrible agony,” Pino said. “She was tough. She never complained about anything. That bone cancer was horribly painful.

“My big brother, he was in the CIA and Vietnam. He survived that. He ended up dying of stomach cancer—from the radiation he probably got from the war with Japan. He was exposed at the ranch on July 16, 1945. He was a young man.”

FROM L: ALLAN STEIN/THE EPOCH TIMES, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION

extend the federal program and increase cash benefits up to $150,000 for eligible downwinders.

That limited amount of money, Cordova said, is “still not enough,” considering 9/11 first-responders can receive up to $1.25 million in personal compensation from the federal government.

Paul Pino, 67, is another downwinder who grew up in Carrizozo, New Mexico, about 40 miles from the Trinity test site.

Like Cordova and Gutierrez, Pino said he too has felt the impact of ionizing radiation exposure in the form of generational cancer and other serious diseases.

Four members of his family were alive

Pino, with six siblings, said he believes World War II really started at Trinity.

His sister twice had benign brain tumors removed. Another sister survived thyroid cancer. Recently, his daughter, 40, began to experience terrible itching in her legs. When she had it checked out, she found it was skin cancer.

“When I turned 67, I got in touch with my doctor” and requested an early detection test for cancer, he said. “They don’t want to do it because it’s a lot of money.

All these worries and thoughts are in your mind and you try to explain them to these doctors. They don’t know what’s going on.”

Pino said that while he appears healthy, he can’t be sure for how long.

“I’m very worried for my kids and my grandkids. All the females [in my family] have had thyroid problems, the young ones too.”

Louisa Lopez, 73, who lives near Socorro, New Mexico, about 28 miles away from the Trinity test site, said she lost her husband, Richard, to lymphoma in May 2020.

In Focus Nuclear Fallout

“Richard was pretty active with the downwinder group,” said Lopez, a mother of four who joined the TBDC in 2014.

“I was interested in the fact that we had so many people dying of cancer in my community.”

One day, she was told that a high school friend had died of pancreatic cancer.

“I told myself, ‘I’m going to get hold of these people,’” she said.

She started organizing her efforts with the downwinders group in Socorro County and making a list of people who either passed from cancer or received treatments for cancer.

Her list contains more than 100 people.

“I wanted to engage people here. I wanted them to care about why they were going through cancer. At first, I was having a hard time. They didn’t want to speak against the government. They were afraid of losing their jobs,” Lopez told Insight.

“They started seeing they were getting cancer, their kids were getting cancer, their parents were getting cancer. When I went to the funeral of my friend, I

looked around and there were no old people. All the old people had died, and that scared me.”

“I wasn’t born at the time of the bomb,” Lopez added. “I was born in 1948. But I’ve seen what it’s done to my community.”

“On my Dad’s side, I had an aunt that had breast cancer. She died of breast cancer. On my Mom’s side, my grandmother died of stomach cancer. It didn’t dawn on me until two or three years ago—this thing went further. I’m also frightened for myself. On my husband’s side, there’s a long history of cancer. I’m happy I’ve survived 73 years without anything [happening], but I’m scared for my kids.”

Lopez said that losing her husband was the worst thing she’s ever had to face. It’s tried her soul and tested her faith.

“You better say goodbye to your dad.

This is it,” she remembered telling her son the day his father died. “My son didn’t want to cry, but after he left [the hospital], I know he cried.”

“All of us call [Richard] the million dollar man because that’s what it will cost” to pay his medical expenses, Lopez said.

She is convinced his cancer started after he was exposed to contaminated soil while working as an excavator in the area.

Cordova said that before and after the 1945 atom bomb test at Trinity, few people even knew what radiation was.

Some people said they thought it had something to do with radios, which they didn’t own.

The nuclear program at Los Alamos, known as The Manhattan Project, was one of the best-kept secrets around, she said.

“We pledge allegiance to the same flag.

We pay our taxes. We are hard-working American citizens,” Cordova said. “We have hearts and souls. We have children and grandchildren. And we’ve been treated like we don’t count for anything.”

Bernice Gutierrez told Insight, “I get angry. I get real angry over what the government has done to us.”

The proposed RECA legislation expands the designated areas of radiation effects following nuclear weapons tests to include Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, and Guam, as well as additional areas in Arizona, Nevada, and Utah.

Since 1990, the federal government under RECA has been compensating downwinders who lived close to the Nevada Test Site. Many downwinders in New Mexico believe the state has never been included or compensated due to poverty and ethnic makeup.

Ideally, Cordova believes the new legislation should cover all related health care costs for downwinders and include a long-overdue apology.

“We were relegated to nothingness.

There are things our government absolutely knew and things our government didn’t know,” she said.

“What they absolutely knew was there was going to be fallout produced and that it would be damaging to human health. They did ... not ... care.”

(Far Left) A model of the bomb casing that was used to house Fat Man, the atomic weapon that was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, on Aug. 9, 1945.

(Left) A view of inside Los Alamos National Laboratory as researchers work on a nuclear testing project in 1974. Cordova said that the nuclear program at Los Alamos, known as The Manhattan Project, was one of the best-kept secrets around.

I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022 25

SPOTLIGHT INTERNATIONAL PET FAIR DOGS READY FOR AN EXCITING DAY at the Interpets fair in Tokyo on April 1.

Started in 2011, the fair is the largest international pet event in Japan and focuses on creating “a better life with pets.”

PHOTO BY PHILIP FONG/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

26 I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022

I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022 27

I M M I G R AT I O N

What Drives Urban Sprawl A report shows large swaths of open space are being lost

By Nathan Worcester new report from numbersusa has revealed that 17,800 square miles of open space in the United States were claimed for development between 2002 and 2017.

That area is about as large as Connecticut and Maryland put together.

“The rate of sprawl in this century has slowed down fairly substantially from what it was in the ‘70s through the 1990s. That’s the good news, and it’s for a variety of reasons, some of which are not so good—the 2008 meltdown, for example,” Leon Kolankiewicz, scientific director for NumbersUSA and the lead author of “From Sea to Sprawling Sea,” told Insight.

“The bad news, if I could put it that way, is that population growth represents an ever-larger share of the forces driving that urban sprawl.”

Population growth accounted for 60 percent of sprawl over the larger 35-year period between 1982 and 2017. Yet during the period between 2002 and 2017, fully 67 percent of sprawl was because of population growth, rather than other factors.

In a 2015 report, Pew Research Center found that 55 percent of population growth in the United States between 1965 and 2015 stemmed from legal and illegal immigrants or their descendants. The think tank is projecting that 88 percent of U.S. population growth from 2015 through 2065 will result from immigrants and their descendants.

A 2019 report from the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) shows an even more dramatic trend.

CIS’s analysis of data and projections from the U.S. Census Bureau suggests that future immigration could drive 95 percent of U.S. population growth between 2017 and 2060.

The year starting in July 2020 and ending in July 2021 marked a watershed in immigration-driven population growth. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, it was the first year on record that net international migration directly accounted for a greater proportion of population growth than natural increase.

NumbersUSA’s interactive online map shows 28 I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022

that new development has been dominated by population growth in many of the states with the largest foreign-born populations.

In California, where roughly a quarter of the population is foreign-born, 86 percent of the open space lost from 2002 through 2017 was lost because of population growth.

Texas, home to 11 percent of the nation’s immigrants, according to Pew, sacrificed a staggering 2,616 square miles of open space to development during that 15-year period, with 73 percent of that sprawl chalked up to population growth.

Florida, home to another 10 percent of the U.S. immigrant population, according to Pew, stands out even more starkly. Population growth claimed 95 percent of the 1,065 square miles of open space lost from 2002 to 2017.

95

PERCENT

of U.S. population growth between 2017 and 2060 could be driven by immigration, a government report says.

Nation Population Growth

(Left) Central Americans walking across the border from Mexico to the United States for asylum, in Tijuana, Mexico, on April 29, 2018.

(Below) Thousands of illegal immigrants amass in Del Rio, Texas, on Sept. 16, 2021.

“Population growth represents an ever-larger share of the forces driving that urban sprawl.”

FROM TOP: DAVID MCNEW/GETTY IMAGES, CHARLOTTE CUTHBERTSON/THE EPOCH TIMES

Leon Kolankiewicz, scientific director, NumbersUSA Kolankiewicz told Insight that most anti-sprawl activists “don’t want to touch the population issue with a 10-foot pole, because it’s mostly immigration driving it right now.”

“They prefer to deal with those things that are more politically correct—forcing people to live in higher-density residential areas,” he said.

The report reads, “Recognition by scholars that population growth is a major (not the only) driver of urban land expansion and sprawl is sharply at odds with the way the news media and anti-sprawl activists in the United States have tended to portray the causes of sprawl.

“The news media and anti-sprawl activists have chosen to accept that rapid, unending U.S. population growth on the order of 20 to 30 or more million new residents per decade is a given and a fait accompli. They have no intent of questioning or challenging it.”

The report points out the tension between politicians’ actions or commitments on immigration and, on the other hand, the conservation of U.S. open lands.

The Biden administration has promoted a 30 by 30 initiative aimed at protecting 30 percent of U.S. land and water by 2030.

“Many of the same politicians and groups who are ambitiously calling for protecting 30 percent of the United States land area from development by 2030 are also advocating large increases in immigration that would swell the U.S. population even further,” the report reads.

“Most fail to even recognize that U.S. population growth is a major factor in causing the loss of open space and natural habitat in the United States. The White House ‘30×30’ plan, for example, does not have a single reference to U.S. population growth.”

Sprawl is also a major cause of habitat loss and fragmentation.

“There’s no dispute that this [habitat loss] is the largest single cause of the biodiversity crisis, both for flora and fauna,” Kolankiewicz said.

I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022 29

300

PERCENT Farmers are paying roughly 300 percent of what they paid in 2020.

FA R M E R S

Farmers Feel the Pinch of Inflation The price of fertilizer has nearly tripled from a year ago

B

By Beth Brelje eep. beep. beep. it’s the familiar sound of food being scanned and placed into bags at your local grocery store. You just went in for a few things and meant to keep it under $100. But you walk away with a new case of sticker shock and fewer bags than $100 used to buy.

Inflation has hit every link of the food chain, such as diesel that fuels tractors in the field, and the trucks that deliver food from farm to the processor, to the warehouse, and then to the retail store.

Another cost that’s affecting your grocery bill is a major jump in the price of fertilizer. Farmers are paying roughly three times what they paid in 2020.

“I think folks tend to forget—I hear the mainstream media talking a lot about it—the cost of farming went up, and you’re going to see that in the grocery store,” Iowa Corn Growers Association President Lance Lillibridge told Insight. “Well, that points the finger at the farmer, and that’s very frustrating because the farmer, we don’t set the price for our corn, or our beans, or cattle, or hogs, or chickens. We don’t set the price of fertilizer.

“We buy at retail; we sell at wholesale. It’s always been that way. Farmers are some of the most frugal

30 I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022

people. They’re extremely smart. And we will manage to work through this. But sometimes we don’t.

Sometimes people go broke, and it’s not a good thing. But what the consumer has to remember is that farmers are not setting the price. So when that box of Wheaties or corn flakes goes up in the supermarket, it’s not because of the farmer.”

(Above) A tractor kicks up dust as it plows a dry field in Chowchilla, Calif., on May 26, 2021.

With the average age of the U.S. farmer at 57, farmland will be lost as they retire.

Soil Health In July 2020, urea fertilizer was $200 per ton.

By February 2022, it had jumped to more than $600 a ton, according to data collected by The Fertilizer Institute.

“Experts estimate that without fertilizer, we would be without 50 percent of our food supply,” Kathy Mathers, vice president of public affairs at The Fertilizer Institute, told Insight. “Fertilizer is absolutely necessary for plant growth. If farmers don’t get it, they are not going to be able to grow the crops we need to eat.”

It’s common knowledge among agriculturalists that soil health depends on three vital macronutrients found in fertilizers: nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. These macronutrients leave the soil as they feed growing plants, so farmers must replenish the soil to keep it fertile.

Several factors have caused the cost of fertil-

Between 2001 and 2016, the U.S. lost 11 million acres of farmland to development, a report says.

CLOCKWISE FROM L: JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES, COURTESY OF DENNIS CAMPBELL, COURTESY OF IOWA CORN GROWERS ASSOCIATION

Economy Food Inflation

izer to increase significantly, including tariffs, global unrest, and high corn prices. Corn requires fertilizer, and as more farmers turn to growing corn to capture the high commodity price, it’s driving global demand for more fertilizer, Mathers said.

“It’s a serious situation, because a sizable amount of macronutrients come from offshore, from either Canada, Russia, or the Middle East, and so we’ve got to be careful in what the long term supply issues look like,” Dennis Campbell, a farmer in Clinton County, Iowa, told Insight. “Like most farmers in the last 100 years, we’re interested in the longevity of our soil, so we’re not going to steal fertilizer from the dirt and not replenish it.”

Campbell farms and fertilizes mostly corn and soybeans on 9,000 to 10,000 acres each year, including some of his own land and some contract work.

A year ago, Campbell bought nitrogen fertilizer for 30 cents a unit. Today it’s over $1 per unit.

“That’s a major investment, if it’s a dollar a unit.

On a corn plant, you probably need to apply 220 pounds of nitrogen. We’ve gone from $65 to $220 on a per-acre basis.”

When multiplied by 10,000 acres, Campbell would be paying an additional $1.5 million this season if he hadn’t bought in advance. Many farmers buy fertilizer in the fall for fall application or to capture a lower seasonal price.

As fertilizer costs climb, farmers must decide how much they can afford. The result may be less food produced.

“We’re trying to maximize yield to get maximum dollars,” Campbell said. “At some point, as those three macronutrients go up, there’s going to be a tipping point where we’re going to have to be willing to take a lower yield and say, ‘I’m going to take the risk of being short, or nutrient deficient on potash, for example, because it’s too expensive for me to get to what I think I need to maximize yields.

“Finding that fine balance is going to be a challenge.”

Fewer Farms, More People Maximizing yield isn’t just about farmers earning more—it’s a key to global food security, since fewer farmers are producing the world’s food.

Between 2001 and 2016, the U.S. lost 11 million acres of farmland to development, according to a report from the American Farmland Trust.

With the average age of the U.S. farmer at 57, farmland will be lost as they retire.

“We have data showing 336 million acres of farmland is going to change hands in the next 15 years, and that’s something we’re really concerned about,” Don Buckloh, spokesman for the Farmland Information Center, told Insight. “With

“

We’re interested in the longevity of our soil, so we’re not going to steal fertilizer from the dirt and not replenish it.

Dennis Campbell, Iowa farmer

“

We don’t set the price for our corn, or our beans, or cattle, or hogs, or chickens.

We don’t set the price of fertilizer.

Lance Lillibridge, president, Iowa Corn Growers Association

the change of hands, what’s not known is, who’s going to operate it?”

Retiring farmers could pass their land on to another farmer, or a developer. As farmland shrinks, U.S. and world populations grow. Census data shows the population in the United States has increased from 151 million people in 1950 to 331 million in 2020.

Less land to feed more people means squeezing more yield from every field. Fertilizer helps to make that happen.

“Thanks in part to fertilizers and somewhat due to the fact that we have better seed varieties, growers are growing twice as much corn as they grew in 1980, with about 6 percent more fertilizer,” Mathers said.

But today’s prices threaten yield.

“We’ve got a 300 percent increase on fertilizers,” said Lillibridge, who farms about 2,100 acres of mostly corn in Benton County, Iowa. “Those prices increased in October and November. We went from having $490 a ton for anhydrous ammonia in the fall of 2020, to $800 a ton in the fall of 2021. And from September through November 2021, it went to $1,500.

“When a producer looks at his input costs, like fertilizer, we have to make some decisions: Does my land benefit from a production and an environmental standpoint?”

Campbell notes that Ukraine’s planting season is weeks away. He assumes most farmers there may have fertilized in the fall, but the decision to invest in planting is surely a difficult choice for Ukraine farmers now.

“I mean, why would you put that money out there when you think that there could be a bomb or a tanker, or somebody is going to steal your diesel?” Campbell said. But he says tariffs are the main culprit of increased prices.

Fertilizer was already on the rise before Russia, a major fertilizer producer, invaded Ukraine.

Last year, the International Trade Commission, at the request of fertilizer producer Mosaic Co., put a tariff on phosphate fertilizer from Moroccan producer OCP Group, and duties on phosphorus imports from Russia. Since then, fertilizer prices have jumped.

The American Corn Growers and other agriculture groups are asking for those tariffs to be removed.

Farmers typically plan ahead. Those who fertilized in the fall won’t feel the pinch so much this spring. But they’re worried.

“For those buying fertilizer strictly in the spring, it’s going to be tighter margins,” Ryan Drollette, farm management specialist for the Iowa State Extension, told Insight. “People are thinking that this might become a real problem if it keeps going.”

I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022 31

SOCIAL ISSUES

ONLINE INF LUENCERS SP

TR ANSGENDERI How the internet has allowed the movement to spread globally

BY JACKSON ELLIOTT 32 I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022

PRE AD

ISM

A teenage girl watches a show in bed in Madrid on March 18, 2020.

PHOTO BY CARLOS ALVAREZ/GETTY IMAGES

I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022 33

Transgender Movement

“EPIDEMICS OF THE MIND” MAY BE MORE CHALLENGING THAN EVER TO STOP IN AN ONLINE WORLD, EXPERTS SAY. MOST MENTAL ILLNESSES are individu-

al problems, but others are contagious, according to Australian psychologist Dianna Kenny. These forms of self-destruction tend to spread by personal contact or by the distribution of information.

“These things just take off. Just one little aberration in the environment can start a terrible snowballing effect,” she said.

Although mental illness epidemics are bizarre, they’re not uncommon across history, Kenny said.

In medieval Europe, outbreaks of the “dancing plague” struck where people suddenly started dancing uncontrollably.

The Salem witch hunts were another “psychic epidemic.”

In the 1980s, American day care centers nationwide faced completely unfounded accusations of satanic child abuse.

Epidemics like these aren’t caused by

Nicholas Kardaras, psychologist 34 I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022

Identity Crisis Widespread rapid-onset transgenderism is a new phenomenon, Kenny said.

For most of history, feelings of being the wrong gender were found in a tiny fraction of people and didn’t start suddenly. “’The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders’ estimates that it occurs in 1 in 10,000 boys and 1 in 27,000 girls. And now the incidence is hundreds of times greater than standard wisdom about prevalence,” she said.

According to statistics from the National Library of Medicine, these figures vary between times and places.

In 1968, a study that counted sex change requests estimated that 1 in 100,000 Americans identified as transgender.

In several European countries in the 1980s, similar studies found that between 1 in 10,000 and 1 in 250,000 people identified as transgender.

Some groups dispute the accuracy of these surveys.

According to Transhub, a pro-transgenderism website, prejudice against people who identify as transgender meant fewer people publicly identified as transgender.

“Chances are that this number isn’t actually any higher than before, but that today more people feel able to count themselves into this category than ever before,” the website states.

However, it’s impossible to deny the rapid rise in reported transgenderism.

Gender dysphoria is 300 times more common among teens than it is among adults.

Since 2009, the incidence of transgenderism appears to have skyrocketed in the United States, growing by leaps and bounds.

Research by journalist Abigail Shrier suggests that the rate of transgenderism has risen by about 1,000 percent. It has gone from a phenomenon that even psychological specialists saw rarely to an issue so common that over half of Americans now personally know someone who identifies as transgender or gender-neutral.

Government studies estimate that between 115,000 and 450,000 Americans identified as transgender in 2009. But in 2022, about 1.4 million Americans did.

Although statistics about the number

FROM L: COURTESY OF LUZ ROJAS KARDARAS, JOE RAEDLE/GETTY IMAGES

“[Transgenderism has] become so popular that it’s become normalized.

And in fact, I would say more than normalized, it’s become idealized.”

anything physical, Kenny said, but they still damage people and communities.

Today, the transgender movement resembles these psychic epidemics, she said, but unlike past psychic epidemics, the internet has allowed the transgender movement to spread globally.

The consequences will likely prove devastating for the next generation of teenagers, she said.

of people who identified as transgender even 20 years ago are hard to find, their rise to prominence has been meteoric.

Before the 1990s, even the word “transgender” wasn’t in common use.

Nowhere is this change more dramatic than among young people, according to Kenny.

Gender dysphoria is 300 times more common among teens than it is among adults.

Young American women seem far more likely to become transgender now than in the past, according to a study from the National Library of Medicine.

All these qualities are classic signs of a “psychic epidemic” or mass hysteria, Kenny said.

According to Medical News Today, mass hysteria spreads rapidly, is spread

by communication, has symptoms that aren’t attached to any physical cause, and tends to spread fastest among young women.

“There are all these figures when you put them together, and all these patterns when you put them together, which strongly point to a phenomenon called ‘social contagion,’” Kenny said.

Typically, psychic epidemics follow a similar pattern, she said. A prominent person behaves in an unhealthy way, then a wider range of people pick up on the behavior and start doing it, too.

How It Happens About 10 percent of people who identify as transgender today are between 13 and 17, according to a study by the UCLA School of Law. That age group is only 8

percent of the general U.S. population.

Most of the time, young people first learn about transgenderism from online activists or influencers, according to Dr. Nicholas Kardaras, a psychologist.

“Now you have all these social influencers who are gender-confused and trans,” Kardaras said.

One of the biggest transgender Instagram accounts is that of Jazz Jennings, with 1.2 million followers. Other transgender influencer accounts have hundreds of thousands of followers.

When Jennings gets high numbers of searches on Google, searches for “am I transgender” also hit peaks.

Insight attempted to contact Jennings but received no response.

Gender dysphoria is a real condition, and some people genuinely struggle I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022 35

Transgender Movement

with it, Kardaras said. But it’s likely that the real condition isn’t nearly as prevalent as the copycat gender dysphoria that spreads rapidly.

When transgenderism seems cool to young people, many more people identify as transgender than usual.

“It’s become so popular that it’s become normalized. And in fact, I would say more than normalized, it’s become idealized,” he said.

In Their Own Words

36 I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022

This online transgender community can be massively influential, according to Kardaras. People copy famous people.

As an example of how contagious behaviors spread, Kardaras described a series of events that happened in the 1790s.

In 1794, author Johann Goethe published a novel titled “The Sorrows of Young Werther.”

In the book, a depressed, sensitive young man named Werther killed himself because he was in a love triangle.

The novel was wildly popular across Europe, but Goethe’s story had a negative impact. A plague of copycat suicides swept through Europe’s young men.

“Now imagine 2022, with social influencers with 100 million followers, and 24/7 digital immersion. It’s the Werther effect amplified,” Kardaras said.

Similarities and Differences Like other psychic epidemics, transgenderism has famous influencers and

Most of the time, young people first learn about transgenderism from online activists or influencers, an expert says.

FROM L: MANAN VATSYAYANA/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES, COURTESY OF DIANNA KENNY

On Egg_irl, a popular transgender Reddit page with 243,000 members, posts about changing gender show a community where changing sexual identity is a very self-conscious behavior.

One meme reads, “I wish I was a transwoman.” The phrase means that the man writing wishes he wanted to be a woman.

In the comments, multiple users say that curiosity about being transgender suggests that someone is transgender.

“I realize that if I wanna be seen as a woman, act like a woman, look like a woman, then it does not really matter if I am a woman, I wanna transition anyway [and then I will finally start to feel like a woman],” one commenter wrote.

“I used to think [for years, before cracking] that there was no way I could be trans because I don’t ‘feel’ like a woman. But how would I, after living and being perceived as a guy for decades?” another comment reads.

Another meme jokes about how transgenderism can be a performance that others can misinterpret.

“Acting feminine to give of the vibe that I am trans,” the top half of one meme reads, with a relaxed cartoon girl.

“My parents asking me if I’m gay,” appears in the bottom half of the meme, along with the same girl wearing a concerned expression.

Another Reddit post from a woman who identifies as a man said it can be difficult to see where the performance ends and someone’s real personality begins.

“If I did anything even remotely feminine, I was convinced it made me less of a man, that I was acting too much ‘like a girl,’” the post said.

Insight reached out to several transgender activists for comment, but none responded by press time.

THIS ONLINE TRANSGENDER COMMUNITY CAN BE MASSIVELY INFLUENTIAL, AN EXPERT SAYS. PEOPLE COPY FAMOUS PEOPLE.

Transgender Movement

spreads rapidly among young women, Kenny said.

“Most of the young people who decide they’re transgender have decided based on the super spreaders on the internet,” she said.

But unlike many psychic epidemics, transgenderism is finding support from governments, universities, courts, and health care systems, she said.

This course of action is madness, she said. Just because something is a trend doesn’t make it mentally healthy.

“If we look at a suicide epidemic, you don’t have courts changing the law to allow children to commit suicide if they want to,” she said.

“It doesn’t matter how much puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, or mutilating surgery you have. You will still be a biological male or a biological female.”

Even so, it’s challenging to fight a psychic epidemic that spreads online, Kenny said.

“It’s a really, really thorny question,” she said.

In the past, decreasing media coverage of influential suicides has resulted in less suicide. According to suicide prevention website Suicide.org, the media can help prevent suicide by talking about it less.

“Minimize coverage of suicides. Keep the stories relatively brief and do not run too many stories,” the site’s coverage advice reads.

But the wide range of online transgender celebrities, pro-transgenderism websites, government approval for transgenderism, and other issues make fighting the psychic panic extremely difficult, Kenny said.

Activists have often attempted to suppress information about how transgenderism might not be an unchangeable condition that can only be improved by surgery.

In 2018, a network of 100 British academics published an open letter stating that many academics have faced activist, media, and academic attempts to suppress or quell their research into the rise of transgenderism.

Other studies have promoted treatments for transgenderism without good evidence.

In America, several academic studies claiming to show that taking hormones

made transgender people feel less suicidal were funded by large pharmaceutical companies that produce expensive hormones.

The studies also had major design flaws that meant they were more likely to return a result that encouraged gender transition.

“Everybody is too scared to say the emperor has no clothes,” Kenny said.

“Most of the young people who decide they’re transgender have decided based on the super spreaders on the internet.”

Dianna Kenny, psychologist

Confusion and Clarity The increased publicity of transgenderism tends to leave young children and teenagers tormented by questions that kids in the past rarely had to face, according to psychologist Leonard Sax. When schools and society teach kids that something as foundational as gender identity can change day by day, the kids get anxious, Sax said. Encouraging kids to experiment with their gender doesn’t help them find an identity. It just confuses them.

“Gender turns out to be much more fragile than we imagined,” he said.

“That actually has huge consequences [in] that kids get really confused. And as a result, they are anxious, depressed, and disengaged.”

Mental and physical differences between biological men and biological women are real, Sax said. They impact learning and thought in a variety of ways. Children need to be taught in a way that considers these biological differences.

“Every enduring culture, of which we have any substantial record, has devoted substantial resources to teaching girls what it means to be a good woman and teaching boys what it means to be a good man,” said Sax. “These are biological realities found across the primate order, and indeed across mammals.”

If society doesn’t teach children to be good men and women, children won’t learn to live without gender, Sax said.

Often, they will live out the worst qualities of manhood and womanhood.

Boys often become absorbed in pornography and violent video games, and girls seek sexual attention on social media, he said.

“You ignore gender, you end up reinforcing gender stereotypes,” Sax said.

How Things End The best thing people can do for people who identify as transgender is not to argue with them, Kenny said. Their decisions aren’t coming from a place of rational argument.

“You’ll lose them in the first two minutes,” she said. “Unfortunately, some young people cannot be worked with, because they’re so closed, and so brainwashed, and so convinced that transitioning is going to solve all their problems.”

Instead, people who want to help should try to understand people who identify as transgender and learn why they are struggling, she said.

Some young people return to normal after psychotherapy. But others are so brainwashed by the transgender movement that they are almost unreachable.

“It’s a very uphill battle,” Kenny said.

Psychic epidemics usually end when people start publicly speaking up against them, she said.

An epidemic that spreads through speech can be countered by speech.

“It takes courageous voices to speak up and say we’ve got to stop this madness,” she said.

I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022 37

Arthur Goldberg reads a prayer book at Congregation Mount Sinai in Jersey City, N.J., on March 24.

PHOTO BY SAMIRA BOUAOU/THE EPOCH TIMES

38 I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022

CIVIL RIGHTS

A VICTIM OF CANCEL CULTURE A former investment banker is paying a stiff price for upholding the teachings of the Torah

By Steven Kovac

ARTHUR GOLDBERG HAS SPENT A lifetime fighting for the rights of others and promoting biblical morality.

Now, at the age of 81, Goldberg, a devout Orthodox Jew and president of his local synagogue, is engaged in the moral and legal fight of his life.

His offense: insisting that Jewish men and others have the right to obtain counseling and therapy to overcome unwanted same-sex attraction (SSA) and founding a nonprofit organization to refer them to places of help.

“For promoting those rights, providing seekers with that information, and referring them for gender affirmation therapy, I have been canceled,” Goldberg told Insight.

“Where is the person’s right to determine his or her own therapeutic goals?

Where is the freedom to choose? What happened to a person’s right to voluntarily choose to change his or her sexual orientation?

“Men and women desiring help with SSA are being denied the right to information about the availability and effec-

tiveness of gender-affirming methods and therapies.”

According to Goldberg, gender affirmation therapy is the empowerment of willing individuals combating unwanted same-sex attraction to affirm the gender of their birth.

When Goldberg, a retired investment banker, saw the painful struggles of some acquaintances dealing with SSA, he was moved to co-found a nonprofit organization called Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing (JONAH) to offer them hope and assistance.

JONAH’s mission was to refer primarily Jewish men struggling with SSA to professional and religious counseling.

The goal was to help them fulfill their desire to live a life consistent with the tenets of their Jewish religion as declared in the Torah (the five books of Moses), which holds to heterosexuality, the marriage of a man to a woman, and the bringing forth of children within its confines.

“I saw many Jewish men, as well as people of other faiths, who wanted to be I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022 39

Profile Cancel Culture

Deep Religious Convictions and Compassion While Goldberg is a published author of a book and many articles on homosexuality and has much to say about the debate over its clinical and political aspects, he’s especially passionate about the spiritual 40 I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022

Arthur Goldberg inside a room where people used to receive therapy to overcome unwanted same-sex attraction, at the Committee for the Absorption of Soviet Emigrees in Jersey City, N.J. side of the subject.

He views with joy and optimism the Creator’s stark declaration in the Bible’s Book of Leviticus, chapter 18, verse 22, which reads, “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.” (King James Bible) Goldberg points out that to’eivah, the Hebrew word for “abomination,” is referring to the action and not the person— the sin and not the sinner.

Citing the teaching of several prominent rabbis and linguists, Goldberg believes that to’eivah has in it more than the idea of abhorrence, which is the common English definition.

“The Hebrew word has in its meaning the idea of ‘a straying or to be led astray.’

“To’eivah contains in it the possibility of teshuvah.

“If you can stray off the path, it is im-

plied you can return to the path,” he said.

“This offers so much hope, humaneness, compassion, and relief for those crushed between unwanted powerful personal inclinations and their strong dedication to their religion.

“The Torah teaches us that the Creator is not cruel. He is just and loving, much more willing to demonstrate mercy than to punish or destroy.

“Primarily in the West, nations have lost their traditional bearings. This has resulted in an unprecedented confusion of values.

“Once we threw away the compass of right and wrong passed down to us from ancient wisdom, self-indulgence has become the rule, supported by a good deal of creative rationalization.

“We live in a time of moral relativism, which has led to an intolerance of objective morality and those standing for it.”

Goldberg says his activism on behalf of those voluntarily seeking help with SSA, or other forms of what he calls “sexual brokenness,” is for him a religious and moral imperative.

FROM L: SAMIRA BOUAOU/THE EPOCH TIMES, COURTESY OF ARTHUR GOLDBERG

free from same-sex attraction and who desperately wanted to start a traditional family,” he said.

“They needed to know that there is available to them a guided process involving professional counseling, self-discovery, and a combination of spiritual and behavioral self-adjustments characteristic of the Jewish concept of teshuvah, meaning ‘returning to the path,’ or repentance.

“We are not about curtailing the hardwon civil rights of gay people. In fact, we acknowledge what the gay rights movement has done to improve the social status and the economic and political integration for both male and female homosexuals.

“The counseling and therapy we recommend are based on love. We only deal with people who come to us wanting to change.”

Profile Cancel Culture

“If a Jewish homosexual turns to another Jew for help in finding a way out of his homosexuality, the Torah indisputably forbids turning him or her away,” Goldberg said.

“A person struggling with unwanted same-sex attraction is told by the gay activist, ‘You can’t change.’ He is told by the ultra-conservative, ‘You are loathsome.’ He is told by psychiatrists and psychologists, ‘Accept your gay feelings and act upon them—even though they might conflict with your internal values.’

“In my opinion, such attitudes are immoral and irresponsible when there is help available for those desiring it. But the cancel culture is keeping people from knowing about that help and is suppressing their right to treatment.”

The High Price of Principle Goldberg is paying a stiff price for standing for the teachings of the Torah and the rights of others. A series of lost court battles designed to silence him over the past decade has plunged him $3 million in debt for attorney fees, costs, and fines.

Goldberg said he has never taken a salary from the two philanthropic institutions he’s been a part of.

Mounting legal bills forced Goldberg and his ailing wife, Jane, to mortgage the Jersey City, New Jersey, home where they’ve lived for nearly 50 years.

Even the crowdfunding platform he created to help pay his legal bills was shut down by the court.

“With little prospect of a conservative like me being able to use existing crowdfunding platforms, I founded a platform called Funding Morality. They soon went after it and shut it down.

“The Cancel Culture employed a strategy of bringing legal action against me and then cutting off the purse strings in order to break me financially,” he said.

His foes were not only successful in getting the court to bar Goldberg from referring anybody to counseling and gender affirmation therapy, he has also been banned for life from participating in or serving on the board of any nonprofit organization in the state of New Jersey.

Goldberg’s latest legal setback came in February, when the Supreme Court of New Jersey refused to hear his appeal to preserve his constitutional rights of freedom of speech, association, and to

freely exercise his religion.

He said for him, an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court at this time appears unaffordable.

The Role of the SPLC Goldberg says his main adversaries over the years have been the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and what he calls the “gay lobby.”

The irony of a noted civil rights advocacy organization working to cancel a civil rights advocate isn’t lost on Goldberg, who during the 1960s traveled to the South as a Freedom Rider to fight for the civil rights of black Americans.

During the 1990s, when the Soviet Union broke up, Goldberg worked in the humanitarian effort to resettle Jews fleeing Russia in the United States.

The SPLC sued Goldberg several times in a local New Jersey court, forcing him to shut down the two nonprofit organizations he helped found to further his causes.

A 2012 case against Goldberg forced the closing of the nonprofit JONAH. A second lawsuit, filed in 2015 by the SPLC, forced the closure of the Jewish Institute for Global Awareness (JIFGA), a nonprofit ministry that Goldberg says had a different and much broader mis-

“The counseling and therapy we recommend is based on love.

We only deal with people who come to us wanting to change.”

Arthur Goldberg

(L–R) Arthur Goldberg and his wife, Jane, with Inga and Michael Slutskin, a couple from Russia whom they helped resettle in Brooklyn, in Jersey City in the late 1990s. sion than that of JONAH. “JIFGA was founded to promote and strengthen the universal underlying morals of the Judeo–Christian worldview in the United States and around the globe.

“SPLC attorneys persuaded the judge that JIFGA was a ‘mere extension’ of JONAH, which he had previously ordered to disband,” Goldberg said.

On its website, the Atlanta-based SPLC describes itself as a “catalyst for racial justice in the South and beyond, working in partnership with communities to dismantle white supremacy, strengthen intersectional movements, and advance the human rights of all people.”

“The human rights of all people except those who want to be free from unwanted same-sex attraction and those trying to help them change,” said Goldberg, when asked about the posting.

The SPLC’s website is still touting its legal victory over Goldberg.

What he calls gender affirmation therapy, the SPLC and gay activists pejoratively call “conversion” or “reparative” therapy. The SPLC on its website rejects gender affirmation therapy as “harmful, abusive, junk science worse than snake oil.”

On its website, the SPLC also praised the court for what it calls the “landmark” pre-trial ruling in which the judge “excluded several conversion therapy proponents from testifying as defense witnesses because their opinions were based on the false premise that homosexuality is a disorder.”

The website quotes the judge as I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022 41

Profile Cancel Culture

saying that the theory that homosexuality is a disorder is “like the notion that the earth is flat and the sun revolves around it ... outdated and refuted.”

“The exclusion of defense witnesses was unfair,” Goldberg said. “We had expert witnesses prepared to explain what gender affirmation therapy actually is and to present real case histories of its effectiveness. The judge barred them from testifying.

“The SPLC lawyers were very good at falsely describing to the court how ‘disturbing, dangerous, and harmful’ gender affirmation therapy supposedly is.

“It seems clear the judge bought into the gay lobby’s widely publicized and popularly embraced propaganda that homosexuality is an immutable characteristic a person is born with.

“The fact is, science has yet to discover a so-called ‘gay gene.’”

Goldberg said of the judge’s comments about homosexuality no longer being considered a disorder, “The declassification of homosexuality as a disorder by the American Psychiatric Association in 1973 and the American Psychological Association in 1974 was more a social and political decision than a reevaluation based on any new science.”

Political pressure from gay activists to normalize homosexuality has chilled public discourse and has had a detrimental effect not only on patient rights, but also on patient care, Goldberg said.

Concern for Future Generations

42 I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022

“The cancel culture is keeping people from knowing about that help and is suppressing their right to treatment.”

Arthur Goldberg

“Early on, I became active in the civil rights movement because of my love for the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the founding principles of our republic—principles that are increasingly coming under attack from many quarters,” he said.

Goldberg has also served as a congressional aide and as a deputy attorney general in New Jersey.

“After practicing law for a few years, I went to work on Wall Street as an in-

THIS PAGE: SAMIRA BOUAOU/THE EPOCH TIMES

“To disagree with the ideology of the gay lobby is to be branded a ‘hater’ and a ‘homophobe.’ People are afraid to speak.

Even many religious leaders won’t address the subject.

“Even worse, qualified professional psychologists are deciding not to offer what they know are effective gender-affirming therapies for fear of being sued by gay activist groups,” he said.

Despite the hardships of the past decade, Goldberg says he’s been blessed with a full and happy life.

Born in Jersey City, he attended local schools. He went on to earn a degree from the American University in Washington and graduated from Cornell University Law School.

A plaque given to Arthur Goldberg

by Russian immigrants in honor of his contribution to the community, created by Russian American artist Marc Klionsky, in Jersey City, N.J., on June 5, 1988.

vestment banker specializing in the financing of public purpose projects,” he said.

As an author, Goldberg is best known for his nearly 600-page book “Light in the Closet,” a scholarly yet readable study of the Torah, homosexuality, and the power to change.

“I’ve lived in Jersey City all of my life,” he said. “When the city began to decay, I resolved to stay here and do what I could to prevent its further decline.”

Goldberg and Jane, his wife of 53 years, have four children and six grandchildren.

He says it’s for his grandchildren and coming generations that he continues to labor to preserve the values of the United States he grew up in.

Of particular concern to him is the successful efforts of gay activists to infiltrate U.S. schools with what Goldberg calls their “anti-religion, anti-family doctrine.”

“Across America, children from preschool on up are being indoctrinated with the pro-gay, pro-trans agenda under the guise of student health, school safety, anti-bullying, diversity, and tolerance lessons.

“The programs I have studied and carefully documented in my book range from sensitization to outright recruitment. It’s all part of the effort to prematurely sexualize our children.

“Sexually explicit literature, pamphlets, and audio-visual materials are routinely presented to students without the knowledge or consent of parents.

“In some schools, special speakers are brought in to graphically describe their homosexual experiences and lifestyle.

This happens not just in high school but in elementary school, too.

“There are next to no lessons about the physical and psychological risks of homosexual behavior. Even sex-change counseling is being presented to students in elementary, middle, and high schools, unbeknownst to parents.

“Parents need to be interested, informed, and proactive in monitoring what their children are being exposed to in public and private schools across our nation, or soon we will not have a country that bears any resemblance to the land of liberty that was founded on and made great by Judeo–Christian principles passed down to us by our forefathers.”

P OL I T IC S • E C ONOM Y • OPI N ION T H AT M AT T E R S

No.13

Perspectives Cars drive through afternoon traffic in Brooklyn, N.Y., on July 30, 2018. When the cost of transportation rises, ineludibly the price of everything rises.

PHOTO BY SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES

THE LEFT’S GREENFLATION

‘THE UNHOLY ALLIANCE’

WILL SAUDIS DITCH THE US DOLLAR?

Waging war on fossil fuels inflames inflation. 44

The Kremlin affirms its support for Beijing’s stance on Taiwan. 47

Capital controls and price fixing are very important threats. 48

INSIDE I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022 43

THOMAS MCARDLE was a White House speechwriter for President George W. Bush and writes for IssuesInsights.com.

Thomas McArdle

The Left’s Greenflation Waging war on fossil fuels inflames inflation

hen you pull aside the curtain of its moral pretensions, the green movement of global warming fanatics is just another socialist scheme to replace the free enterprise’s real-world judgment of how to navigate the economic long term with coerced, illegitimately law-enforced faith in government control.

There’s one preeminent tool that players in the economy—meaning all of us—use to transact honestly and productively with one another: price. And today, we face a price crisis.

The global price of oil has skyrocketed because of the massive government spending of one-party rule by Democrats for more than a year now, cowardice on the part of the Federal Reserve, and all of this exacerbated in recent weeks by Russian aggression in Ukraine induced

by President Joe Biden’s weakness in failing to project American power, especially the debacle of the Afghanistan pullout.

But oil equals transportation, and the fact that everything else that is bought and sold—whether consumed, worn, slept or sat on, washed with, worked with, played with, or used as a means of transportation itself—must be delivered from producer to seller to buyer, means no escaping a widely dispersed ripple effect. When the cost of moving people and things rises, ineludibly the price of everything rises.

“There’s nowhere to hide,” Bankrate chief financial analyst Greg McBride told CNBC regarding the 7.9 percent, worst-in-40-years inflation hurting Americans today. “This is hitting everybody.”

Rents are currently rising at nearly 5 percent, the worst in over 30 44 I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022

years. Meat, appliances, furniture, buying or renting cars, and staying at a hotel were all up by double digits over 12 months toward the close of last year, months before the oil shock from the war on Ukraine.

That 12-month period saw gas go up by over 50 percent.

This extreme political agenda is a war on the freedom to set prices.

The higher gas prices reach, the better, according to the left. Clinton administration economist Jeffrey Frankel wrote last year, “On one hand, the effect of high oil, gas, and coal prices on consumers is good for the environment, because they discourage demand for fossil fuels.”

He added that, on the other hand, high fossil fuel prices also encourage fossil fuel supply—though he noted that the consequent private investment in the sector has proved to be weaker than expected.

In 2019, energy research firm Wood Mackenzie analyzed the objectives of the left’s war on oil. The various high-minded schemes for weaning America off fossil fuels have been estimated to cost $1.7 trillion for the Biden plan seeking zero emissions, $5 trillion for Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke’s proposal, and $10 trillion for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal.

This extreme political agenda is a war on the freedom to set prices.

It’s the equivalent of stormtroopers marching into your supermarket and removing from the shelves the offerings they don’t want you to be free to buy, based on ideological criteria. Maybe it’s Bayer aspirin they hate, or Tropicana orange juice.

Those fewer choices will mean higher prices because consumers are captive to a reduction of competitive alternatives.

Buyer and seller freely agreeing upon prices is the only way resources can be allocated efficiently, a task beyond the ability of any central planner. And far from merely being the difference between comfort and hardship, price in the course of history has meant the difference between life and death, on a massive scale.

Remember the famine in Ethiopia, which saw the world force-fed with the moral outrage of our leading rock stars? Was that the world’s rich starving the world’s poor? Far from it.

As Oklahoma State University political science professor Theodore M. Vestal wrote in July 1985 (the month of the Live Aid concert to raise money for relief of the Ethiopian famine), Ethiopia’s government under its military junta “made farmers accept artificially low prices for the main grains: teff, sorghum, barley, millet, wheat, and maize.” Coffee was “so heavily taxed that peasants do not bother to expand its production. These policies destroyed the incentive of millions of peasants to grow surplus food, and productivity has declined notably.”

No doubt voters will hold Democrats responsible for today’s sky-high inflation in the November midterm elections this year. What too few realize, however, is that dramatically higher prices are not the unintentional result of mismanagement and incompetence; they are the expected, desired results of the Democrats’ game plan. And if they get the green revolution they want, the inflation of today will be dwarfed by what’s to come in the years ahead.

ANDERS CORR is a principal at Corr Analytics Inc., publisher of the Journal of Political Risk. He is an expert in political science and government.

Anders Corr

China’s Economy Hits a Wall Sanctions, regulations, and coronavirus take their toll

hile the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has predicted 5.5 percent economic growth in 2022, indicators show that Beijing is under the illusion of wishful thinking.

COVID-19, a failing property market, sanctions from the Uyghur genocide, secondary sanctions from the Russian invasion, Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s reforms, and regulatory clampdowns are hitting China’s economy and leading most economists to predict less growth this year.

“China, this year, will be lucky to avoid contraction,” analyst Gordon G. Chang told Insight in an email. “The country ended 2021 with plunging growth. This year has been worse with declining consumption, spreading COVID lockdowns, and proliferating defaults.”

Chang wrote “The Coming Collapse of China,” a 2003 book that predicts the economic and political implosion of China under the weight of its communist regime.

“Local governments are tight on cash as the all-important property sector collapses,” he told Insight. “Add in geopolitical tensions with China’s most important customers and supply chain disruptions galore.”

Xi’s proclivity and admiration for Russia, even as Russian President Vladimir Putin destroys a neighboring democracy—and his own economy in the process—doesn’t augur well for China, at the helm of which is a man who wants to repeat Putin’s approach in Taiwan.

Peggy Hollinger noted in the Financial Times that the two-hour attempt by U.S. President Joe Biden to obtain Xi’s support against Putin simply ended in mutual threats of economic sanction, serving as “a wake-up call” for foreign companies in China.

“The risks of doing business in China have been escalating for some time,”

Hollinger wrote in her March 23 article.

“Tensions between Washington and Beijing over technology exports, the mass incarceration of 1mn [1 million] Uyghurs and other Muslim groups in Xinjiang, and the crackdown in Hong Kong, have forced many companies to think about contingency plans.

Supply chain disruptions caused by the Covid pandemic then drove home the dangers of relying on China for key components or products.”

Xi’s attempts to reform the economy are of particular concern among investors because they signal a future direction for China away from a globally integrated market economy.

Putin’s invasion led to a mass exodus of foreign companies from Russia, both for fear of sanctions and of the reputational risk of making money in a country that’s bombing civilians next door.

Within four weeks of the invasion, more than 450 businesses had announced their withdrawal from the country, according to a Yale study.

“The lesson of Russia’s invasion is not just that the unthinkable can happen,” Hollinger wrote, “but that the consequences can play out at a speed and scale few had imagined possible.”

She cited corporate attorneys who now advise clients to consider “asset light” approaches to China, such as franchising or licensing rather than high-stakes ownership.

“At the very least, diversification of manufacturing elsewhere in Asia, or even further afield, should be a priority,” Hollinger wrote.

Xi’s attempts to reform the economy are of particular concern among investors because they signal a future

direction for China away from a globally-integrated market economy.

While Xi’s claims of environmental sustainability and inequality reforms are surface-level at best, his deeper cuts to economic growth will come from misplaced subsidies, regulatory clampdowns on successful and prominent businesses that pose a political threat to the CCP, and a controlling approach to combating the pandemic, which continues to delay the day of reckoning rather than avoiding it altogether. The cost is extending the economic pain to China’s economy.

Tencent is a recent example of a successful Chinese tech company that was hit hard by Beijing’s regulatory clampdowns. Revenue growth slowed to 8 percent in the third quarter, its weakest since listing in 2004.

Last year, the CCP imposed sweeping regulations against the company, including restricting children to just three hours of video games per week. Some of Tencent’s game teams were forced to implement the costly restrictions, rather than create new games.

Beijing also restricted children’s online education, which contributed to a fall in Tencent’s ad revenue by 13 percent in the quarter, from last year. Tencent executives expect fewer hires in 2022.

The fundamental problem for China’s state-led economy is the state-led part.

States, especially those controlled by dictators, tend to maximize their power rather than economic gains and accept far greater risk than democracies.

A return to the decentralization and entrepreneurial dynamism that would give China some hope is fundamentally at odds with Xi’s aversion to markets and greed for more personal control over China’s economic power. Because of his ballooning political power, that drive manifests as continued and increased centralization of the economy under the historically disastrous management of the CCP. I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022 45

Milton Ezrati

MILTON EZRATI is chief economist for Vested, a contributing editor at The National Interest, and author of "Thirty Tomorrows" and "Bite-Sized Investing.”

Robotic Anxieties

Fears that AI will cause mass unemployment are misplaced

F

ear consistently garners media attention. Presently, the war and geopolitics have taken pride of place from COVID-19 as a source of anxiety. Before the pandemic, a dominant fear held that robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) would destroy millions of jobs and throw a significant portion of the population into poverty.

Surely such anxieties will return after the immediate emergency is resolved. As before, prominent figures in government, business, and nonprofits will voice concerns for the future and call for a massive reordering of our economy and our society to deal with the problem.

Matters, however, are a good deal more complex and, as it turns out, a lot less threatening.

Such concerns indeed dominated not too long ago. The MIT Technology Review fed anxieties by adding up all the tasks AI could conceivably do and concluding frighteningly that AI would eliminate 47 percent of U.S. jobs by 2035.

Even though the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) pointed out that the relevant metric wasn’t all the jobs that AI could replace but rather the jobs that it could replace profitably and concluded that more like 10 percent of U.S. jobs were at risk, the corrective got much less media attention than the MIT engineers did.

AI concerns entered politics. For a while in 2020, even as the pandemic gained force, Democratic presidential hopeful Andrew Yang gathered attention by voicing concerns about job losses due to AI applications.

He was so concerned about losing jobs that he called for permanent government handouts—a universal basic income (UBI)—to support the 46 I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022

millions soon to become unemployable. He wasn’t alone.

Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and other tech luminaries made similar forecasts and calls for radical change.

The good and the great who gather at Davos, when they aren’t celebrating tyrants and themselves, never tire of such warnings.

Though AI is new, such worries are an old story. Each new wave of technology has always generated the same forecasts of job loss and poverty.

Each wave of technology has displaced a portion of the workforce but enabled the growth of new occupations.

Back in the 1960s, for example, a group of Nobel laureates warned that the “new kinds of automation,” by which they meant manufacturing robots, had “broken” the “link between incomes and jobs.” President John Kennedy took their fears to heart and warned of the “dark menace of industrial dislocation, increasing unemployment, and deepening poverty.” President Lyndon Johnson called for widespread “family relief” to ease the strain.

Ironically, this time is now lauded by today’s alarmists as a golden age of good-paying jobs for working men and women.

To be sure, technologies do destroy jobs. The doomsayers, however, have always missed how technology also creates new employment opportunities. For example, the invention of the personal computer in the 1970s. It took 20-plus years before businesses could adjust to the possibilities of

the personal computer and finally make full use of them.

During that time, it’s true that gradually thousands if not millions of typists, clerks, dispatchers, and the like lost their jobs. But over that same time, others used those new technologies to develop other commercial activities.

During those 20 years, the nation, for example, saw the rise of Federal Express and like firms as well as cable, first for TV and then internet connections. These two areas alone now employ millions in jobs that didn’t exist and that directly or indirectly depend on the same computer technologies that destroyed so many other jobs.

This same pattern has been repeated countless times. Each wave of technology has displaced a portion of the workforce but enabled the growth of new occupations. If this pattern hadn’t prevailed, each wave of technology since the days of the horse-drawn plow would have left an ever-increasing portion of the population unemployable. But in fact, the economy on average has continued to employ 95 percent or more of those who want to work.

The innovations always create as they destroy.

The problem is that it takes more imagination to see what will be created than to estimate what will disappear from the past. Who in 1972 could have envisioned an air delivery scheme that could make millions of deliveries the next day and track each parcel at each stage of the process? The jet planes were around, but not the computer and communications technologies enabling this organization to function.

It’s precisely that lack of imagination that today misleadingly feeds a new wave of AI anxieties.

EMEL AKAN is a senior reporter for The Epoch Times in Washington, D.C. Previously she worked in the financial sector as an investment banker at JPMorgan.

Emel Akan

‘The Unholy Alliance’

The Kremlin affirms its support for Beijing’s stance on Taiwan

THE EPOCH TIMES

T

he relationship between China and Russia reached new heights in February when Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin met on the sidelines of the Beijing Winter Olympics and announced a “no limits” partnership. The move came just weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine.

“This was the beginning of the unholy alliance, where they started to talk about unlimited partnership,” Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) told Insight on March 24 at the Republican retreat in Florida.

McCaul, who is the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called the new partnership “very disturbing.”

Following the meeting in Beijing, the two leaders released a 5,000-plusword statement presenting a united front against the West. The Chinese regime endorsed Russia’s opposition to NATO expansion, and the Kremlin affirmed its support for Beijing’s stance on Taiwan. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) views Taiwan as its own territory and hasn’t renounced the use of force to annex the self-ruled island.

Since the invasion, Beijing has refused to denounce Moscow’s aggression and has reaffirmed that Russia is China’s “most important strategic partner.”

“I’ve been very worried that Putin has always wanted Ukraine, and Chairman Xi has always wanted Taiwan,” said McCaul, who also leads the House Republicans’ China Accountability task force.

Watching how Putin’s war on Ukraine unfolds and his miscalculations, however, may have a negative impact on Xi’s calculus, he noted.

President Joe Biden told the Chinese leader on March 14 that there would be “consequences” if Beijing gave material support to Russia as it attacks Ukraine. Biden’s warning came after U.S. officials said Beijing had signaled a willingness to provide military and

House Republicans believe the United States should learn from the invasion of Ukraine and use those lessons to safeguard Taiwan against a Chinese attack. economic aid to Russia. Both countries have denied this.

Despite U.S. warnings, Beijing is still participating in Russian propaganda and disinformation activities and helping Moscow skirt economic sanctions, McCaul said.

“They’re very deceptive. They’re going to play the game in order to have Russia on their side in the event they decide to invade Taiwan,” he said.

Taiwan has been on high alert since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, concerned that China will follow suit.

Taiwan is vital to America’s economic and national security interests, experts say. The democratic island is an unmatched leader in the semiconductor industry, accounting for 92 percent of the world’s most advanced chip manufacturing capacity.

House Republicans believe the United States should learn from the invasion of

Ukraine and use those lessons to safeguard Taiwan against a Chinese attack.

During a press conference at the Republican retreat, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy identified “two biggest threats” to the United States: national debt and China. Increasing arms sales to Taiwan was one of the proposals discussed at the retreat.

Taiwan, according to McCaul, has to improve its asymmetric warfare capabilities as its military power is disproportionate to China’s. This means investing in more anti-ship and anti-aircraft mines. In addition, the United States and its allies should deter China’s use of force in the Indo-Pacific region, he said.

One of the key policy issues covered at this year’s GOP retreat was “China accountability.” If House Republicans reclaim control of the chamber in this year’s midterm elections, they promise to hold China accountable on a variety of matters, including the origins of COVID-19.

When Republicans regain the majority, they’ll have subpoena power to request a full investigation of COVID19’s origins, McCaul said, criticizing Democrats’ reluctance to take action on this matter.

“We’re not going to change the past.

But it’s important we have transparency to change the future. We don’t want this to happen again. And I do think there’s an accountability issue here,” McCaul said.

In September 2020, McCaul and his colleagues released a 90-page report detailing an investigation into the origins of the virus and the CCP’s cover-up. The GOP investigation focused on whether the virus originated from a laboratory in Wuhan.

“We want to get to the bottom of what happened not to be vengeful, but we need to know the truth about what happened that has killed millions of people around the world,” McCaul said.

I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022 47

DANIEL LACALLE is chief economist at hedge fund Tressis and author of “Freedom or Equality,” “Escape from the Central Bank Trap,” and “Life in the Financial Markets.”

Daniel Lacalle

Will Saudis Ditch the US Dollar?

Capital controls and price fixing are very important threats

T

48 I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022

Even the large Chinese oil companies favor the U.S. dollar for international transactions. cent of the market, compared to the dollar at 41 percent, which has held the top slot for decades. The euro is used in 36.6 percent, and pound sterling in 5.9 percent.

Why is the yuan only used in 2.7 percent of global transactions, despite being 14 percent of the world’s GDP, and what happened in 2015?

The yuan is the only currency from a global economic leader that has capital controls and fixed pricing set by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC). As such, any holder of the Chinese currency finds a constant threat from an abrupt devaluation and the inability to use the currency freely in payments.

And that’s exactly what happened in 2015. The Chinese central bank announced an aggressive devaluation.

The yuan isn’t an alternative to the U.S. dollar because of capital controls, fixed pricing, and, even worse, the fact that Beijing’s monetary pol-

icy is even more aggressive than that of the Federal Reserve. The expansion of money supply in China has been multiple times over that of the United States for two decades with significantly lower global demand.

It’s also worth noting that even the large Chinese oil companies favor the U.S. dollar for international transactions. Looking at the open interest in the Shanghai Commodity Index, the so-called petroyuan index, we can see an extremely limited use of the yuan in global oil transactions.

If oil and commodity producers in other countries, particularly Latin America, have accepted China’s currency in the past, it has been due to the large debt commitments they acquired with the Asian giant, not for practical reserve currency use reasons.

Any commodity producer that accepts the yuan instead of the U.S. dollar must know that capital controls and price-fixing are very important threats, and there’s no real indication that the PBOC is going to change any of those.

While Saudi Arabia might use some yuan in its oil exports, the reality is that no fiat currency with capital controls is a real alternative to other fiat currencies, and the advent of central bank digital currencies makes this problem larger. Central bank digital currencies are surveillance disguised as money, and the risks of massive printing, erosion of purchasing power, and control of transactions is much larger than in traditional currencies.

Saudi Arabia could prefer gold or cryptocurrencies to escape the money printing machine, but it would hardly replace a heavily printed but open and secure fiat currency, the U.S. dollar, with a closed and less secure one.

STR/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

here are numerous articles mentioning that Saudi Arabia may use the yuan, China’s domestic currency, for its oil exports.

How much oil does Saudi Arabia export to China? According to the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC), the kingdom’s main exports are to China ($45.8 billion), India ($25.1 billion), Japan ($24.5 billion), South Korea ($19.5 billion), and the United States ($12.2 billion).

Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest oil exporter, and China is the largest buyer at $204 billion, in 2019 figures.

Saudi Arabia’s public accounts are exemplary. From a 4.8 percent deficit, the kingdom expects a surplus in 2022 and its public debt to GDP is 30.2 percent, one of the lowest in the world.

Does Saudi Arabia need to use the yuan? No. Its foreign currency reserves including gold stood at $472.8 billion in 2020, despite the pandemic-led slump in exports and oil demand. Is it under any pressure to change currency? Even less so. Its reserves comfortably cover its external debt, giving an enviable level of stability compared to other OPEC nations that have large trade and fiscal deficits.

What would Saudi Arabia gain from using the yuan? Not more exports to China. The Asian giant needs its oil imports more than Saudi Arabia needs its domestic currency. There is no real evidence that exports to China would fall if Saudi Arabia continued to use the U.S. dollar.

The yuan utilization in global transactions is very limited. According to Bloomberg, “Activity in the renminbi, as the currency is also called, rose to its second-highest level ever” in 2021. However, that means a stubbornly modest 2.7 per-

Fan Yu

FAN YU is an expert in finance and economics and has contributed analyses on China’s economy since 2015.

What Lies Ahead for US Housing Market This is a market that we haven’t seen in a long time

FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

T

he record-high u.s. real estate market is at a crossroads.

The Federal Reserve finally raised interest rates in March in an effort to combat soaring inflation. The average mortgage interest rate has, unsurprisingly, also increased to its highest level since 2019. After average 30-year rates hovered in the 3 percent range in 2021, average rates are now more than 4 percent.

That’s bound to take the steam out of the real estate market, right?

Maybe.

The usual central bank playbook tells policymakers to raise rates to decrease demand and therefore temper prices. But today it’s a bit more complicated than that. The market is supply-constrained, in terms of both housing and consumer products.

This is a market that, historically, we’ve rarely encountered.

Higher mortgage rates should make homes less affordable. Borrowers pay more in their monthly payments for the same house. On a $400,000 mortgage, the difference between a 3.5 percent rate and a 4.2 percent rate—in the range of where a 30-year fixed mortgage sits today—is $233 per month.

The other cloud over the housing market is an economic recession.

Some analysts already think we’re in the midst of a recession due to skyrocketing inflation and the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Housing industry research firm CoreLogic believes home price increases over the next year will be tepid. Between January 2022 and January 2023, CoreLogic projects home prices on average will rise by only 3.5 percent compared to the double-digit growth of the past two years.

CoreLogic’s reason for this is rather simple. It believes that rising

Home prices are unlikely to come down, and could still grow despite the macro environment. home prices during the COVID-19 pandemic were offset by record-low mortgage rates. But with rates rising, home buyers will be more sensitive to price levels, and that could decrease demand.

The mortgage market has reacted already. Data from the Mortgage Bankers Association show an 8 percent weekly decline in mortgage applications as of March 18.

But analysts at Zillow, the popular home listing website, think prices could continue to climb at the current pace. They believe year-overyear home prices on average will rise by 17.3 percent by January 2023.

From a volume standpoint, there will certainly be fewer homes exchanging hands this year. Market inventory levels are very low, and relatively higher mortgage rates will delay those who are on the fence.

Bids from home flippers and investors could also wane, given that they’re a segment more sensitive to margin compression.

But home prices? They’re unlikely to come down, and could still grow, despite the macro-environment.

There are a few factors behind this.

The first is demographics. We’re in a period of time when millennials born between the late 1980s and early 1990s are hitting their 30s and having children. These are prime home-buying years. Unlike investors, families are less sensitive to interest rates.

Another factor is lack of supply.

A recession and higher rates will push some prospective buyers out of the market, but still not enough to overcome the lack of homes available. No matter how we slice it, demand still outstrips supply of desirable homes. Part of this is due to a decade of under-building following the 2008 financial crisis. The other culprit is the emergence of institutional investors.

You’re unlikely to have heard of them, but a group of companies, some of which are backed by wellheeled Wall Street and institutional investors, have been buying tens of thousands of single-family homes across the country to rent them out. Firms such as Tricon Residential, Invitation Homes, American Homes 4 Rent, and Progress Residential are some of the most prominent companies that are snapping up homes with all-cash offers, sometimes before the homes are listed.

These institutional home buyers care little about interest rates.

They offer all-cash bids and have contributed to recent home price increases, especially in hot property markets such as Arizona and the Sunbelt regions.

While it’s still unclear which direction the U.S. housing market will go, the recent surge in home prices is likely here to stay.

I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022 49

JEFF MINICK lives and writes in Front Royal, Va. He is the author of two novels, “Amanda Bell” and “Dust on Their Wings,” and two works of nonfiction, “Learning as I Go” and “Movies Make the Man.”

Jeff Minick

Trust Your Gut Feelings Our inner voice can help us choose wisely

few years ago, my sister told me about a man and his family who had moved to Asheville, North Carolina, where she also resided. They were building a house in the hills near the city, and one Sunday, the man drove out to check on the progress of the construction crew, taking a toddler with him.

The little boy fell asleep in the car, and the man decided to let him catch a nap while he inspected the site.

After taking a few steps, however, for some inexplicable reason, he felt uncomfortable about leaving the child alone. He took the boy in his arms, walked through the house, came back to his vehicle, and found that a black bear had climbed into the car through an open window and was happily gobbling up some cookies.

How the man removed the bear from the car, I have no idea, but listening to his gut may have saved his son’s life.

Another example: Every year, my Latin students took the National Latin Exam. We used the syllabus and practice tests to prepare for the ordeal, and I would also review some general test tips.

“If you finish early,” I would tell them, “take a couple of minutes to clear your brain and then recheck your work. And remember,” I would always add, “don’t change any answer unless you know for certain that it’s wrong. Even though you can’t explain exactly why, your first instinct may have been right on target.”

In her online article “The Power of Female Intuition,” Colleen Oakley provides yet another instance of intuition at work: “When my husband and I shopped for our first house, we looked at more than 20 properties on the 50 I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022

Of course, misinterpreting this sixth sense can also be dangerous. market. None of them seemed to fit our detailed checklist of the perfect home. I grew frustrated and called my mom. ‘Forget the list,’ she said. ‘When you walk in the front door of your house, you’ll just know it.’ Three days later, as I stepped onto the slightly sloping porch of a charming 1926 Spanish stucco three-bedroom with our realtor, I realized my mother was right. It had only one bathroom and desperately needed paint and a new air-conditioning unit, but somehow, I knew I was home.”

To some, these gut feelings may appear unreliable, even goofy. In our age of technology with its mantra “Follow the science,” we might view as irrational those who say, “I can’t explain it, but this is the perfect house for me.”

Yet this sixth sense, which one online dictionary defines as “a supposed intuitive faculty giving awareness not explicable in terms

of normal perception,” is not the equivalent of looking into a crystal ball. Whether it’s falling in love at first sight, avoiding a certain street at night, or deciding to buy a friend a birthday gift that leaves her walking on air, intuition comes into play.

Of course, misinterpreting this sixth sense can also be dangerous.

Most of us, for instance, have at times misread the motives of those around us. In her article, Oakley cites Judith Orloff, psychiatrist and author of “Guide to Intuitive Healing,” who warns that “Fear, desire, and panic can all get in the way of intuition.

It’s important to really focus on that inner voice.”

“Maybe you’re trying to decide if you should take a new job that pays twice the salary as your current one.

Your head says ‘Of course! That’s a lot of money,’ but you notice that you feel a little sick to your stomach or exhausted. That’s an intuitive cue that you should step back and really examine the offer,” Orloff said.

Most of us think and plan before making major decisions, but let’s not forget that the gut feeling of intuition might play a part in that equation.

Profile Coping With Stress

By Patrick Butler

Aid Volunteers in Ukraine Face Trauma Volunteers helping refugees from Ukraine are becoming distressed themselves

olu n t e e r s se e k i ng to aid some of the 3 million refugees coming across the border from Ukraine are experiencing anguish themselves, a trauma therapy counselor told Insight on March 15.

“It’s essential that volunteers who have little or no experience dealing with traumatized adults and children get ready for what they’re about to see,” said MaryDale Salston, who has worked for years in post-traumatic stress counseling.

“Volunteers will be traumatized, too, and definitely impacted by the brutality of the stories they hear. They need to be prepared to manage their responses and remain calm to be effective.”

Salston has worked as a trauma counselor during the San Francisco earthquake of 1989, the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995, and hurricane disasters in Florida where people’s homes were destroyed.

She has also led groups of patients who were survivors of violent crimes and those who have had family members murdered.

FROM TOP: COURTESY OF MARYDALE SALSTON, DANIEL MIHAILESCU/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Delayed Symptoms There are some simple steps nonprofessionals can take to be more effective, Salston said.

“Step one is that volunteers should not forget to breathe slowly, deeply, in and out. Remain calm. Don’t react to what you see with jaw dropping or eyes rolling,” she said.

“People facing life and death stress situations stop breathing normally. They clench down and breathing becomes shallow, or they just hold their breath. Volunteers will experience that as well as they encounter shaken people and children.”

There are “identifiers” that volunteers staying for extended periods will see.

“Acute trauma is the duration of symptoms for less than three months.

Chronic trauma symptoms last longer than three months,” Salston said.

“Thirdly, there are delayed-onset symp- had been impacted in a positive way,” toms where at least six months have she said. passed since people experienced the “Responses such as ‘My family has been trauma and onset of symptoms.” there for me,’ ‘I have developed better Some refugees will cope via perrelationships with friends who have sistent avoidance, experiencing gone through this,’ or ‘My relaa restricted range of emotions. tionship with God is stronger.’”

“They will not be able to be as Volunteers shouldn’t be overloving, thoughtful, or concerned whelmed by the sheer number for others as they were,” she said. of refugees in need of help.

“There are people who formerly “I always have hope that if a could laugh easily, and all that volunteer is reaching out, even Dr. MaryDale shuts down. They were able to Salston Retired to just a few people, that this have empathy for somebody, trauma therapist will eventually have a positive but can’t any longer.” impact on a larger number,” People experiencing life-and-death Salston said. “A colleague and I led a hosituations can lead to what’s called “hy- micide survivors’ group of 30, and they pervigilance.” ended up doing all the work. We may “That’s where people are on guard all have led the topic, but they were the ones the time because of the traumas they’ve helping each other. experienced,” Salston said. “Coupled “When they read of a homicide in the with that can be the exaggerated startle paper, they would write a letter to the response. Simple sounds—like a book survivors and say, ‘You should come dropping or a car backfiring—cause peo- to this group. It’s going to help you.’ ple to be startled, a symptom not present They helped each other a great deal. If before the trauma.” the volunteers to Ukraine can promote that—helping each other rather than Positive Outcomes a professional doing it all—that would Not all responses to traumatic stress are have a powerful impact.” negative, she said.

Prayer is important, she said.

“I once did a survey of individuals “We need to pray for volunteers for asking how trauma impacted their dai- guidance and good leadership,” she said. ly lives. I was surprised to find that in “That’s what we can do for them here as every case, the narrative was how they they are going over there.”

Refugees from Ukraine enter Romania after crossing the Danube river at the Isaccea–Orlivka border crossing, on Feb. 26.

I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022 51

Nation Profile

THOUGHT LEADERS

Narrative and Modern Ideological Warfare

Maajid Nawaz, author

Whoever controls the narrative controls the perception of reality

I

t’s a war over narrative,” says Maajid Nawaz, “and whoever gets to define the narratives around world events gets to define how those events are perceived and how we respond to them.”

In this episode of “American Thought Leaders,” host Jan Jekielek and Nawaz, the author of “Radical: My Journey Out of Islamist Extremism,” discuss the World Economic Forum, the erosion of Western liberties, and the ways ideology shapes our world.

JAN JEKIELEK: On a Ro-

MAAJID NAWAZ: I’m glad

you began with that quote.

That’s the heart of modern ideological warfare.

It’s a war over narrative, 52 I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022

MR . JEKIELEK: You’ve

had a life that I think helps you look at this through a very wise lens.

ate. From the age of 16, I’d engaged in ideological debates.

I attempted to undermine open democratic societies from within by ideological critique, not for the purpose of establishing a caliphate in the U.S. or in the UK, but to recruit Muslims who are born and raised in these countries to do what I did.

I helped to set up Islamist revolutionary groups in the UK, Pakistan, and Denmark.

I was in Egypt when I was detained after the 9/11 attacks.

MR . JEKIELEK: How did

MR . NAWAZ: I was an

you begin doing that in the first place?

Islamist revolutionary who wanted to establish a caliph-

MR . NAWAZ: I was born

and raised in Essex in the UK. But how does a 16-yearold from there end up on that path?

That was the time of the Bosnia genocide. The Srebrenica Massacre left 6,000 Bosnian Muslims in a mass grave.

Islamist revolutionary groups began recruiting young, angry Muslims like me who felt we were being attacked on our own continent. And it was true. The genocide was happening and nobody was doing anything about it.

That was the beginning of my journey of anger.

We arrived at the conclusion that we needed an

BAO QIU/THE EPOCH TIMES

gan podcast, you once said, “When there’s no such thing as truth, you can’t define reality. And when you can’t define reality, the only thing that matters is power.”

and whoever gets to define the narratives around world events gets to define how those events are perceived and how we respond to them.

There’s a concerted effort to destroy the idea that there is any way of agreeing upon truth.

Those who push this ideology of relativism and materialism are obsessed with attaining power. If they take power, they can shape the reality they find objectionable into their own interests. And that explains the ideological war we’re in.

During the COVID mandates, traditional disciplines that relied on their own set of standards in the pursuit of truth were weaponized to achieve political objectives.

Narratives were deployed.

Nation Profile

“During the COVID mandates, traditional disciplines that relied on their own set of standards in the pursuit of truth were weaponized to achieve political objectives.

Narratives were deployed.”

Islamist ideological state.

We took the word caliphate from traditional Muslim theology, but we modified it for our ideological purpose.

We organized ideological groups and tried recruiting from the armed forces. We believed that once we had enough recruits, we might incite military coups in those countries and establish this caliphate.

proselytizing for this idea of a caliphate. But all Hosni Mubarak needed to know was we were members of Hizb ut-Tahrir, which was the name of our group.

My house was raided around 3 a.m. They ripped my infant son from my arms, blindfolded me, tied my hands behind my back with rags, and put me in this van. The journey from there was a nightmare.

MR . JEKIELEK: And you

were imprisoned in Egypt?

MR . JEKIELEK: You’ve

MR . NAWAZ: I was 21 years

mentioned that Amnesty International took an interest in you.

old. It was just after the 9/11 attacks, and that’s when the game changed. We weren’t breaking any laws, just

MR . NAWAZ: Amnesty’s

campaign was the be-

ginning of my change of heart. What I’ve said in my autobiography “Radical” is that where the heart leads, the mind can follow. Until that point, I had considered Amnesty to be a soft power tool of Western colonialism. Yet here was Amnesty saying, “These guys hate our guts, but they deserve some rights. And they certainly didn’t deserve to be put in jail just for their ideas.”

When Amnesty campaigned for our release, it softened my heart. It was a human-to-human bond, as opposed to an ideological bond. And then I began debating in prison with liberal political prisoners, communists, jihadis, Islamists. And I read everything I could get my hands on.

It was those kinds of debates—and the softening of the heart caused by Amnesty—that eventually led me to no longer being able to subscribe to this ideology. I served my full sentence and got back to the UK. I am still a Muslim, but I can no longer subscribe to the ideology of Islamism, of forcing Islam on society.

Anyway, this is how you

weaponize arguments for the purposes of serving an agenda. You have to destroy before you build. You undermine the belief system of people to a point where they don’t know who they are anymore, and then you package an alternative for them.

This process of radicalization relies on a grievance.

The Bosnian genocide is a classic case in point. The U.N. troops stood by and 6,000 Muslims were killed.

So now you’ve got a grievance, and the solution isn’t found in the democratic setup. That’s where we brought in the idea of a caliphate.

You can see how nefarious actors could use legitimate grievances to radicalize society. If we don’t want that to happen, then we have to make sure those grievances are addressed.

Otherwise, you end up with radicalization and what we might call the cycle of violence.

MR . JEKIELEK: You said

that you have to destroy first before you ...

MR . NAWAZ: Build Back

Better. Ring a bell?

I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022 53

Nation Profile

“This is how you weaponize arguments for the purposes of serving an agenda. You have to destroy before you build.”

MR . JEKIELEK: Klaus

Schwab has written the books “The Great Reset” and “The Great Narrative.”

I think lots of us wonder whether these people are ideologically aligned or is there some kind of command and control structure like there might have been in your organization?

MR . NAWAZ: You’ve got the

MR . JEKIELEK: Well, okay.

World Economic Forum?

Why are you saying that?

MR . NAWAZ: All of the MR . NAWAZ: Well, the

Great Reset is this process in action. It’s why I have been able to recognize it and warned against it. If you’ve got the World Economic Forum saying we need this global crisis and the COVID emergency for a Great Reset, that’s the destruction part.

A reset means getting rid of the old and starting again.

MR . JEKIELEK: Build Back

Better is often associated with the Biden administration, but you’re saying it originally started with the

world leaders use that phrase, not just Biden. It’s a World Economic Forum phrase, and the ones using it are all graduates of the World Economic Forum Young Leaders program.

And then you hear clips of Klaus Schwab, the leader of the World Economic Forum, saying, “The graduates of our Young Global Leaders have penetrated the Cabinets of the world.” And then he goes on to say, “Half of Canada’s Cabinet are members of our World Economic Forum.”

ideological element in The Great Reset, but we know there’s an administration behind it. There were annual meetings in Davos. The Young Global Leaders had meetings outside of Davos, and we know that the purpose was to send them into various positions to bring about change. We know because they’ve told us that.

Keep in mind, for example, that Klaus Schwab says half the Canadian Cabinet had been penetrated by the World Economic Forum.

Under Trudeau, they started freezing the bank accounts, the corporate accounts, of truckers protesting man-

dates. They made threats about taking their licenses.

That’s called tyranny.

If Trudeau got his way, the vaccine passports would be used to put an infrastructure in place for the QR code checking-in and checking-out system. And as we now know, governments are seeking to replace paper money with government-controlled digital money, which is how you end up with a Chinese social credit system. So if you oppose that government, as happened in Canada, government can switch off your money. That’s how you get total control over society.

Why would you destroy your own open democratic societies? It’s because we’ve come to a crossroads.

Remember the beginning of our chat. Whoever controls the narrative controls your perception of reality.

The state can no longer control the narrative, because the internet has democratized access to information.

Add cryptocurrency to that, and you’ve lost control.

When you’re losing control, like an abusive husband, you get violent. You clamp down.

You try and maintain your grip on power. So that’s why I think we are in for a bit of a rough ride, unfortunately, until the dust settles.

Participants check their messages on electronic devices during the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 23, 2020.

54 I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022

THIS PAGE: FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

T R AV E L • F O O D • L U X U R Y L I V I N G

No.13

Unwind Located as far south as you can go, with the only full-time inhabitants being penguins, seals, and orca whales, this noteasy-to-reach, snowy land holds mysteries in every direction.

PHOTO BY STU SHAW/SHUTTERSTOCK

The Coldest, Coolest Place on Earth THE VIEWS SEEN FROM this historic, lovingly upgraded villa have included medieval life, Roman conquerors, and movie stars. 56

THESE EXPRESS CRUISERS all qualify as floating family-andfriends fun zones that can take you on day cruises or overnight adventures in comfort and style. 63

58

INSPIRED BY MICHIGAN’S abundance of flavorful produce, Chef Kim’s menu of traditional Korean cuisine attracts fans from all over. 66

INSIDE I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022 55

The property has two large swimming pools. This infinity pool is designed for entertaining and relaxing, while a lap pool elsewhere on the property is designed for exercising.

CLASSIC ITALIAN STYLE

Set on a hillside once trod by Romans and later

by Brigitte Bardot, this villa has a rich and fascinating history

By Phil Butler 56 I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022

Lifestyle Real Estate

H

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE VILLA OWNERS & CARLTON INTERNATIONAL

igh on a hilltop outside cannes, France, Le Castelet is a historic and luxurious villa transformed into a 21st-century paradise. Once a vacation home of actress Brigitte Bardot, this glamorous estate overlooking the incredibly beautiful countryside is now listed for 5.9 million euros ($6.5 million).

Originally a defensive castle during the Roman period, Le Castelet was later expanded in medieval times. Now completely modernized, the elegant compound is situated on 5,870 square meters (1.45 acres) of manicured gardens. The main “bastide”—a name given to historic Provençal homes found in southern France—has seven luxurious bedrooms. A second residence, an extraordinary guest house, features another four bedrooms, for a total area of 550 square meters (5,920 square feet) of living space.

From the front entrance of the main house, visitors are welcomed into a high-ceilinged living space connecting to the grand staircase that leads to the upper floor. Adjacent to the entry, there are several reception rooms, a living room, a lounge, an open-plan kitchen, and a formal dining area. In one living area, there’s a cozy fireplace, and throughout the downstairs, there are original wood beams and exposed stone walls.

Large windows throughout flood the villa with natural light, and classic interiors convey intimacy and grandeur. Recent renovations include state-of-the-art WiFi and an elevator connecting the different levels.

Outside, a paradise overlooking the Esterel mountain range features two pools, an outdoor spa, a hammam steam bath, and numerous terraces for entertaining and al fresco dining.

There’s an outdoor kitchen, a BBQ with an Italian pizza oven, and even a big-screen cinema.

Additional guest houses, a giant garage, a wonderful olive grove of more than 90 mature trees, a vineyard, tall plane trees, cyprus trees, and a classic boule court punctuate this fabulous estate offering. The guest house also features a sumptuous living room, a kitchen, a bath, and its own covered terrace.

The villa is located in the countryside near the small town of Cabris, a medieval village between Cannes and Antibes. Bardot’s co-star in “School for Love,” Jean Marais, lived right up the road from Le Castelet during this time. Novelist Marcel Pagnol was also a neighbor.

Phil Butler is a publisher, editor, author, and analyst who is a widely cited expert on subjects ranging from digital and social media to travel technology.

CABRIS, FRANCE 5,900,000 EUROS ($6.5 MILLION) • 11 BEDROOMS • HISTORIC PROPERTY • UNIQUE LOCATION KEY FEATURES • EXCLUSIVE FEATURES • CL ASSIC PROVENCAL DESIGN • 2 SWIMMING POOLS AGENT CARLTON INTERNATIONALS EMAIL: INFO@CARLTON-GROUP. COM +33 493 95 1111

Located in the medieval village of Cabris, just half an hour from Cannes, this hilltop villa was the vacation hideaway of iconic actress Brigette Bardot in the late 1950s.

The country kitchen continues the warm, welcoming, and practical feel the designers intended. The villa has every luxury and convenience, without being ostentatious. The guest house also has its own kitchen.

Here, one of the villa’s bathrooms looks out over the French countryside. A light and airy atmosphere is created with blue and white tiles and fixtures inside.

I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022 57

Travel Expeditions

Tourists get from ship to landing and back aboard a small rubber vessel.

Voyage to Antartica Unlike any other place on earth

By Fred J. Eckert

T

58 I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022

ALL PHOTOS COPYRIGHT FRED J. ECKERT

here i was at last—I had made it to all seven continents—and finally I had arrived at the continent that everyone who fancies himself a world traveler yearns to someday set foot upon—Antarctica.

And what was I thinking?

“What in the world am I doing here?”—that’s what I was thinking!

The weather was miserable—overcast, dreary, and drizzly.

From the moment we disembarked our comfortable ship to get into the group of thick rubber-tube-like Zodiac motorboats that dropped us onto the Antarctic continent, I hadn’t been able to see more than a few feet ahead through the thick cold mist.

It had been four days since the ship that I was traveling on, the MS Explorer, set sail from the

tip of Argentina. The thought of spending four Crossing the more days like this one in Antarctica and then Drake Passage two days sailing back across the Drake Passage to Antarctica generally takes to Argentina wasn’t a fun one.

And then, as in all stories that have a happy two days, depending on ending, slowly the weather began to turn and sea and ice the sun started coming out. I began to see that I conditions. was in a place that was breathtakingly beautiful, unlike any other place I had ever experienced.

ARGENTINA It was to be that way for most of the rest of my time in Antarctica.

USHUAIA After two days at sea, we were in Antarctica proper and set ashore on King George, the largest of the Drake South Shetland Islands. On our next shore excurPassage sion, we saw penguins—by the thousands! Our rules may have prohibited us from approaching a PARADISE BAY penguin too closely, but penguins apparently have no rules restricting them from approaching humans. All you have to do is sit down, ANTARCTICA and soon penguins will be checking you out up close or walking right by

Travel Expeditions

you, totally indifferent to your presence.

I saw three different kinds of “brush-tailed” penguins—the Adelie, the Gentoo, and the Chinstrap.

All these millions of penguins roaming around a cold desert climate in a barren landscape require tons of food to eat each day. But there’s no vegetation, there are no farmlands to raid, and no supermarkets. How do they manage to find food? Very well, actually. Penguins love to dine on krill—highly nutritious shrimp-like marine animals that happen to be very difficult to process for human consumption—and the waters of Antarctica are teeming with krill.

One sight that looks quite peculiar the first few times you see it is a penguin suddenly leaping out of water surprisingly high into the air and then landing on the edge of a rock or an iceberg. It looks like a circus act, and you feel like applauding the little guys.

A lot of the things penguins do are fun to watch.

They wave their heads and flippers around. They bow. They steal stones from their neighbors’ nests to add them to their own. And if a couple of them are in a dispute, they’ll stare and point at one another and occasionally charge each other. To attract a female, a male will pump its chest, angle its flippers, stretch its head skyward, and let out a loud braying sound. Sometimes this touches off a chorus of similar performances from other nearby males.

One of the funniest sights is watching a penguin having difficulty walking through the snow.

If it gets to be too much of a bother, he’ll use his body as a sort of sled and push himself along the snow on his stomach.

I would go back to Antarctica just to watch penguins. But while they’re my fondest mem-

ory of the place, there are so many other outstanding memories.

I saw seals up close as well as all sorts of different birds. I saw a lot of whales—minke whales, killer whales, and humpback whales—and I saw some of them up remarkably close from a small Zodiac boat and even had the experience of having a whale swim underneath our boat.

I saw icebergs the size of skyscrapers, which dwarfed any I had ever seen in Alaska.

I saw scenery of stunning beauty amid an absolute silence that amplified the experience into something I had never before imagined.

And from time to time, I had the strangest sensation come over me when I paused to realize that I might well have been standing at a spot where no other human being has ever stood.

The majesty of Antarctica came powerfully home to me one day as I sat on a snowbank and gazed off into the distance. There was no one else in sight.

Up ahead, a lone penguin was waddling along away from me. There was nothing but the snow on the ground and the crisp air between us. Beyond the lone little penguin was the vast Antarctic wilderness, a panoramic vista of snow, mountains, clouds, and clear blue sky.

There was no sound—just this unforgettable scene. It felt for a moment as if all there was in the world were this penguin and me.

I thought about what the great explorer Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton had said of Antarctica: “It’s the last great journey left to man.”

I was thrilled that I had made the journey.

Tourists trek up a hill to catch a spectacular view of the vast Antarctic wilderness.

A woman enjoys just sitting back and relaxing while watching penguins in the wild.

Fred J. Eckert is a retired U.S. ambassador and former member of Congress.

Antarctica covers an area of

5.5 MILLION square miles.

If You Go Best Time to Go: Departures only occur from late November through early February. It’s the only time of year tourists can visit Antarctica—what passes for summertime there.

Remember, seasons are reversed in the Southern Hemisphere.

Packing: Your tour operator should provide you with a thorough briefing book including a checklist of what you need to bring. Some also provide you with a comfortable Antarctic parka and a travel bag.

Tour Operators: A number of leading tour operators serve Antarctica. I used Abercrombie & Kent.

I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022 59

It can be both scary and exciting to find yourself needing to pursue a 2nd career

CHANGING CAREERS

SECOND CHANCES

By Bill Lindsey

60 I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022

Lifestyle Changing Careers

Many of the most successful and happy people out there have reinvented themselves.

LEFT PAGE: JAMES O'NEIL/GETTY IMAGES; THIS PAGE: CAM MORIN/UNSPLASH

T

A K I N G A D I F F E R E N T PAT H

isn’t just limited to hikes in the forest; making a decision to embark on a new or additional career is becoming more commonplace.

Reasons for making a change range from a given career becoming obsolete—such as VCR technician—to personal reasons, such as a lifelong desire to become a nurse. English poet George Eliot (whose real name was Mary Ann Evans) once said, “It is never too late to be what you may have been.”

There are essentially two ways to pursue a second career: as a sideline to your primary, current occupation or as a standalone new path. Regardless of your motivation, the first and most important step is to determine what your new career will be. The answer—and there’s no wrong one— dictates the steps that you’ll need to take. Follow the adage “do what you love” when considering a second career. If you love dogs and cats, attending veterinarian school to earn a DVM degree or pursuing vet tech certification may be your path. For others, becoming a certified public accountant, park ranger, fishing charter captain, reverend, vintage car restorer, or commercial pilot may be new paths to enjoy.

Some second careers, such as becoming a surgeon, may require extensive education, making them potentially impractical. However, for most careers,

the main limiting factor is the willingness to learn a new trade, especially if you’re busy in your current line of work. Here are some ideas to get you started: accountant, chef, writer, nurse, real estate agent, firefighter, teacher, dog groomer, contractor.

Once you’ve decided on a path, before you get busy taking classes, you should honestly assess the demand for your chosen job and your ability to master the required skills. Does your town or city need more chefs, dog groomers, firefighters, or accountants? Preparing for a career in an overcrowded market may not be the most viable plan.

Next, consider the required training. For example, nursing or medical technology careers are very fulfilling vocations, but if you struggled with basic chemistry in high school, you may have difficulty mastering this section of coursework, along with all the other courses required. As another example, becoming a chef or contractor requires a basic ability to cook or build sturdy structures. Difficulty with either may be an impassable obstacle regardless of your degree of passion.

While age isn’t as much of an impediment as may be imagined, it does play a role in qualifying for jobs that are age-limited. Examples include firefighters or law enforcement officers, so check for minimum and maximum age limits.

Let’s look first at an additional career. You’ll need to find a way to undertake whatever education

English poet George Eliot once said, ‘It is never too late to be what you may have been.’

I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022 61

Lifestyle Changing Careers

LIFESTYLE

A SECOND ACT

Follow your heart to find a second career

Classes are available in most areas that can lead to a new career; look for a school that offers placement assistance.

62 I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022

an already-busy schedule.

If your plan is to embark on a new fulltime career but you need to continue working your present job, the above applies to you. However, if your schedule is open, allowing you to attend classes without a problem, it may be easier for you to pursue an advanced second career if that’s your desire.

The bottom line is this: It’s almost never too late to change your course and follow your dreams. If you can dream it, you can do it.

Do What You Love You’ll be more productive and have a more positive attitude when doing what you’re good at, so consider doing what you love.

2 Make Sure the Job Exists Before you invest too much time in training or pursuing certification, first make sure there are local openings.

3 Make Time to Learn

Pursuing a new career path that allows you to do what you love is a great way to achieve job and overall life satisfaction.

Having a natural ability to perform your dream second career is a great plus, but be prepared to take classes.

THIS PAGE: PIXEL-SHOT/SHUTTERSTOCK, OLGA GURYANOVA

or training is needed while you continue doing what you do. Taking care of children or parents is another factor to be considered separately. If your goal isn’t to fulfill a lifelong dream but to simply fill empty hours, you could consider taking a part-time job. These are available both as in-person positions and as remote work. For example, working from home as a customer service representative or finding a position at a local store stocking shelves and assisting customers.

If your sights are set a bit higher, research the position to determine what training or education is required, followed by a search to determine when and if it’s available locally. An example is real estate agent, which can be a lucrative career on either a full- or part-time basis. It requires a certain number of hours of training followed by a passing grade on an exam administered by a state agency.

Online courses are available from real estate-oriented schools in most states, with the same schools also offering ways to take the state exam. The coursework can be completed on your schedule, making this a relatively easy second career path to follow. Becoming an accountant or teacher may also be accomplished via online coursework, followed by applying for state certification. Pursuing a career in health care will require attendance at in-person classes, making them a bit more difficult to pursue for those with

1

Luxury Living Boating

FUN AFLOAT: FAMILY-FRIENDLY EXPRESS CRUISERS Spending time out on the water is a great way to bond with family and friends, especially when you have all the comforts of home aboard

By Bill Lindsey

An Improved Traditional Design

Pure Italian Style

REGAL 33 EXPRESS

BENETEAU GRAN TURISMO 41

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Equipped with a king-sized bed and a generator to power the air conditioner and the kitchen appliances, making it ideal for casual day cruises with family and friends, or overnight adventures exploring lakes or new stretches of coastline.

The layout is optimized for entertaining in the U-shaped salon with an adjacent outdoor kitchen, and for spending long days on the water. The hardtop can be opened to let in the sun or stars, while down below are two private cabins for overnight adventures.

The Iconic Express Cruiser

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FROM TOP L: COURTESY OF REGAL, BENETEAU, SEA RAY, FORMULA, TIARA

This comfortable cruiser is powered by three outboard engines, which, along with the fold-down swim terrace, provide ample room for sunbathing and easy access to the water for swimming or diving. An app lets you monitor the boat’s systems from anywhere in the world.

Made for Fun

FORMULA 430 ALL SPORT CROSSOVER CONTACT FOR PRICE

Four outboard engines linked to a joystick make docking easy every time. The single-level deck provides unimpeded access bow to stern, while ample seating, overnight accommodations, and a bait prep station/dive tank storage make it ready for any adventure on the water.

A New Way to Boat

TIARA 43 LE CONTACT FOR PRICE

Tiara has reinvented the express cruiser concept.

Powered by outboard engines for ease of maintenance and increased onboard room, it also features aft seating that swivels toward a fold-down hull panel to allow easy access to the water while at anchor.

I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022 63

Epoch Booklist

RECOMMENDED READING FICTION

‘The Maltese Falcon’

By Dashiell Hammett

Crime Noir at Its Best Great fiction requires great characters. Led by detective Sam Spade, the story revolves around unscrupulous characters, including the lovely but dangerous Brigid O’Shaughnessy and criminals Joel Cairo and Casper Gutman, all vying for the elusive Maltese Falcon.

BLACK LIZARD, 1992, 217 PAGES

This week’s selection of books includes mysteries: from crime noir to the earliest detective story to a children’s book that kids will love.

and imprisonments following the wake of the Revolution, the aristocrat creates a good life for himself, forging friendships and finding a new purpose. This story celebrates human ingenuity, love, and connection with others in the face of brutal authoritarianism.

PENGUIN BOOKS, 2019, 512 PAGES

By Amor Towles

Style and Insight Make This Novely It’s 1922, and a Bolshevik tribunal has sentenced Count Alexander Rostov to spend the rest of his life in the Hotel Metropol, under penalty of death should he ever leave the premises.

Inadvertently protected by his sentence from the murders

MYSTERY

‘The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections’

By Eva Jurczyk

HISTORY

Colonel Mustard in the Library

‘America’s Few’

Liesl Weiss has worked behind the scenes at a university library for decades in the rare books and special collections department. When her boss has a stroke at the same time a manuscript goes missing, she’s left to run things while reluctantly putting on her detective shoes.

As she digs through archives and dissects her colleagues’ pasts, she discovers more than she wants to know about power and obsession among bibliophiles.

By Bill Yenne

Fighter Battles in the Pacific

‘A Gentleman in Moscow'

Are there books you’d recommend?

We’d love to hear from you. Let us know at features@epochtimes.com

This book tells the story of the two dozen U.S. Marine Corps aviators who achieved double-digit ace status: 10 or more kills. All spent time in the South Pacific Theater in World War II, fighting in or from the Solomon Islands between October 1942 and May 1944. Men such as Greg “Pappy” Boyington, Joseph Foss, and Marion Carl became national heroes during the war. Bill Yenne captures an era when the United States created heroes who fought against difficult odds and ultimately triumphed.

OSPREY PUBLISHING, 2022, 352 PAGES

64 I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022

POISONED PEN PRESS, 2022, 341 PAGES

CLASSICS

‘Bleak House’

By Charles Dickens

A Dickens Mystery Masterpiece

London had only recently introduced its detective force, and Charles Dickens was intrigued. He pulled from his experience dealing with London detectives and walking the London streets late at night to create “Bleak House,” considered to be the first detective novel— or at least the novel that introduced the idea of detective novels.

PENGUIN CLASSICS, 2003, 1036 PAGES

‘Heart of Darkness’

By Joseph Conrad

FOR KIDS

‘Nate the Great’

By Marjorie Sharmat

Detective Stories for the Younger Crew This first volume in the “Nate the Great” series features the boy detective tracking down a missing picture for his friend Annie. Kids love following Nate on these investigations as he uses logic to solve mysteries. For ages 6 to 9.

YEARLING REPRINT EDITION, 1977, 80 PAGES

Civilization Without Compassion Narrator Charles Marlow tells about his time in Africa to five friends in a yacht floating down the River Thames. He describes journeying up the Congo River, which was “like traveling back to the earliest beginnings of the world,” in search of the mysterious Kurtz, a brilliant European ivory trader who has set himself up as a ruthless demigod among the natives that he commands. This novella invites discussions about imperialism, racism, power, and the meaning of civilization.

A great choice for book clubs and the classroom.

SEAWOLF PRESS REPRINT, 2020, 100 PAGES

‘The Secret Garden’

By Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Power of Nature “The Secret Garden” is the perfect spring story, as its main themes include the power and beauty of nature and rebirth, not to mention gardens. Originally published in 1911, it’s a superbly told story that’s ideal for the whole family.

SIGNET, 2003, 288 PAGES

Ian Kane is a U.S. Army veteran, filmmaker, and author.

He enjoys the great outdoors and volunteering.

MOVIE REVIEWS

Epoch Watchlist

This week, we look at a film about how today’s wired world separates people, and at a Japanese series featuring a blind, honorable swordsman.

NEW RELEASE

INDIE PICK

‘Disconnect’ (2013)

‘The Contractor’ (2022) James Harper (Chris Pine) is an ex-Special Forces soldier who joins a private contracting agency in order to support his loving family.

Unfortunately, while on a black ops assignment, his mission becomes compromised and shadowy forces want Harper dead.

While this film does have a few tension-filled scenes, most of it isn’t only overly convoluted, but full of generic action tropes that we’ve all seen many, many times before. It’s also so painfully inaccurate that it’s clear the filmmakers neglected to hire military advisers.

ACTION | THRILLER

Release Date: April 1, 2022 Director: Tarik Sale Starring: Gillian Jacobs, Chris Pine, Ben Foster Running Time: 1 hour, 43 minutes MPAA Rating: R Where to Watch: Theaters

This hard-hitting film follows several seemingly disparate parties whose lives are profoundly affected by our modern digital age.

Everything from cyberbullying to the downsides of social media to disturbing teen websites is covered in this dramatic thriller.

The realistic acting and deft direction coupled with the timely subject matter make this film seem like a documentary.

It ultimately provides food for thought on how the internet has

changed the world and will hopefully spur some people to reconsider direct human communication.

DR AMA | THRILLER

Release Date: July 5, 2013 Director: Henry Alex Rubin Starring: Jason Bateman, Jonah Bobo, Haley Ramm Running Time: 1 hour, 55 minutes MPAA Rating: R Where to Watch: Vudu, Amazon, Redbox

A ROMANTIC MUSICAL FOR OUR TIMES

‘La La Land’ (2016)

PHENOMENAL JAPANESE TV SERIES or. Every episode is packed with wholesome messages about helping others and refusing to compromise one’s ethics.

ACTION | ADVENTURE | DRAMA

‘Zatoichi Monogatari’ (1974) Shintaro Katsu stars as a transient, blind masseur (considered of low caste), who also happens to be

an unparalleled swordsman. As he travels 18th-century Japan, he helps those in need.

Katsu delivers an earthy performance as a man living by a strict code of hon-

Release Date: Oct. 3, 1974 Director: Various Starring: Shintaro Katsu, Renji Ishibashi, Keizo Kanie Running Time: 45 minutes Not Rated Where to Watch: Trakt.TV, Amazon Prime

One day, two struggling creative people, musician Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) and actress Mia (Emma Stone), meet and fall in love. However, as their careers begin to take off, will their love endure?

With heartfelt, nuanced acting and a moving, genuine love story, this is one of the best of the modern type of musical in recent history (with a fantastic score by composer Justin Hurwitz). It captures the reality of life in

Tinseltown and will most likely be considered a classic many years from now.

COMEDY | DR AMA | MUSIC

Release Date: Dec. 25, 2016 Director: Damien Chazelle Starring: Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Rosemarie DeWitt Running Time: 2 hours, 8 minutes MPAA Rating: PG-13 Where to Watch: Hulu, DirecTV, Redbox

I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022 65

Food Chefs

DEEP ROOTS: JI HYE KIM MELDS ANCIENT KOREAN TRADITIONS WITH OF-THE-MOMENT MICHIGAN PRODUCE Despite a late entry, the chef and partner at Miss Kim in Ann Arbor, Michigan, has firmly established herself on the culinary scene. Her starting point: reaching far into the past.

By Kevin Revolinski

H

66 I N S I G H T April 1–7, 2022

Ji Hye Kim, chef and managing partner of Miss Kim in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Miss Kim’s menu is rooted in traditional Korean cuisine, adapted to showcase local Michigan produce.

The Royale-Style Tteokbokki, inspired by an 18th-century recipe, features sautéed rice cakes with local vegetables, mushrooms, and a soy-based sauce.

JI HYE KIM Age: 44 Comfort Food: Kimchi jjigae Ingredient She Can’t Live Without: I want to say something esoteric and fancy, but really, it’s green onions.

Favorite Cocktail: A dry gin martini with extra Gordal olives.

Last Meal: Mom’s baekban—a table full of banchan and a bowl of white rice made by my mom.

bled the food I ate, but it was also full of recipes that surprised me—a Korean fresh cheese recipe that was almost identical to a typical ricotta recipe, recipes for rabbits and pheasants, and lots of recipes for preservation,” Kim said.

Zingerman’s “Path to Partnership” program helped Kim develop a plan, and she started with a food cart. After four years, she was ready for a new direction. She spent eight months working with the Rome Sustainable Food Project, where the staff cooked without recipes, using whatever farmers brought in.

When she returned to Michigan in 2016, she opened Miss Kim, a restaurant specializing in Korean food while sourcing locally as much as possible. Her Royale-Style Tteok-

bokki, inspired by an 18th-century recipe, sautés rice cakes with Michigan vegetables (beets are a favorite), mushrooms, and a soy-based sauce.

But for Kim, the work is about more than just food. She pays employees living wages in part to “cultivate a work environment that allows for work-life balance,” and tips are shared to include non-serving staff. Kim took part in the JBF Chef Boot Camp for Policy Change and FoodLab Detroit’s Fellowship for Change in Food and Labor.

“I hope for our industry to be as hospitable to our own as we are to our guests,” she said.

Kevin Revolinski is an avid traveler, craft beer enthusiast, and home-cooking fan. He's based in Madison, Wis.

EE BERGER

ow does one go from a career in hospital administration to becoming an award-winning chef?

Ji Hye Kim can tell you.

Kim is a semifinalist for the 2022 James Beard Foundation (JBF) Award for Outstanding Chef, having previously made semifinalist in 2020 for Best Chef, Great Lakes region. But being a chef wasn’t her first ambition.

She emigrated from Seoul, South Korea, to the United States with her parents when she was 13. A somewhat rambunctious teenager, she left friends and the big city to become the new kid in a New Jersey suburb where she didn’t speak the language.

“I was decently popular in Korea, but became an easy target to be picked on in the States,” Kim said.

But that motivated her to study hard, and she ended up at the University of Michigan. She graduated, got a good job in New Jersey, and had financial stability. Then she had an epiphany.

“I was able to ask myself, ‘What is it that I want to do?’” Kim said. “I had been driven by what I needed to do up until that moment.

“I just went with what gave me the most joy: food.”

She found work in Ann Arbor, Michigan, at the famed Zingerman’s Delicatessen, where she learned about cheeses, met artisan providers, and developed her palate.

“I was missing home-cooked Korean food a whole lot, though,” Kim said.

She didn’t cook much growing up. Her mother typically shooed her out of the kitchen. So she turned to Korean cookbooks, including a collection from the 1700s.

“It had some recipes that resem-

Inspired by Michigan’s bountiful produce, Kim sources locally as much as possible.

Well-Behaved Kids: Part 2 One of a parent’s most important jobs is teaching good manners Because raising children to be respectful is an extremely tough yet important job, and more of a challenge now than ever, we’re back with several suggestions to help you teach your children proper manners.

By Bill Lindsey

1 Teach by Example

4 The Golden Rule

How you teach your children is just as important as what you teach them. Teaching by example is a powerful method that lends credibility to your lessons. By being courteous and respectful to friends and strangers alike, you reinforce proper behavior. Children learn by watching how adults treat waiters, answer the phone, react to bad drivers, and so much more, making it especially important to be a good role model.

Children who understand the importance of doing unto others as they would have done to them tend to grow up to be well-adjusted adults.

Use real-world experiences: If they weren’t invited to a classmate’s birthday party, help them learn from that the importance of not being petty or rude. If a friend breaks your child’s toy, but promptly apologizes and replaces it, that’s a great example of responsible, mature behavior.

2 Don’t Be Rude

CSA IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES

While burps and bodily gasses can be hilarious to kids (and many adults), they need to recognize that there’s a time and place when being silly is OK, and other times when it isn’t. Because we all get gassy sometimes, teach them to say “excuse me” when it happens.

Asking for permission to leave the dinner table is another etiquette essential, while nose-picking and underwear-adjusting are never appropriate in public.

5 Be Nice 3 Thank You Notes To avoid becoming entitled kids, children need to understand why it’s important to show true appreciation and gratitude for holiday gifts, birthday gifts, and any other gifts. One way to do this is to have them send a handwritten thank you note no later than a day after receiving a gift. Have them consider how they would feel after spending time and money to give a gift, only to receive a half-hearted email or text message or none at all.

If “please” and “thank you” lay the foundation for good manners, a genuine “How are you?” or similar query is the framework. Teach your children that while you love them completely and unconditionally, they aren’t the center of the universe, no matter what Grandma says.

By showing a genuine interest in friends, family, and others, they learn to be respectful and, in so doing, earn the respect of those around them.

I N S I G H T April. 1–7 , 2022 67

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