Ukraine Humanitarian Crisis Worsening

Fighting AntiSemitism in Europe

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Women’s Rights Groups Call for Withdrawing from Int’l Deal

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Maria Zakharova: Defending Russia to the World

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Issue 1895- March- 11/03/2022

Ukraine Humanitarian Crisis Worsening

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Editorial A Weekly Political News Magazine

A first round of talks between the foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine has failed to yield progress on a ceasefire.

Speaking after the meeting in Turkey, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that the demands his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov had made amounted to a surrender.

Mr Lavrov meanwhile said his country›s military operation was going to plan. The talks come after Russia bombed a children›s hospital, which Ukraine said was a war crime.

Officials say three people including a child died in the attack in the south-eastern city of Mariupol.

Majalla reporter Maia Otarashvili writes about how the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine is growing.

According to the UNHCR nearly 2.2 million refugees have fled Ukraine so far in the 14 days since Russia launched its full-scale invasion.

Mohammad Ali Salih also writes about how the Russian invasion against Ukraine is bringing historical debate on morality and politics particularly in foreign policy: Whether international relations should be idealistic, moving towards higher moral ground, or should be according to what is actually happening, because being moral, by definition, is an ideal situation, in addition to having different definitions of morality.

In the culture section, Salwa Samir writes about Nobig Koro, or Learn Nubian, which is a fresh initiative made by young Nubians living in Cairo to teach their language which is on the verge of extinction.

Nubian is a Nile-Nubian language descended from Old Nubian, spoken along the Nile in northern Sudan and southern Egypt and is a Northern Nubian language of the Nilo-Saharan language family.

Read these articles and more on our website eng. majalla.com. As always, we welcome and value our readers’ feedback and we invite you to take the opportunity to leave your comments on our website.

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A Weekly Political News Magazine

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A Weekly Political News Magazine

28 Islamophobia, Russian Expansionism:

Which is Posing Real Threat to Europe ?

Issue 1895- March- 11/03/2022

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Ukraine and the Implications for China

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How to Stop a New Nuclear Arms Race

How to Create Meaning and

52 Value in the Metaverse

50 ‘Huda’s Salon’ Shines a Welcome But Imperfect Light on Palestinian Women in Turmoil

46 On Verge of Extinction 5

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56 Finding Your Focus

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LEGOLAND theme park in Dubai A view of MINILAND as part LEGOLAND theme park in Dubai, on March 7, 2021. - Over 60 million LEGO bricks are in MINILAND, where LEGOLAND Dubai has recreated scenes and famous landmarks from the UAE and Middle East region, including Burj Khalifa, Burj Al Arab, the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque )AFP Photos(

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Kalpak Day in Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyz people attend the Kalpak Day celebrations at Intymak Park in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, 05 March 2022. Kalpak Day is celebrated in Kyrgyzstan to honor the national headdress, the Ak-kalpak, in order to support national traditions and culture. The holiday was officially established on 29 June 2016 )EPA Photos(

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SAU

LEBANON.

EGYPT Egypt's annual urban consumer price inflation surged to its highest in nearly three years in February, driven by a sharp increase in food prices, figures from the state statistics agency CAPMAS showed on Thursday.

Inflation rose to 8.8% year on year from 7.3% in January, putting it near the upper limit of the central bank's 5-9% target range and indicating that the bank's monetary policy committee may increase interest rates when it meets on March 24.

February's inflation figure was the highest since June 2019.

Food prices rose 4.6% month on month in February, with vegetable prices jumping 17.2%.

A Ukrainian ship loaded with 11,000 tonnes of wheat has arrived at the port of Tripoli in northern Lebanon on Tuesday, the state news agency NNA reported.

The Golden Bird ship has started unloading its cargo, the agency quoted the port director Ahmed Tamer as saying, adding that another Ukrainian wheat ship, Princess Mariam, had unloaded a cargo of 7,000 tonnes of wheat in Tripoli port on Feb. 28.

Princess Mariam, which had arrived from Ukraine's Mariupol port, will return to Tripoli with a new wheat cargo, Tamer added without setting a date for its return.

Both ships left Ukraine shortly before the Russian invasion, Tamer told NNA on Feb. 28.

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Saudi Arab billion Saud South Kore capabilities news agen The contrac deals Saudi internation

UDI ARABIA

bia's Defence Ministry has signed a 3 di riyal ($800 million) contract with ea's Hanwha to support its defense s and supply chain services, SPA state ncy said on Tuesday. ct is the largest of 7 billion riyals of i Arabia signed with local and nal defense firms on Tuesday.

UAE The UAE on Thursday affirmed its commitment to the OPEC+ agreement. ''The UAE remains committed to the OPEC+ agreement and its existing monthly production adjustment mechanism," affirmed Suhail bin Mohammed Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, in a statement to Emirates News Agency (WAM).

QATAR Plans for greater cooperation in the energy field in light of the Russia-Ukraine conflict were at the core of talks between Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio and his Qatari counterpart Mohammad bin Abdelrahman Al-Thani on Sunday.

“We are taking action to strengthen our cooperation on energy with other countries,” Di Maio said in a statement to the Italian press after the meeting in Doha.

“Italy needs to increase its gas supplies in the short, medium and long term so that it can be independent from Russian gas supply so that we can protect Italian families and businesses.”

IRAN Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said on Thursday that Tehran will not bow to pressure to reduce its defensive power, regional presence and progress in nuclear technology, Iranian state media reported.

“Suggestions to reduce our defensive power so as to appease the enemy are nothing more than naive and ill-advised. Over time, these flawed proposals have been rebutted, but if they weren’t, Iran would have now faced great threats,” the country's top political authority said according to state media.

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A WEEK ACROS CUBA.

U.S. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday embraced calls for an international war crimes investigation of Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, citing the “atrocities” of bombing civilians, including a maternity hospital.

Speaking alongside Polish President Andrzej Duda at a press conference in Warsaw, where she is demonstrating U.S. support for NATO’s eastern flank allies, Harris expressed outrage over the bombing Wednesday of the maternity hospital and scenes of bloodied pregnant women being evacuated, as well as other attacks on civilians. She stopped short of directly accusing Russia of having committed war crimes.

Upwards of 400 Cubans, many holding passports and plane tickets, gathered at Panama's embassy in Havana on Wednesday protesting new visa requirements that hinder those in a growing wave of migrants hoping to pass through the Central American nation and north to the United States.

Several protesters told Reuters they had already booked flights for the coming days, only to awaken this morning to the decision by Panama to require a "transit" visa for any Cuban arriving at the Panama City airport.

Anisley Peña wept beside her 9-year-old son Densel just outside the embassy gates. She told Reuters the two were slated to travel to Panama and then on a connecting flight to Nicaragua Wednesday afternoon. Now their plans were in limbo, she said.

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,

LIBYA.

A senior United Nations Libya offic seeks agreement on elections laws and constitutional arrangement th month, she told Reuters on Wednesday, as rival factions are locked in a dangerous stand-off.

Stephanie Williams said she wante talks between members of the parliament and High State Council the country's two recognized legislative bodies, to take place be Ramadan, which starts the first of April.

SS THE WORLD

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RUSSIA. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said no progress was made on achieving a ceasefire in Ukraine in talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Thursday, the first high-level talks between them since Moscow invaded its neighbor.

Kuleba told reporters after their meeting in Turkey the most critical situation was in the southern port of Mariupol but that Lavrov did not commit to a humanitarian corridor there and there was no progress on agreeing on a wider ceasefire.

"I made a simple proposal to Minister Lavrov: I can call my Ukrainian ministers, authorities, the president now and give you 100% assurances on security guarantees for humanitarian corridors," he said.

CHINA. Chinese President Xi Jinping told the military to step up the use of law in military engagement with foreign countries, state television CCTV reported on Monday.

"Improve the laws and regulations governing military engagement with foreign countries," said Xi, who is also China's Commander-in-Chief as Chairman of the Central Military Commission, in a meeting with military representatives in the parliament.

INDIA.

India has signed contracts to export about 500,000 tonnes of wheat in recent days, traders said, cashing in on a sharp rally in international prices and signalling a big uptick in overseas sales from the world's second biggest producer of the grain.

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Ukraine Humanitarian Crisis Worsening

Europe Welcomes More Refugees, Removes all Red Tape Procedures

By Maia Otarashvili

It’s been two weeks since Russia invaded Ukraine.

The war has only intensified since the initial bombing began on February 24, after President Putin announced his “special military operation” in Ukraine in order to “demilitarize and denazify” the country led by a Jewish president. Since the outbreak of the war reports of Russian war crimes and atrocities have mounted, making it increasingly difficult to look the other way.

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According to the UNHCR nearly 2.2 million refugees have fled Ukraine so far in the 14 days since Russia launched its full-scale invasion. In addition to Russia and Belarus - the two aggressors, Ukraine also borders Moldova, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and Poland.

The latter four are EU member states who have shown unparalleled solidarity to the Ukrainian families fleeing Russian bombs.

Ukraine’s neighbors have opened up their borders to the refuges and removed essentialmay be next on Moscow’s list of easy ly all red tape previtargets. ously required to process migrants.

Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, RoThe kind of solimania, and the Baltic States of darity displayed Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are by these nations other heroes at the mois nothing short ment, welcoming thouof inspiring and sands of refugees with heroic. One of open arms, and showEurope’s smalling incredible solidarity est and poorest to Ukraine. Poland, in countries – Molparticular, has been an dova – has already important voice of EU received nearly a quarsupport for Ukraine. So ter million Ukrainian far it has received nearly refugees, an estimated a million Ukrainian refugees. Thou75,000 of whom still sands of Poles have organized online remain in Moldova. The to host Ukrainian families and country’s president, raise funds for humanitarMaia Sandu recently ian support. The Poltweeted “We have alish governmost 30,000 Ukrainian ment even children in #Moldova. proposed We are their family until to supply A Ukrainian serviceman this madness ends. Praytakes a shooting position Ukraine with as he looks at approaching for peace in #Ukraine.”

MIG-29 fighter ing vehicles in Irpin, on Moldova itself remains jets in order to the outskirts of Kyiv, in a precarious situation.

Ukraine, Wednesday, replenish the March 9, 2022. (AP Moldovans fear that should country’s air defense capaPhoto/Vadim Ghirda) Putin succeed in invading bilities, but was blocked by Ukraine, the small nonthe United States as PenEU and non-NATO tagon still considers this a member country likely escalatory move.

As Ukraine enters week three of defending itself from the relentless Russian attacks, all eyes will be on Kyiv. Although the Ukrainian forces are putting up a heroic fight, they are outgunned and outnumbered by the Russian forces.

People line up to get water at the well in outskirts of Mariupol, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 9, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

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However, these heroes, currently extending a helping hand to Ukraine, have a mixed record on protecting the rights of refugees and minorities. Over the recent years Poland and Hungary have seen a rise in xenophobia and increasingly right wing, nationalistic, and anti-refugee rhetoric. As recently as the fall of 2021, Poland and Hungary found themselves at the forefront of the EU’s latest refugee crisis as thousands of Afghan and Syrian migrants flocked to Belarus’s borders with the EU at President Lukashenko’s invitation.

For thousands of displaced individuals seeking shelter in Europe, “do not come here” has been the common message coming out of Central and Eastern Europe, for a while now.

As thousands of refugees tried to cross into Poland, the government declared a state of emergency at the border, banning all media access and most charity organizations from the territory. In mid-November the situation became particularly turbulent as the Polish security forces fired water cannons and tear gas at the migrants trying to cross the border.

In November Poland saw nearly 5,000 attempted border crossings. It is estimated that there were up to 2,000 migrants waiting to enter the EU at the border with Poland. The refugees, mostly women and children, were predominantly Kurds from Iraq, but also Syrians, Iranians, Afghans, Yemenis, Cameroonians and others. They lived in makeshift camps on the Belarusian side of the border, braving the snow and freezing temperatures.

European leaders blamed Lukashenko for orchestrating the refugee crisis and using them as a “hybrid warfare tool”.

For thousands of displaced individuals seeking shelter in Europe, “do not come here” has been the common message coming out of Central and Eastern Europe, for a while

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Ukrainian emergency employees work at the side of the damaged by shelling maternity hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 9, 2022. (AP Photo/ Evgeniy Maloletka)

Refugees fleeing war in neighboring Ukraine arrive at the Medyka crossing border, Poland, Thursday, March 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

now. Now Euroskeptics accuse the European governments of showing “selective sympathy” to the predominantly white, Christian Ukrainians fleeing the war. However, there is reason to believe that this experience will be humbling to the European leaders and for many generations to come, and it will act as a catalyst for major changes in the West’s approach to preventing and mitigating humanitarian crises.

Unfortunately, the outpouring of the refuges is not the biggest problem Ukraine faces at the moment. Despite serious military personnel and equipment losses, Russia retains 90% of its combat power and seems committed to keeping up the military assaults on Ukraine for as long as necessary. As the war has dragged on and Putin’s hopes for Kyiv’s quick demise have faded, Moscow has resorted to indiscriminately bombing Ukrainian cities and towns, taking out civilian infrastructure and leaving thousands without heat, electricity, shelter, medicine, water, or food.

The number of the Russian army’s atrocities in Ukraine is increasing with time. On March

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It is becoming clear that Moscow is not looking for a diplomatic solution, as it continues to eye Kyiv as the ultimate prize.

10th, during an air strike on the city of Zhytomyr, the Russian forces bombed a maternity hospital, injuring 17 people.

The civilian death toll is mounting as Ukrainians are still unable to find a safe passage from the war. Despite the ongoing ceasefire negotiations between the Russian and Ukrainian sides, no agreement has been reached, not even one that can safely guarantee a single humanitarian corridor for an entire day. Recently Moscow even proposed three humanitarian corridors that would lead the refugees to Russia – an offer that was rejected by Ukraine. Wrenching images of

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dead Ukrainian children and civilians flooding the news outlets, and there are now talks of a looming war crimes tribunal to hold Russia accountable. Yet Moscow continues to add insult to injury. In a recent interview the Russian foreign minister Lavrov was asked about the Russian war crimes in Ukraine. Lavrov responded that the civilian losses were simply collateral damage and not war crimes.

Despite the ongoing ceasefire negotiations between the Russian and Ukrainian sides, no agreement has been reached, not even one that can safely guarantee a single humanitarian corridor for an entire day.

It is becoming clear that Moscow is not looking for a diplomatic solution, as it continues to eye Kyiv as the ultimate prize. Most intelligence reports point to Putin’s plans to capture and execute President Zelensky and take control of Kyiv. But Moscow keeps holding meetings with the Ukrainian side. On March 10th Foreign Minister Lavorv and the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba will meet in Turkey for another round of negotiations which are unlikely to yield any results given the circumstances. In the meantime, the West finds itself under increasing pressure to seriously consider establishing a no-fly zone over either some or all of Ukraine. This seems to be the only viable option for putting an end to the destruction of civilian infrastructure through endless bombings. There are very few other options for mitigating the deepening humanitarian crisis, but the no-fly zone discussion is still a highly controversial one. President Putin has said that he would consider such a proposal a direct military involvement in the war by NATO – a scenario the Western leaders are still trying to avoid at any cost.

As Ukraine enters week three of defend-

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Ukrainian emergency employees and volunteers carry an injured pregnant woman from the damaged by shelling maternity hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 2022 ,9. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Refugees sleep at night at the train station in Przemysl, Poland, Wednesday March 2022 ,2.

(AP Photo/Marc Sanye)

ing itself from the relentless Russian attacks, all eyes will be on Kyiv. Although the Ukrainian forces are putting up a heroic fight, they are outgunned and outnumbered by the Russian forces. Only under decisive, severe external pressure will Putin consider retreat. The strict Western sanctions are debilitating the Russian economy, but so far

According to the UNHCR nearly 2.2 million refugees have fled Ukraine so far in the 14 days since Russia launched its fullscale invasion. they have proven insufficient in actually stopping the Russian military forces. At the moment, without any significant changes in the West’s approach, Russia’s efforts in Ukraine are set to intensify as the country of 44 million people fights alone for peace and independence.

People cross the Irpin river on an improvised path under a bridge, that was destroyed by Ukrainian troops designed to slow any Russian military advance, while fleeing the town of Irpin, Ukraine, Saturday, March 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

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Maia Otarashvili is a Research Fellow and Deputy Director of the Eurasia Program at the Foreign Policy Research Institute.

Her research is focused on geopolitics and security of the Black Sea-Caucasus region, Russian foreign policy, and the post-Soviet protracted conflicts.

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How to Stop a New Nuclear Arms Race With Russia Going Rogue, America Must Cooperate With China

By Rose Gottemoeller Just days into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Dmitri Medvedev, the former president and prime minister of Russia, took to social media to post a chilling message. He raged against Western sanctions on his country and suggested darkly that Russia could rip up some of its most important agreements with the West. He mentioned the New START treaty, the nuclear arms reduction agreement signed with the United States over a decade ago, but the threat was broader still: the sundering of all diplomatic ties with Western countries. “It’s time to hang huge padlocks on the embassies,” he wrote.

Now that Russian President Vladimir Putin has taken steps to mobilize his nuclear forces—and made more likely the once remote possibility that nuclear weapons might be used in modern conflict—Medvedev’s post presages a dangerous turn. Furious at the response to its war in Ukraine, Russia might cut itself off from everything that it has accomplished in controlling and limiting nuclear weapons.

Since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, the Soviet Union and then Russia have played a generally positive role in preventing nuclear proliferation, halting nuclear testing, and reducing nuclear stockpiles. Even as Russian tanks have been rolling

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through Ukraine, experienced Russian negotiators in Vienna have been working with the United States and other partners to resuscitate the Iran nuclear deal.

Russia has been a giant of the nonproliferation regime. The major treaties of the twentieth century all benefitted from the skills of Russian negotiators and the wisdom of Russian experts. The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, also known as the NPT, a momentous agreement that has curbed the spread of nuclear weapons for over half a century, was the product of joint problem solving by Soviet and American diplomats at a time when the two superpowers were facing off over the Middle East and Vietnam. Tensions were so high that the United States raised the nuclear alert level in 1967 after jittery U.S. military commanders detected a mysterious disruption to their surveillance radars (caused, it turned out, not by Soviet machinations but by a solar flare). Somehow, no matter how bad the crisis, the two countries continued talking to keep nuclear weapons under control and prevent their spread.

Vladimir Putin watches the launch of a missile during military exercises in the Barents Sea on August ,17 2005. ALEXEY PANOV/ AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

The invasion of Ukraine may end this admirable tradition.

Russia could become more isolated and cease to play any responsible international role, as Medvedev’s threat to leave the New START treaty and shutter the embassies in Moscow suggests. Alternatively, Moscow could remain broadly at odds with its Western rivals but pick some arenas, such as nuclear nonproliferation, where it sees mutual advantage in meeting at the negotiating table. The United States, for its part, should do what it can to keep Russia engaged and constructive in arms control diplomacy. But Washington has good reason to be wary of Moscow’s increasingly rogue behavior and it should consider turning to another rival, Beijing, in seeking to prop up the nonproliferation regime. The costs of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine continue to mount, but the United States should act to limit wider damage to the architecture of international security.

ARMS CONTROL REGIME CHANGE Russian isolation in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine will jeopardize further progress on nuclear nonproliferation.

A conference to review the NPT, repeatedly postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is now tentatively scheduled to take place this August. Normally, Russia would join the four other nuclear weapons states recognized by the NPT—China, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States—to push forward on disarmament goals. Just this January, these countries jointly reiterated a statement issued by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985 that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought, a symbolic act intended to bolster the NPT regime.

A productive review conference in August seems absurd, now that Putin has threatened to use nuclear weapons to deter others from joining in his fight with Ukraine. This posturing may

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If Russia absents itself from nuclear diplomacy, the United States and China will have to consider how they, budding superpower rivals, can develop a greater partnership to resolve problems in the global arms control regimes. be purely strategic, a form of saber-rattling designed to signal Russian strength and determination. But it has made the unthinkable a little more thinkable. If Putin decides to use even one nuclear weapon, the world will enter territory untrodden since the U.S. bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

Russia, one can only hope, will not go down this path, instead walking back from the nuclear brink and again committing to diplomacy around nonproliferation. It will be a slow climb-back, however. The first order of business will be to rebuild confidence among negotiators. The current generation of negotiators from the five major nuclear states know one another and understand the nonproliferation regime, so this task should not be impossible. Next, the NPT member states should closely examine the current disarmament and nonproliferation superstructure, built around the NPT, to see whether it should be strengthened.

This review should also extend to the organization and operating procedures of the International Atomic Energy Agency, an institution charged with the mission of promoting and safeguarding the peaceful use of nuclear technology.

The states invested in preserving the NPT face considerable pressure from nonnuclear countries that back the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which entered into force in January 2021 and which seeks full disarmament and the prohibition of nuclear weapons. The signatories of this treaty are unhappy with the progress achieved in the NPT regime and are likely to push for tougher measures to expedite disarmament, such as economic sanctions against any state continuing to deploy nuclear weapons. With Russia issuing nuclear threats—and worse, potentially using a nuclear weapon—state and corporate actors may respond more willingly to such pressures. The NPT states, including the nuclear weapon states, are going to have to find ways to build common objectives with the Ban Treaty community.

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It will also take time to renew confidence in bilateral negotiations between Russia and the United States, but it is possible.

Negotiators from both countries know each other and have been working steadily on maintaining strategic stability—the incentives that prevent the first use of nuclear weapons—and on the renewal of the Iran nuclear deal. Washington and Moscow should begin by restoring constraints on intermediaterange ground-launched missiles, also known as INF missiles, in Europe. Both sides agree broadly on this issue—at least, they did before the present crisis. Russia was willing to remove from Europe missiles that violated the INF treaty and move them east of the Ural Mountains, with a verification regime to monitor their deployment. For its part, the United States was willing to consider foregoing the deployment of INF missiles in Europe. Adopting these measures would help lay the groundwork for broader U.S.-Russian cooperation on maintaining and strengthening the arms control regime.

The current generation of negotiators from the five major nuclear states know one another and understand the nonproliferation regime, so this task should not be impossible.

Russia and the United States will have a harder time coming to an agreement about replacing the New START treaty, currently in force but set to expire in 2026.

Before the current crisis, the two sides were far apart in what they wanted to see in the next round of talks. The United States wanted constraints on Russian nonstrategic nuclear warheads and new exotic systems, such as nuclear-propelled naval weapons, while the Russians wanted constraints on U.S. precision strike conventional missiles and missile defenses. Despite these differences, negotiators were inching toward mutual understanding, outlining what each side believed was essential in any new treaty—until Russian soldiers rolled into Ukraine.

These dynamics must cause the United States to think long and hard about what it can achieve with Russia at the nuclear negotiating table. As always, the U.S. national security interest must be paramount. If negotiations serve the national interest in countering the fundamental threat that nuclear weapons pose, then the United States should be ready to talk.

Putin looms over these considerations and puts in doubt any kind of meaningful cooperation. He seems bent on cutting Russia off from the outside world and plunging the country further into autarky. If he remains in office, the return of Russia to any negotiating table will be hard, never mind talks about nuclear weapons. Russia could be turning into a very big nuclear pariah state, which the United States must deter not only with military force but also with sound policy and the strength of its ideas. The entire international community will come to depend on the United States. Putin may try to widen his circle of admirers beyond Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, but in the main, the world will not be turning to Russia as

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A missile test launch by North Korea on 25 July this year. (Image: AP)

The USA detonated Ivy Mike, the first successful hydrogen bomb, in 1952. (Image: Reuters)

a trusted player.

A BIGGER SEAT FOR CHINA With Russia at best a less reliable partner, China’s role in the international arms control regime will become increasingly vital.

China has hidden behind Russia and the United States for many years, arguing that their much larger strategic nuclear arsenals require them to take the lead in nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament discussions. China’s own arsenal is now growing and Beijing seems inclined, at least in the context of the NPT regime, to play some leadership role. Tellingly, China also seems willing to facilitate a cease-fire in the current war in Ukraine.

If Russia absents itself from nuclear diplomacy, the United States and China will have to consider how they, budding superpower rivals, can develop a greater partnership to resolve problems in the global arms control regimes. Of course, U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals are a lot larger than the Chinese one, and China’s ongoing modernization and military buildup will not change that fact any time soon. The primary purpose of cooperation between the United States and China in the immediate period should be to work together closely to shore up the NPT regime, ensuring that the upcoming review conference does not fail and working with the other NPT countries to strengthen the regime.

The two countries should also work to preserve other arms control mechanisms such as the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which implements the global ban on chemical weapons, and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization, which monitors the moratorium on nuclear testing and prepares for the entry into force of the Compre-

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Furious at the response to its war in Ukraine, Russia might cut itself off from everything that it has accomplished in controlling and limiting nuclear weapons. hensive Nuclear Test Ban. In both cases, China and the United States can do much to further new verification procedures and expedite decision-making within the organizations. Without these concerted efforts, Russia may begin to play a wrecking role, preventing new ideas from moving forward and obstructing the work of negotiators and policymakers. China and the United States might also consider working to constrain weapons systems where they have relatively equal capabilities, such as in INF missiles and direct ascent antisatellite weapons.

If China and the United States can demonstrate successful cooperation in these areas, it will help other powers breathe more easily and feel reassured that the world is not heading into a free-for-all of weapons of mass destruction. The crisis in Ukraine can be the shock that boots the global community into redoubling its efforts to constrain such weapons. If states do not seize this chance, they risk ushering in a new, terrifying arms race.

This article was originally published by Foreign Affairs.

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Ukraine and the Implications for China Xi Jinping May Need to Rethink his Grand Design for a New World Order

By Kawashima Shin This is not the first time that Russia has seemingly timed an invasion to coincide with an Olympic Games in China: It invaded Georgia just as the 2008 Beijing Olympics were getting underway. In fact, the Russian annexation of Crimea also occurred during the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

Although it is possible that Chinese President Xi Jinping was told about the Russian invasion of Ukraine in advance, it is nonetheless likely that Xi now finds himself forced to modify a range of policies – short, medium and long term – in a range of areas. Indeed, Beijing may even need to fundamentally rethink its domestic and foreign policies, most notably its policy towards the United States.

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To start with the very short term, Russian military action is the mother of all distractions from the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games, while the IPC’s decision not to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate even as individuals has created serious issues for the organizers. There have been reports that Xi asked Putin to hold off on invading until after the Games, which would likely have meant both the Olympics and the Paralympics. Given Russian stringency with linguistic definitions, however, it is quite possible that the Kremlin interpreted this as referring only to the Olympics.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin talk to each other during their meeting in Beijing, Feb. 2022 ,4. (Alexei Druzhinin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

Second, China feels that the rest of the world is increasingly lumping China and Russia together, given the belief that China knew about the invasion of Ukraine in advance as well as the widespread perception that China is supporting Russia to some extent.

The Chinese can’t rebuff Moscow completely since Russia is a key strategic partner, so it will offer the Russians some consideration, but China also has strong ties with Ukraine, as evident in the Statement on the Provision of Security Guarantees for Ukraine (December 1994) and the Treaty on Friendship and Cooperation Between China and Ukraine (concluded in 2013, ratified in 2015).

There have been reports that Xi asked Putin to hold off on invading until after the Games, which would likely have meant both the Olympics and the Paralympics.

Russia as the same based on this tendency to equate totalitarianism with infringements on sovereignty.

One key will be whether China can successfully insulate itself from this perception. It is likely that China would rather detach the issue of sovereignty from values like democracy and freedom. This also leads to the question of how to avoid economic sanctions.

China will want to show the world that its stance differs from that of, say, Belorussia, all the while acquiescing to Russian requests for cooperation to some degree.

Third, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has introduced uncertainty with regard to the start of Xi Jinping’s third term as a General Secretary of the Moreover, while Beijing can work together with Mos- Party or his election as Chairman of the Party at cow in opposition to Western values such as democ- the Communist Party’s 20th party congress in racy and freedom, China does still adhere to the Five the fall of 2022. It also complicates Xi’s internaPrinciples of Peaceful Coexistence (1954), which tional position. There are those who will want to makes it hard to come out in support of any infringe- link China’s designs on Taiwan with the war in ment of sovereignty. The West opposes Russia along Ukraine, so China will need to be careful in conthe lines of totalitarianism versus democracy, rather veying its position on Taiwan. than on the basis of the validity of any infringement of sovereignty. Western criticism of totalitarianism in- Finally, there is the question of Xi’s long-term vicreasingly employs the logic of seeing infringements sion of a shift from multipolarity to U.S.-China on sovereignty as something that totalitarian states do. bipolarity and then to China surpassing the U.S. However, the Chinese want to convey that although by 2049 and exactly how realistic it is. This is Western democracy does not apply to them, they still China’s grand design, but the war in Ukraine respect sovereignty. For the time being, this is likely might well have upended it. Russia’s military acto motivate the Chinese to combine some support for tions in Chechnya and Crimea naturally prompted Russia with steps to highlight their differences. This an international reaction, but hardly transformed balancing act can be seen reflected in China’s decision the world order. Its invasion of Ukraine might. to abstain from voting on the UN resolution against Much will depend on how the conflict unfolds, the Ukraine invasion, rather than offering Russia an but it may well be that Xi needs to rethink his grand design. outright “No” vote.

I suspect that the West will begin to treat China and

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This article was originally published by The Dipl

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Realism vs. Idealism on Ukraine Russian Invasion Brings Historical Debate on Morality, Politics

By Mohammad Ali Salih - Washington The Russian invasion of Ukraine brought to the surface a historical philosophical debate about morality and politics, particularly in foreign policy: Whether international relations should be idealistic, moving towards higher moral ground, or should be according to what is actually happening, because being moral, by definition, is an ideal situation, in addition to having different definitions of morality.

At the beginning of this century, with the fall of the Communist bloc and the end of the Cold War with the Democratic West occurring at the same time as the economic, political and military rise of Communist China, two American university professors rose as leaders of the two respective groups of realistic and idealistic international relations: John Mearsheimer, at University of Chicago, has been writing books for decades about realpolitik, with titles like: “The Tragedy of Great Power Politics”; “Why Leaders Lie: The Truth About Lying in International Politics”; and, “The Great Delusion: Liberal Dreams and International Realities;” On the other side, Thomas Pepinsky at Cornell University has been writing books critical of dictatorships and authoritarian regimes, with titles like: “Economic Crises and the Breakdown of Authoritarian Regimes; “Beyond Oligarchy: Wealth, Power; and, Contemporary Indonesian Politics.”

Mearsheimer’s theory of Realpolitik relies on the following premises: First, there is anarchy in the international system, which means that there is no superior power that can guarantee limitations on the

behavior of states.

Second, all great powers possess offensive military capabilities, which they are capable of using against other states.

Third, states can never be certain that other states will refrain from using those offensive military capabilities.

Fourth, states seek to maintain their survival (their territorial integrity and domestic autonomy) above all other goals, as it is the means to all other ends.

Fifth, states are rational actors, which means that they consider the immediate and long-term consequences of their actions, and think strategically about how to survive.

On the other side, Pepinsky wrote mostly about liberalism.

He wrote that, under “embedded liberalism,” free trade, multinational investment, and liberal immigration policies enabled the factors of production to flow across national borders, benefiting more people, and different socio-economic classes.

He criticized the philosophies that focused “just on trade in goods and capital …”

“Embedded liberalism” outside the US rested on “political foundations at home,” and has been promising, despite current debates about the fate of the liberal order in times of populist resurgences, as former President Donald Trump’s movement has shown.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has become a reactivating cause for this historical debate about realism and liberalism, and both Mearsheimer and Pepinsky didn’t miss the chance.

These are excerpts from their respective tweets, websites and statements to the media.

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Mearsheimer: “NATO’s Fault”:

Service members of the Ukrainian armed forces are seen atop of a tank at their positions outside the settlement of Makariv, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, near Zhytomyr, Ukraine .2022 ,4 March REUTERS/Maksim Levin

“I think all the trouble in this case really started in April, 2008, at the NATO Summit in Bucharest, where afterward NATO said that Ukraine and Georgia would become part of NATO. The Russians made it unequivocally clear that they viewed this as an existential threat, and they drew a line in John Mearsheimer the sand.

I am not going to argue about the Ukrainians’ right to be independent and free, and it is not imperialism, as some say, on the part of the Russians to impose their will on them.

But this is not imperialism; this is great-power politics. When you’re a country like Ukraine and you live next door to a great power like Russia, you have to pay careful attention to what the Russians think, because if you take a stick and you poke them in the eye, they’re going to retaliate …

States in the Western hemisphere understand this full well with regard to the United States. Let us not forget The Monroe Doctrine: There’s no country in the Western hemisphere that we will allow to invite a distant, great power to bring military forces into that country.

Let us not forget that we overthrew democratically-elected leaders in the Western hemisphere during the Cold War because we were unhappy with their policies. This is the way great powers behave …

Let us not forget that this is not about spreading democracy. I think it would be difficult to say that America’s policy in the Middle East in the past seventy-five years since the end of the Second World War, or in the past thirty years since the end of the Cold War, has been to create liberal democracies in the Middle East.

We all know now -- if not then -- that our invasion of Iraq in 2003 was not to establish democracy. I remember when I joined with Harvard’s Stephen Walt and the University of Maryland’s Shibley Telhami to lead a group of 33 scholars, many of them card-carrying academic realists, to sign a declaration opposing the war.

We published an advertisement in the “New York Times” that cost 38,000$, and we paid for it themselves … The top of the ad ran, WAR WITH IRAQ IS NOT IN AMERICA’S NATIONAL INTEREST …

Now, the US is mobilizing the whole world against Russia because of Ukraine …

My argument is that the West, especially the United States, is principally responsible for this disaster. But no American policymaker, and hardly anywhere in the American foreignpolicy establishment, is going to want to acknowledge that line of argument …”

Tom Pepinsky: “Russia’s Fault”: Professor John Mearsheimer, one of the most prolific realist international relations theorists of our time, has recently wrote

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“I think all the trouble in this case really started in April, 2008, at the NATO Summit in Bucharest, where afterward NATO said that Ukraine and Georgia would become part of NATO.”

Tom Pepinsky

about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. And his opinion has turned a lot of heads – and that was not the first time in this regard.

In 2014, after the Russian annexation of Crimea, he wrote an opinion in “Foreign Affairs” titled “Why the Ukraine Crisis Is the West’s Fault.”

Now, he is at it again.

Almost everyone who I know expresses something between exasperation and outrage at Mearsheimer’s stance that it is the US and NATO which bear the blame for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine …

I think the core problem with Mearsheimer’s analysis is that his realism combines description with prescription …

My realism starts from a different premise: Russia is not a great power anymore.

It is a declining power. Its only claims to global power status are its petroleum reserves, its nuclear arsenal, and our collective memories of the Cold War. Take those away, and Russia is no more a great power than Turkey was in 1935.

The Soviet Union lost the Cold War decisively. Its empire fell into pieces, its regional alliance disappeared, and most of its former allies joined NATO. Russia lost, and the Western alliance won.

Given this, it is not NATO’s responsibility to protect Russian state security interests. It is Russia’s responsibility to give a wide berth to NATO, recognizing—as every realist should—that the strong do what they will, the weak do what they must …

No one wants to invade or destroy Russia, there are not and have never been plans for a NATO conquest of Russia. Russia had a good deal: they got to sell their petroleum and defend their territorial integrity with their aging nuclear arsenal.

Invading Ukraine was a stupid strategic error made by a declining power that does not understand The Tragedy of Great Power Politics. In the immediate short run, Ukrainians will pay the prices for Russia’s strategic errors, but in the long run, Russia will bear the consequences …”

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Islamophobia, Russian Expansionism: Which is Posing Real Threat to Europe?

Russian War Raises Questions to Preoccupy Europe For Years

By Sama Mamdouh El Sheikh The Russian war machine has been roaring, raising several questions that will preoccupy Europe for years to come. The aggression against Ukraine is by no means less than a historical turning point. The events of 2014 during the occupation of Crimea will repeat itself in 2022. US General Wesley Clark, former commander of NATO, painted in his famous book on modern warfare, a picture of Europe at the outbreak of the Balkan crisis

in the 1990s: hesitant and divided. Today, amidst the Russian invasion, it looks like this picture is being redrawn.

Reevaluating the Danger Europe’s issue with sources of threat dates way back and is crammed with fluctuations. As the continent reached the peak of its strength - militarily and economically the imminent danger did not come sailing from lands

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where its fleets spread terror and destruction. The danger crept from inside it. The twentieth century engraved the greatest lesson in the European mind and conscience.

Two world wars were enough to convince Europe that nationalism and extremist fascism could pose the greatest threat to Europe, its security and well-being, and indeed its existence. During the second half of the century, Europe - allied with the USA - waged its most exciting battle against the communist ideology.

The collapse of the Soviet Union unleashed endless literature anticipating that Islam (or Islamic extremism) would turn into an alternative enemy. However, international relations - until the September 11 attacks – would debunk that. After the attacks, many in the East and West saw that theoretical perceptions, fantasies and assumptions that had a dash of wildness, could turn into a (main course) in international relations.

Militants of the selfproclaimed Donetsk People›s Republic take part in shooting drills at a range on the outskirts of Donetsk, Ukraine, December 2021 ,14.

REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko/File Photo

Over the years, France has ramped up its political, diplomatic and cultural influences, with the hope of building an international alliance against what it considers the main source of danger to France, even to Europe and to the entire Western civilization.

This approach reflected an important qualitative difference between the European and Anglo-Saxon mentalities. The elite class in the USA – the official one and the unofficial - was preoccupied with the danger that China and Russia could pose. On the other hand, significant segments from the European elite class were entangled in the trap of Islamophobia propaganda.

As the continent reached the peak of its strength militarily and economically - the imminent danger did not come sailing from lands where its fleets spread terror and destruction.

Moreover, the USA has officially condemned - several times - the various forms of persecution faced by the Muslims of Myanmar and China. The US Congress, in a report on the bill, noted the «staggering rise in Islamophobic violence around the world, whether the atrocities committed against the Uyghurs in China or the Rohingyas in Burma (Myanmar).”

Islamophobia: Made in France The fear of Islam and Muslims (Islamic extremism specifically) was quite prevalent among Western cultures, but at varying degrees. France, however, was nearly solely preoccupied to a pathological degree with Muslims across the country and in Europe. The Islamophobic rhetoric voiced by the extreme right started to gain momentum, until it became during the presidency of Emanuel Macron, almost a general national hysteria.

The difference between the two opposing shores of the Atlantic was stark in the different discourses and a different prioritization of sources of danger. While many European countries - influenced by the French stance - were taking measures marred by Islamophobia, the US House of Representatives, in December 2021, was discussing a law to combat the phenomenon of Islamophobia in an attempt to confront discrimination against Muslims around the world.

The state itself was trapped in this rhetoric, even though the French political system is supposed to be neutral towards religions. The presidency of Jacques Chirac did witness the first major French official measures that caused controversy internally and externally (the law banning religious symbols). Nonetheless, Macron’s era witnessed the peak of the rise of Islamophobia, to the extinct that heralding the dangers of Islam became a distinctive feature of the official French discourse.

The said bill requested the US State Department to establish a special mission to monitor and combat Islamophobia, and include state-sponsored violence against Islam and the impunity from such acts in the ministry’s annual human rights reports. The bill would formulate a comprehensive strategy to establish US leadership in combating Islamophobia worldwide.

As The Guardian newspaper phrased, “Once Europe’s liberal hope, Macron is now prey to France’s toxic populism.” He started adopting a harsh language hostile towards immigration and immigrants. Eventually, presidential candidate and television star Eric Zemmour became at the forefront thanks to a speech that said France would be under the control of Muslims in what

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he called «the great replacement.» Macron, who was perceived years ago as a representative of a new type of self-confident democracy, has become a reproduction of the rhetoric of the far-right fascism.

Macron did not have the courage to admit that a large part of France›s Muslims are victims of a regional, moral and social apartheid. A recent poll showed that among 67,000 who were released from prison, there were 47,000 Muslims. Moreover, the unemployment rate among Muslims is %14, which is twice the national average.

A distinctive report published by Swiss news agency Swissinfo showed that in November 2019, more than

The fear of Islam and Muslims (Islamic extremism specifically) was quite prevalent among Western cultures, but at varying degrees. France, however, was nearly solely preoccupied to a pathological degree with Muslims across the country and in Europe.

10,000 people participated in a demonstration in Paris denouncing Islamophobia. The political class was divided over it, and it was fiercely criticized by the government and the extreme right. Swissinfo considered that the main messages of the demonstration were “Stop Islamophobia” and “No prejudice against Muslims.”

A Communist Party spokesman commented: “There is a prevalent atmosphere of hatred against Muslims and we cannot stand still.” One here cannot turn a blind eye to the devastating impact of numerous terrorist attacks over the past years - especially in Paris - perhaps the most violent of which was the November 2015 ,13 attacks.

The “Great Replacement” Conundrum The past few years saw a vast fascist expansion on both sides of the Atlantic, which intertwined at the level of both discourse and practice - with the Russian narrative.

Some of the elements of this narrative did not shun that Vladimir Putin represents a symbol for them, especially with regard to power politics and a clear contempt for democracy and Western liberal values. It is certain that some of this rhetoric’s morals are not universally accepted.

Zemmour, the most vocal when it comes to today›s French Islamophobia discourse, warns of what he calls the «great replacement,» reflecting France›s three-

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In December, the US House of Representatives passed a law to combat the phenomenon of Islamophobia in an attempt to confront discrimination against Muslims around the world.

TV host Eric Zemmour delivers a speech at the Convention on The Right in Paris on 28 September 2019. (Getty Images)

dimensional predicament: fundamentalist secularism, demographic fading, and identity crisis.

Zemmour also calls for other ideas that risk the future of Western / Western relations, foremost among which is his stance on free trade, which he considers a «curse.» There is also his stance on immigration, which has expanded to include an unwelcome speech on the prospect - just the prospect - that France would receive immigrants from Ukraine, and his call for freezing relations with the European Union and the establishment of an independent foreign policy. His statements also demonstrate an impulsive nature that underestimates history, which in turn raises great fears for the EU that already suffered major losses with Britain’s exit in 2016. The EU is even heading towards losing more spaces and allies due to the fascist rightwing tendency. These chauvinistic ideas threaten to truly jeopardize Western democracies.

In the face of the significant rise of a populist rhetoric that targets Western values - before it targets Islam or Islamic extremism - the election of Joe Biden as President of the United State partially restored the momentum of aligning behind pluralistic and democratic values that extended geographically to include countries in the far east and down to Australia. With the birth of the AngloSaxon AUKUS alliance, the gap among allies in Europe was extending to its farthest. It was one of the reasons

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behind the Atlantic/Atlantic divergence, whereby the entanglement in Islamophobia, ideologically or demographically, was tight to the extent that it facilitated the enlargement of the European-Russian economic ties and reached to the point of the dependence of European energy policies to a large extent on Moscow’s decision.

The past few years have unraveled organizational links that go beyond the consensus in thought and discourse between the European far-right and its counterpart in Russia, which allowed what could be dubbed as the “Russian penetration,” to reach new depths. Since World War II, European Anglo-Saxon relations have not seen the extent of rupture that occurred during the past few years. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine came to clearly reverse the course of action. While the orchestra of the French Right (and behind it other European rightwing movements) is playing the symphony of “Islamic danger,” Europe found itself forced to line up quickly in the face of a great real danger igniting the fire of a military conflict. It is the first of its kind since the First World War and is fitted out with a language from the remnants of the Cold War. The Russian discourse in the Ukraine crisis is not limited to what is only military. Rather, it also reproduces extremely dangerous statements about “historical rights” in Ukraine. As for the threat of the “nuclear option,” it has been a slap for the official and unofficial European elite and has reinstated the question on the actual sources of threat.

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Fighting Anti-Semitism in Europe

German-Israeli Intimate Relations Despite the Painful Memory

By Jassim Mohamad – Bonn The EU-Israeli relationship has frequently witnessed tense rhetoric and varying degrees of subsequent regret, and intervals of lukewarm ties. Throughout many years, their relations were characterized by confusion, trouble and disappointment on both sides. That led to deep structural rifts inside the EU. However, many observers describe EU- Israeli relations as “special and exceptional.”

The German-Israeli relations have reached high levels of economic, political and intelligence cooperation. Berlin is one of the top EU commercial partners of Israel. The country has been always committed to the protection of Israel’s security and pursued diplomacy to resolve the Palestinian issue by holding talks on the two-state solution.

Domestically, however, hate crimes have risen and taken various

forms, including physical assaults and hate speech. This prompted the German authorities to tighten laws and fill in the gaps of the laws on anti-Semitism amid divisions among Germany’s political circles concerning these laws.

On a related note, French-Israeli relations date back to deep historic connections. Since 1949, France held firm diplomatic ties after it recognized the state of Israel. Despite France’s recognition, it decided, just as Germany did, not to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and to oppose the continuous establishment of settlements and the annexation of some West Bank territories. On the domestic level, there are divisions among French politicians on anti-Semitism which coincided with the authorities calls to fight against rising anti-Semitic actions via tightening measures and drafting new laws.

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REALITY OF EU-ISRAELI RELATIONS EU-Israeli relations have undergone regular improvement within the frame of agreements signed in multiple sectors. Today, Israel enjoys the status of the most advanced relationship as nonEU contracting partner. Consequently, many Israelis consider EU as their natural economic zone. The strategic cooperation between both actors grew, particularly following September 11 due to perceived common threats. In fact, EU countries tend to build alliances according to their perceived common threats.

For example, global terrorism and Iran’s nuclear threat, in particular, have become a major concern for Israel and the EU. In 2003, France, Germany and Britain led an international alliance with the United States, Russia and China under the name of EU 3+3 which aimed to prevent Iranians from developing nuclear weapons by imposing diplomatic and financial sanctions. Deeply concerned about Iranian nuclear threat, Israel cooperates with some EU countries to lead operations that aim to delay the expansion of Iran’s nuclear program.

ANTI-SEMITISM IN EUROPE

Dozens of people take part in a human chain during a rally against anti-Semitism and Hate outside the New Synagogue in Berlin, Germany, 20 October 2019. [Felipe Trueba/ EPA/EFE]

EU countries have recently witnessed a surge in anti-Semitismrelated incidents. According to some statistics, anti-Semitism rose by 74% in France, and attacks against Jews in Germany rose to 16,000 incidents (an increase by 10%). In November 2020, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe published a report stating that anti-Semitic crimes amounted to more than 20% of hate crime committed in the European bloc.

In 2019, there were 1704 anti-Semitic incidents out of total 6964 hate incidents in Europe. In December 2020, the EU adopted a draft declaration vowing to prevent all forms of anti-Semitism.

On December 6, 2018, EU Interior Ministers approved a number of measures to combat anti-Semitism, and called for better protection of Jews and Jewish institutions in Europe.

EU STANCE ON ARAB NORMALIZATION WITH ISRAEL The 2020 was a peak year of Israel’s foreign relations. For the first time, Israel holds relations with 164 countries out of 194 (85% of world countries). To further understand the significance of such number, it is worth pointing out that on the first years of its establishment after 1948, Israel was recognized by and had relations with only 47 out of 89 state members in the United Nations (53%). In 1959, number of countries that recognized Israel rose to 62 out of 95 countries (65%). In 1965, a new peak reached 95 out of 130 countries (75%). However, following wars of 1967 and 1973, the number diminished to 92 out of 149 countries (62%) On November 16, 2020, Joseph Borrell, the European Union high representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said that the EU welcomed the announcement of UAE, Bahrain and later Sudan’s signing of normalization agreements with Israel.

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The German-Israeli relations have reached high levels of economic, political and intelligence cooperation. Berlin is one of the top EU commercial partners of Israel.

“A normalization of their bilateral relations will be beneficial to both countries and a fundamental step for the stabilization of the region as a whole,” Borrell said.

GERMANY AND ISRAEL: ECONOMIC COOPERATION Germany is the second top commercial partner of Israel after the US with deep economic and security relations. On the economic level, the German-Israeli trade reached 6,6 billion dollars in 2016, and 7,8 billion dollars in 2018, an increase of 1,2 billion dollars. Top German exports to Israel include equipment, optics, chemicals and plastics, while top Israeli imports to Germany are machines, transportation equipment and chemical products.

On February 23, 2021, both countries signed an agreement to supply protection systems to the German Defense Ministry. The agreement provides the German military’s “Leopard-2” tank with Trophy active protection system, in addition to anti-tank munitions, spare parts and operational and technical systems. Berlin, on its part, provided submarines to Israel. Besides, both countries intensive cooperation included more projects in the field of science and research. Another deal worth of 430 million euros was inked by Israel and Germany, which include procurement of 4 warships to protect offshore gas extraction facilities.

A SPECTER OF THE PAST Post-1945 Federal Republic of Germany, which emerged from the ashes of the Third Reich that perpetrated the Holocaust, has become the strongest supporter of tolerance, justice and firm fight against anti-Semitism and hatred along with other forms of racism. Meantime, the dreadful specter of Germany’s past has never ceased to exist, as it became obvious in the return of the far-right, the activities of the neo-Nazis and targeting of Jews at schools and other places.

In 2000, Germany took an exceptional step by approving a new citizenship law that is fundamentally based on the principle of belonging and migration instead of bloodline. Following these changes and the concerns over Germanic racism, civil educational programs were developed sponsored by the government to fight anti-Semitism, along with international discussion panels that focus on war on terror and the so-called “anti-Semitism

against Israel” in Germany.

LAWS COMBATTING ANTI-SEMITISM IN GERMANY An increasing number of Jews migrated from the collapsed Soviet Union to Unified Germany in 1990. Currently, about 118,000 Jews reside in Germany (40% of whom age above 65, while less than 10% are less than 15 years old). The Central Council of Jews in Germany (Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland, acronym ZDJ) is the largest Jewish organization in the country, as it moderates 23 organizations and comprises 100,000 members.

Germany also hosts numerous synagogues One of the most important synagogues is located in the city of Dresden and was opened in 2001. In addition, there are other Jewish synagogues such as the one reopened in Berlin in 2007, and in Schwerin 2008, and the Halle, Saxony-Anhalt synagogue.

Germany has been always committed to the protection of Israel’s security and pursued diplomacy to resolve the Palestinian issue by holding talks on the two-state solution.

On May 12, 2021, German police arrested more than ten men in three cities. The men were suspected of damaging a Jewish synagogue using stones, burning Israel’s flag and setting a Jewish memorial on fire.

On May 17, 2021, Berlin announced that it did not intend to tighten punishments against anti-Semitism following protests that took to streets in support of Palestinian people amid Israeli military escalation in Gaza. Nevertheless, German authorities seek to fill in the gaps regarding enticement, hatred, xenophobia and anti-Semitism in German laws. Currently, authorities punish those convicted of attacking other people on basis of their homeland, religion or disability by fining them or sentencing them to two years in prison.

Former German Minister of Interior Heiko Maas confirmed his country’s strict measures against any person who spread antiSemitic hatred. He reiterated that Germany would not tolerate actions of burning Israel’s flag on its territories nor the attacks on Jewish institutions. According to statistics issued by the Ministry of Interior on May 25, 2021, Anti-Semitic violence against Jews in Germany increased to 1799 incidents (an increase by 20%), almost 90% of these attacks were committed by far-right movements.

IN DEFENSE OF ISRAEL There is a consensus that Germany has both moral and political obligation towards Israel. Hence came numerous visits by the former German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Israel. It is noteworthy that Jewish synagogues in Germany are surrounded by special security. For the sake of strengthening security and neutralizing extremism including anti-Semitism, Germany has adopted relevant legislations.

On May 18, 2019, the German Bundestag officially approved a

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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in Jerusalem.

March 2, 2022. Credit: Koby Gideon/GPO

Demonstrators hold signs against anti-Semitism during a silent march in Paris on March 28 in memory of Mireille Knoll, an 85-year-old Jewish woman murdered in her home in what police believe was an anti-Semitic attack.

NurPhoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images

resolution that described the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel as anti-Semitic, and called for confronting its campaign. Major political parties supported the decision which called upon on German federal institutions to stop funding or supporting any groups that question Israel’s right in existence. On the other side, many political circles in Germany expressed their concerns about the baseless and not legally justified overuse of the term anti-Semitic, which aims to prevent legitimate criticism to Israel policies.

More strict policies were taken by Germany against all forms of political Islamism, especially after the normalization of ties between UAE and Israel.

Germany has found that the Lebanese group of Hezbollah, the Muslim Brotherhood organization, and Hamas’s banners raised in German squares were inciting violence and hatred, which poses a threat to the country’s security, particularly in 2021. That’s why new laws were endorsed to ban use of banners and symbols of political Islamist groups.

Recently, the German domestic intelligence has shifted its attention to the state-owned broadcaster “Deutsche Welle”, where it was found that many workers in the media institution were dignifying Hamas and Hezbollah as well as other figures of political Islamism. Thus, a decision was made to review the DW management and its employers’ social media accounts. Many of them were found to express anti-Semitic opinions, which violate German laws.

The German broadcaster held a probe to assess allegations that some DW employees posted anti-Semitic comments online. According to the DW published results, “The experts found no evidence of structural antisemitism, but called for clearer guidelines for staff and broadcasting partners.”

“The investigation concluded that there is not a structural antisemitism issue in DW, but that measures in training and re-

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cruitment must be taken to avoid further individual cases. DW Director General Peter Limbourg said that as a result of the investigations, five employees will no longer work for DW,” the broadcaster stated.

The individual cases which the report referred to were detected in an independent investigation carried out by a specialist team comprised of psychologist and antisemitism expert Ahmad Mansour and former German Justice Minister Sabine LeutheusserSchnarrenberger. Following interviews with members of DW Arabic service, Bassel Aridi, head of DW office in Beirut, and four other names were fired. Other names included the head of DW Arabic Service Naser Schruf, of a Palestinian origin; Mohamed Ibrahim, from South Lebanon; Yasser Abumuailek‎‫‏‬, a Palestinian; and Zahi Alawi, also a Palestinian.

GERMANY’S STANCE ON THE PALESTINIAN CAUSE Germany is committed to defend Israel’s security and support its needs. Although many European countries such as Sweden acknowledge the State of Palestine, Germany refrains from such stance, and if it would take it, it should come in coordination with Israel.

Germany denounced the missile strikes launched by Hamas movement in Gaza against Israel, and reiterated Israel’s right to defend itself. According to a UN Statement on May 18, 2021, Germany was committed to provide 40 million euros humanitarian aid after the Israeli airstrikes against civilians.

Berlin also rejects expansion of Israeli settlements in West Bank. In January 2020, it denounced the Israeli decision to build settlements (1900 units) in West Bank. Former German Minister of Interior Heiko Maas previously said that “the peaceful future of Jewish and democratic Israel can not be im-

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agined without the two-state solution.

Daniel-Dylan Böhmer, Middle East expert, clarified that the complicated German stance on the Palestinian cause has various aspects. First, Germany has a critical view of Israeli settlement expansion, and second, it is concerned about human rights conditions in Israel. Böhmer also added that Germany is the largest country in the EU which is politically and economically supporting the Palestinians.

For historical reasons, there is ongoing German support to the Jewish state. Few years ago, the former German Chancellor Angel Merkel said that the security of Israel is fundamental to German politics, in an obvious declaration of commitment. What we see now is Germany seeking to strike a balance between both sides.

FRANCE AND ISRAEL The French-Israeli relations are characterized by strength, as the largest Jewish community in Europe resides in France in parallel with the presence of a large French community in Israel. On the economic level, France ranks third among the European countries exporting to Israel. In addition, there is military, intelligence and security cooperation, especially in the field of counter-terrorism and arms sales.

ANTI-SEMITISM LAWS On February 18, 2021, a French court upheld a verdict against Dieudonne Mbala Mbala on charges of anti-Semitism, to pay a fine of 9,000 euros that could turn into a prison sentence. In its decision, the court relied on a video clip of a song titled “It’s My Holocaust”, which was published in 2017 on some internet platforms.

On April 17, 2021, Gerald Darmanin, the French Minister of the Interior, announced that a delivery worker who had stated that he would not serve Jewish customers in Strasbourg had been expelled from the country. He was sentenced to four months in prison before being deported from France.

Incidents of anti-Semitism in France increased by 74% during the year 2018, according to data from the French authorities, as there were 541 incidents. The issue of tackling anti-Semitism in the country by expanding it to include anti-Zionism has caused divisions. On December 4,

Rise of hate crimes prompted the German authorities to tighten laws and fill in the gaps of the laws on anti-Semitism amid divisions among Germany’s political circles concerning these laws.

2019, the French Parliament adopted a motion that equates “anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism” and is subject to the provisions of laws in this regard. French President Emmanuel Macron had confirmed in February 2019 to representatives of Jewish organizations in France that the country would apply a definition of anti-Semitism to the memory of the Holocaust.

Observers believe that the logic of the French state has prevailed over the emotions as evident in the government’s hesitation to support the law before Parliament. Observers also think that France, as well as all countries in the world, which condemned US President Donald Trump’s decisions regarding Jerusalem, settlements and the Golan, will maintain a critical position against Israel and can only hold up the enaction of any laws that may become subject to illogical jurisprudence and legal prosecutions. Moreover, France condemns the settlement policy in the occupied territories. Several measures were taken at the European level to address settlements, such as labeling Israeli settlement products where the French Ministry of Economy stressed the necessity of putting up a label bearing the phrase “Made in an Israeli settlement” to distinguish between Israeli territories and settlements.

COLLABORATION BETWEEN FRANCE AND ISRAEL Trade Exchange: The volume of French exports to Israel amounted to 1.52 billion euros in 2017. French exports are mainly aircraft, cars, medicines, chemicals and industrial materials. French imports from Israel increased by 4.3 % in 2017. The number of French facilities reached 100 French facilities located in Israel, and their turnover is estimated at 534 million euros. The stock of French foreign direct investment in Israel at the end of 2017 amounted to 2.9 billion euros. Moreover, France is one of the most favorite tourist places for Israeli tourists.

Security Cooperation: Paris has been selling weapons to Israel since 1950s and 1960s, and now the relationship has reversed, as Israel has become France’s exporter of drones, electronic surveillance systems, war robots, and others. An intelligence investigation on March 31, 2021 revealed a secret cooperation in the security and military fields between Israel and France, especially in the fields of future wars that combine digital command, drones and robots, despite the competition in arms sales.

Israel and France are participating in the Scorpion Project, which involves the modernization of armored vehicles and the development of digital command to ensure the simultaneous communication of soldiers and new military tools such as drones. In November 2017, France participated in the “Blue Flag” exercises led by Israel and other countries.

In the field of combating terrorism, the Israeli intelligence services provided France with information about the attacks on Paris in November 2015 as well as information on terrorist organizations in Syria and Iraq.

FRANCE’S POSITION ON THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT French fears mounted due to the escalating conflict between Israel and Gaza, and warned on May 23, 2021 of a possible prolonged apartheid in

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European Union High Representative Federica Mogherini, right, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu address a media conference at the EU Council building in Brussels on Monday, December 11, 2017. (AP Photo/Vir)ginia Mayo

14, 2021, France proposed a draft resolution to the UN Security Council calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza.

The French Foreign Ministry confirmed in July 2020 that the Israeli government’s annexation of the Palestinian territories of the occupied West Bank would make the solution of the Palestinian issue more complex, difficult and perilous to regional stability and Israeli security.

ASSESSMENT 2021 saw two rare wins for EU policy on Israel and Palestine.

First, European countries helped counter the US administration’s vision of resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by formalizing a Palestinian state similar to the Bantustan state. Then, Europe helped mobilize international opposition to Israeli plans to formally annex West Bank lands. Both threats have temporarily receded, thanks in large part to the European Union. These were important achievements, but the latter do not make much difference to the reality on the ground.

This deteriorating path is storing up a deeper conflict on the ground, which poses even greater challenges to the European Union’s vision of its proximity and relations with Israel. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains the cornerstone of regional and international security, and finding a political solution based on the establishment of two states and the international agreements signed between Palestine and Israel is the only solution.

Left to fester, it will continue to harm the EU’s interests as a reservoir of instability, extremism, and violence (both domestically and in the immediate vicinity). The unresolved conflict will continue to hamper Europe’s prospects for deepening relations with both Israel and Palestine, and will represent a continuing failure of the rules-based international order.

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As for German-Israeli relations, these relations between Germany and Israel are of a special nature, and will always be marked by the Holocaust. However, the political relations between Germany and Israel are not without tension and differences of opinion on many regional issues.

The German government always seeks to take a balanced position on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict in order to reach a peaceful solution to the conflict in the Middle East. Among the European Union countries, Germany is the largest supporter of the Palestinians on the economic and political levels. It always criticizes the human rights situation in Israel and the targeting of Palestinian civilians. Berlin always warns of the Israeli settlement policy and believes this opposes international conventions and laws, and accordingly complicates the possibility of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians on the two-state solution.

Meantime, Germany pledges to defend Israel’s security and supports its security needs. The German government is moving against anti-Semitic parties in the country to tighten anti-Semitism laws.

With regard to French-Israeli relations, France seeks to strike balance on Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as the French authorities see that the best solution to the conflict is the establishment of an independent Palestinian state within secure and recognized borders alongside Israel. France sees from an angle that Israel’s security is an integral part of French policy and a priority within its policy in the Middle East. * Jassim Mohamad is a researcher who focuses on international security & counter-terrorism; his work covers Europe, Middle East (Iraq, Syria, Libya, Iran and Yemen), and African Sahel.

He is the Head of the European Center for Counterterrorism and Intelligence Studies ECCI.

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olitics

Women’s Rights Groups Call for Withdrawing from Int’l Deal Turkish Activists Reveal to Majalla Reasons for Spread of Femicide Phenomenon

By Jiwan Soz In conjunction with International Women’s Day, civil society organizations defending women’s rights in Turkey renewed their calls for the government to return to the provisions of the international Istanbul Convention and implement it fully in order to protect Turkish women from violence, after Ankara officially withdrew from the agree-

ment in July of 2021.

That withdrawal is rejected by those Turkish institutions that constantly condemn the killing of women by men and the fact that the judicial authorities tolerate their killers, according to the accusations they bring to the local judiciary.

According to “Kadın Cinayetlerini Durduracağız Platformu” (We will stop women homicide platform) in the year 2020, 300 women were killed and 171 killings were under suspicious circumstances.

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Protesters shout slogans as they march to mark International Women’s Day in Istanbul, Turkey, Tuesday, March 8, 2022. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

In 2021, 280 were killed and 217 killings were suspicious.

The numbers published by the platform periodically show that 123 out of 280 women were killed in the past year, at the hands of men who were related to their victims, such as a husband, a divorced person, a brother, a child, a father and other men. These crimes are repeated on a daily basis in various Turkish territories.

In this context, Gullistan Yarkin, a social worker and member of the Human Rights Association in Turkey, spoke about this dangerous phenomenon, stressing that “women’s organizations in our geography have been fighting against patriarchy, male violence, and state violence for many years.

“Women’s organizations including Kurdish women’s organizations use many tools to empower women. They organize large-scale street demonstrations, organize petition campaigns, monitor the hearings, participate in the hearings, hold press releases, urge the Turkish judiciary to punish the perpetrators of sexual violence and murder, provide free legal aid and shelter for women who are victims of male-violence and state violence, refer women to specialists for psychological aid and medical aid, help victims of male-violence to document sexual torture and rape.

In statements to Majalla, she added, “Women organizations in our geography also organize meetings with governors and state officials (if they are able to), urge deputies to prepare parliamentary questions on violence against women, hold meetings with international organizations, establish common platforms with other women’s organizations and LGBTI+ organizations, raise awareness against the termination of the Istanbul Convention, they use social media effectively and organize various events.”

She also said, “Women organizations in our geography diligently work to stop femicide and violence against women.”

Yarkin also revealed the reasons for the widespread phenomenon of femicide in Turkey. In this regard, she said, “The dominant culture of the society expects women to accept their subaltern position and obey men, in other words obey their husbands, partners, fathers, older brothers and the state forces. If women experience domestic violence or humiliation, male dominated culture expect women to accept them without resistance.

She added, “When we look at the increasing number of femicide cases and violence against women in recent years, we see that the most murders are committed by husbands and lovers when women want to divorce their husbands, break up with their partner or when they reject their demands. Sex worker women are also the target of these murders. Apart from this, different reasons such as cheating are also shown as the reason for murder by murderer men.”

Yarkin also said that murderer men do not recognize and allow the emancipation of women. “It’s highly related to their desire for power over women,” she added.

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“The reflection of court decisions on society is that if a reconciliatory attitude is displayed in the courtroom, these sentences will be reduced. Some men threaten women with the following words: “I will kill you and stay in prison for a few years and get out”.

She explained that “between the 1990s and the 2010s women in our region have become stronger in comparison to previous periods”.

“Women have had more control over their own bodies.

Male violence is being criticized more and for women, male violence has relatively lost its legitimacy. Feminist ideologies and women organizations gained power. Women’s resistance emerged not only in the public sphere, but also in everyday life against male violence.

“If they have chance women began to express their desire to divorce or break up with. This has resulted, in some instances, in more punishment of women by men and maledominated organizations.

“Femicide also refers to men reminding women of their subordinate position within the male dominated sexist regime. The Turkish judiciary is also ruled by men and a male-dominated mentality. The Turkish judiciary does not give long prison sentences to the perpetrators.”

“Judges tend to make decisions that protect perpetrators, which results in an accelerated continuation of femicide,” she added.

Yarkin also said that the biggest backlash against women’s empowerment and women organizations was the state’s termination of the Istanbul Convention.

“The most important demand of the women organizations in our region was the implementation of the decisions in the Istanbul Convention. But let’s leave aside the implementation of the decisions, the contract was terminated in 2021,” she added.

Yarkin highlighted that the male-dominated culture dominates the state organizations and officials.

“The president, parliamentarians or the ministers can make statements insulting women. The termination of the Istanbul Convention is also a result of the male-dominated antiwomen and anti-LGBTI+ state approach.

“An extremely harsh rhetoric against LGBTI+ organizations gained legitimacy in government circles. The strengthening of homophobic understanding also indirectly

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negatively affects the gains of women.

“Additionally, state forces still use sexual violence against women under custody and prisons. Strip-search and sit and stand-up torture while women are naked are widely implemented by the guards and police officers.

“Police officers insult women with sexist curse words during home raids or while taking women into custody. They physically abuse women too,” she said.

For instance, Garibe Gezer, a Kurdish women prisoner, committed suicide in her ward in December 2021 after the sexual torture she was subjected to in Kandıra Prison.

Hozan Cane, a Kurdish woman prisoner and a musician, was also subjected to violence while she is under custody.

Rojbin Çetin, another Kurdish woman and the former comayor of Kurdish town named Edremit municipality (a

Turkish women continue to take to the streets and public squares to demonstrate with the aim of calling for a return to the Istanbul Convention, despite the security authorities’ use of violence to disperse these demonstrations.

district of Van) was violently tortured in 2020 during the police home raid.

Police dogs attacked her and bit her legs in her home. She was badly beaten by the police. The torture continued 3.5 hours. When it comes to Kurdish women, the state forces implement harsher torture acts. This is also related to racism against Kurds.

The feminist activist criticized the Turkish judiciary for its leniency with criminals, explaining that “after most murders of women, men receive “unjust provocation discounts” and “good behavior” discount and they are sentenced to short-term prison because in courtrooms they say “I regret a lot”, “I loved her so much”, “I was jealous of her”, “she cheated on me” etc.

“The reflection of court decisions on society is that if a reconciliatory attitude is displayed in the courtroom, these sentences will be reduced. Some men threaten women with the following words: “I will kill you and stay in prison for a few years and get out”.

“Therefore, the “unjust provocation discounts” and “ good behavior discounts” practices of the judiciary strengthen the murderer candidates and contributes to the continuation of the femicide cases.”

For her part, prominent lawyer Janan Arin said, “Women use all means to do so. Women write, have TV programs, organize street protests, talk on every occasion on women’s rights, appeal to law courts during hearings.”

She told Majalla, “Women’s demands serious training on gender equality at every level of education. The real cause of violence against women is based on gender equality between sexes. This can be provided by a secular education.

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Policemen scuffle with protesters during a march to mark International Women’s Day in Istanbul, Turkey, Tuesday, March 2022 ,8. (AP Photo/ Emrah Gurel)

Protesters shout slogans during a march to mark International Women’s Day in Istanbul, Turkey, Tuesday, March 2022 ,8.

(AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

“Despite of this demand, the political party in power that is a fundamentalist, turns all secular schools into religious ones so pupil are educated not to ask questions and accept whatever they were told without thinking on it. The political party in power is afraid of gender equality so much and they are trying to suppress women by all means including ignoring femicide.”

And she added, “Women’s rights are being taken back day by day. Women are trying to hold their line, to protect their existing rights instead of promoting them. Women’s main demand is to promote and apply the Istanbul Convention fully, to have gender equality in every sphere of life and to stop violence against women. In short to be considered as human beings.”

The government formed by the Justice and Development Party led by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in alliance with the far-right National Movement Party, has officially withdrew from the Istanbul agreement in early July of last year, although this matter was accepted by international and local condemnations.

Associations defending women’s rights in Turkey, including the Union of Women’s Associations, accuse the ruling party of fighting equality between men and women, especially since Ankara withdrew from the international agreement that protects Turkish women from domestic violence and facilitates them to find alternative shelter when separated from their husbands.

Turkish women continue to take to the streets and public squares to demonstrate with the aim of calling for a return to the Istanbul Convention, despite the security authorities’ use of violence to disperse these demonstrations, as happened when organizing several women’s protests on the

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Feminist ideologies and women organizations gained power.

Women’s resistance emerged not only in the public sphere, but also in everyday life against male violence.

International Women’s Day a few days ago.

The Turkish president had previously considered the Istanbul Convention a threat to society on the grounds that it worked to dismantle the captives in his country, which encouraged him to take the decision to withdraw from that treaty, which later led to a high rate of women’s murder in Turkey and angered the United States and the European Union.

The Istanbul Convention, negotiated in Turkey’s largest city and signed in 2011, committed signatories to preventing and prosecuting domestic violence and promoting equality.

In mid-February, the Federation of Women’s Associations called on the Turkish government to consider verbal harassment and prosecuting them a crime punishable by law, which requires amending some articles in the Turkish Penal Code, but the government has not responded to these demands so far. According to what was reported to Majalla, a source in the union, which is the largest women’s bloc in the country.

o

pinion

Political Islam Groups, GCC countries: Good Deeds Gone with the Wind

By Abdelkader Zaoui

A large number of leaders and members of political Islam groups, especially the Muslim Brotherhood, have found a safe haven in most GCC countries, as they ran away from security and judicial harassments and scrutiny in their native countries. During the 60s and 70s of the past century, GCC capitals welcomed members of political Islamic groups and provided them with livelihoods. They were offered job opportunities and integrated in various sectors, especially education, justice, and Awqaf and Islamic affairs.

The GCC countries were so welcoming of these groups, including the Brotherhood and the Salafists, to the extent of allowing them to practice Da’wah through various religious platforms and media, as well as local organizations whose names had religious connotations, such as “Irshad” (Guidance)” and “Islah” (Reform). These organizations were headed by GCC nationals, some even members of the ruling families, and most of them were taught at the hands of supporters of these currents. Therefore, many members of those political groups grew close to high authority figures in the countries of refuge. This provided them with a comfortable atmosphere to carry out their jobs and Da’wah activities, even the political ones, with ease and without any disturbance. Some of them were even granted citizenships in the countries of refuge.

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The proximity among members of these groups and decision makers, as well as the open economies of GCC countries and the proper utilization of the steadfastness of values in GCC communities, are all factors that facilitated the access of affiliates of Islamic currents to the financial markets. They accordingly managed to make huge fortunes, which later turned out to be vital sources of financing of political Islam groups across the world, not only in the countries of these affluents.

In return for such hospitality and generous treatment, GCC countries had hoped that the Islamists would take the initiative in times of hardship. They expected that these groups would take supportive stance in solidarity, which would not have cost them anything. However, the first ordeal that hit the GCC – Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait – left these expectations down.

As the invasion wreaked havoc, GCC leaders and people stood in shock in front and were bewildered to see that the political Islam currents did not denounce the offensive. Instead, they put their focus on appealing to the Muslim masses by criticizing the foreign force that was coming to liberate Kuwait, deeming it a barbaric imperialist invasion that represents another evidence of what they

called “the surrender of Arab and Muslim leaders to the West.” The position of Jordan’s Islamists was the most noticeable stance in this regard, as they called on Muslims not to bow to then-US President Bush Sr. or to anyone else whom they described as the “enemies of Islam.”

having some of the members assume some governmental responsibilities in service departments. The electoral participation has unearthed the actual popularity of these currents, which turned out to be less they promote. As for allowing them to handle executive responsibilities, it has proved the incomThe stances taken by the Islamic cur- petence of these groups, in contrary to rents, which the GCC countries deemed their claims. a manifestation of ingratitude, served as a wake-up bell for the GCC regimes to * Dissolving these groups and stripping discover that the supporters of the politi- them of any legal status. Two different cal ideology disguised in religion resid- approaches were taken here. The first ing in their midst mastered the practice was voluntary by the groups themselves, of taqiya. Afterall, these groups did not especially the Muslim Brotherhood. One perceive the welcoming of the GCC of its branches in the region agreed to countries as generosity or sympathy. dissolve itself without giving any reaRather, they saw it as a price that these sons, except for discussing the futility of countries paid to exploit them as a tool struggle in an already conservative soto perplex the Arab regimes, which had cial environment, and the desire to enjoy mostly nationalist and leftist tendencies a comfortable living. As for the second at the time. The aforementioned regimes method, it used legal tools to dissolve the did not hide its hegemonic tendencies various branches of Islamic groups and against other Arab countries, which they reduce the influence of its members by not renewing the employment contracts deemed as retrograde. of expatriate members and referring naNaturally, this blatant ingratitude pushed tional members to retirement. most GCC countries to shift their positions on the Islamic phenomenon. They Even though the two approaches difbegan realizing its danger and the need fered, they proved successful and helped to swiftly dissolve them as a politi- eradicate the prowess of political Islam cal movement or to contain it if such a from these countries. Such elimination task was impossible. The plans for this process allowed them to move forward mean differed from one GCC country to with modern developmental plans, unthe other, depending on the extent of the hindered by a religious cloth. penetration of the Islamic currents in its political and social life and the specific It has become clear that in the aftermath of the Arab Spring revolutions and procircumstances of each country.

In this regard, one can distinguish be- tests, the second approach has become tween two approaches that GCC coun- a popular option among countries in the tries adopted in dealing with political region. They became focused on seeking Islam groups and their different reper- the stability necessary for their development plans, based on economic visions cussions. These are: Containing these groups by allowing that aim to diversify sources of income them to take part in elections where away from dependence on oil and gas there are electoral systems and then exports.

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The stances taken by the Islamic currents, which the GCC countries deemed a manifestation of ingratitude, served as a wakeup bell for the GCC regimes to discover that the supporters of the political ideology disguised in religion residing in their midst mastered the practice of taqiya .

A Weekly Political News Magazine

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Maria Zakharova: Defending Russia to the World

www.majalla.com

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ulture

On Verge of Extinction Fresh Bid to Save Dying Nubian Language in Egypt

By Salwa Samir Nobig Koro, or Learn Nubian, is a fresh initiative made by young Nubians living in Cairo to teach their language which is on the verge of extinction.

“Unfortunately, most of Nubian youth are not speaking Nubian language. We work hard to save our language for fear of its extinction,” co-founder of the initiative Gehad Ashraf, 28, told Majalla.

“The language is dying out. Families in Nubia are not interested in teaching their children

the Nubian language. Most of those who know Nubian language are older people,” she added.

NUBIA AND THE DYING LANGUAGE Nubia lies in southern Egypt along the Nile River banks and extends into northern Sudan and is regarded as the land of the ancient African civilization.

Nubian is a Nile-Nubian language descended from Old Nubian, spoken along the Nile in northern Sudan and southern Egypt and is a Northern Nubian language of the Nilo-Saharan language family.

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Gehad Ashraf, cofounder of Nobig Koro, posing for a photo in Heisa, one of the last remaining Nubian islands to survive the building of the Aswan High Dam in the 1960s.

The Nubians embraced Christianity for more than a thousand years, during which they wrote in their own language. With the advent of Islam, they replaced the Nubian with Arabic language. Nevertheless, they preserved Nubian language orally, with what remained of the inscriptions on the walls of temples dating back to the Meroitic era (3rd century BC – 4th century AD), and from the Bible and religious rituals recorded during the Coptic era on the walls of churches.

Nubians were subjected to displacement after the flooding of dozens of villages as a result of the construction of the Aswan High Dam in the 1960s.

Before displacement, Nubian was the primary spoken language in the region. Nubian migration had a significant impact on the decline in the use of the Nubian language.

According to unofficial statistics, there are three or four million Nubians in Egypt. Only 30 % of the Nubian villages in Aswan speak the Nubian language, while 70% know only some words.

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However, the Nubian song still has the greatest impact on preserving the language. Ashraf depended on this fact when launching her initiative.

NOBIG KORO INITIATIVE Ashraf said that the story of launching the initiative went back to 2020, when she and a number of Nubian friends took courses to learn Nubian language at the hand of Khairia Mousa, the only female Nubian language teacher in Egypt. According to Ashraf, Mousa is one of the most prominent female voices defending the Nubian language, customs, and traditions.

Mousa worked as a teacher for many years, and after retirement she decided to teach the Nubian language in Cairo.

Ashraf said, “We studied the alphabet, grammar, reading and writing. The only thing we didn’t know was how to collect vocabulary in order to form sentences.”

“So, I came up with the idea of translating Nubian-language songs into Arabic and study

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its vocabularies from which we can learn how to form sentences and study nouns and verbs,” explained Ashraf, who hailed from Aswan and obtained a diploma in legal translation from the American University in Cairo.

“The songs focus on Nubian nature and agriculture like that one about waterwheels, a place where two lovers meet each other. Another song is about palm trees and their dates,” she said.

She added that Mousa helped her team in translating the vocabularies of many songs, which Nubians are still playing in their wedding parties.

“We know the songs and dance to its rhythms in wedding parties but actually we don’t understand the words,” Ashraf said.

Many Egyptians are astonished by the idea of the initiative, according to Ashraf.

To reach more Nubians, she spread the idea of the initiative on social media platforms.

“Our friend Malek sings Nubian songs without instruments as our focus is on the words and nothing else,” she said, adding that Arabic subtitles are provided in their recorded videos.

They gathered at Cairo-based Nubian cultural centers such as Nubadia and Debod to sing and study the vocabularies of the songs.

Regarding the topics of these songs, Ashraf said that they are based on their own agricultural heritage.

“We just want to save our grandfathers’ language which I think will disappear within 50 years,” she added bitterly.

“People see the initiative as strange. We receive comments like “do you want to divide Egypt” … messages that have no basis,” she said.

Ashraf and her team plan to visit villages in Aswan where the old people are speaking proper Nubian in order to record their pronunciation of the words and to make a Nubiantalking dictionary.

“This next step will require more funds, which we are lacking right now.”

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Nubian-language teacher Khairia Mousa, C, and Gehad Ashraf (first from L) posing for a photo with a number of young Nubian people.

Young Nubians posing for a photo at Debod Nubian Cultural Center in Cairo.

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ovies

‘Huda’s Salon’ Shines a Welcome But Imperfect Light on Palestinian Women in Turmoil

A Woman Whose Visit to a Hair Salon Turns Into a Nightmare

By Justin Chang Early on in “Huda’s Salon,” a tense, tricky psychological thriller from Palestinian writer-director Hany Abu-Assad, a woman named Reem (Maisa Abd Elhadi) races down the street in a panic, clutching her baby daughter to her breast. Reem has suffered a terrible ordeal and is anxious to get home, though for a moment she pauses beside the massive wall surrounding the city, lingering in front of a spray-painted image of the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus. Did I mention that this is Bethlehem? It’s a nervy juxtaposition, somehow both subtle and overwrought, from a filmmaker who doesn’t always trust us to grasp what he’s saying — and whose efforts to ensure that we do can be touching and maddening in equal measure.

perhaps even liberating — the wives of raging misogynists. She’s taking aim at a Palestinian patriarchy that, in her experience and estimation, is as loathsome and oppressive as the enemy she’s aiding.

Or, in Huda’s own words: “It’s easier to occupy a society that’s already repressing itself.” She delivers that provocative line much later, from a dim underground bunker where she’s being held and questioned by Hasan (Ali Suliman), a Palestinian resistance fighter whose team has been monitoring Huda’s salon for some time. For most of its swift 91 minutes, “Huda’s Salon” proceeds

What he’s saying is that under the weight of the Israeli occupation, the walls are always closing in for Palestinian women like Reem — and also like Huda (Manal Awad), the local hairdresser whom she’d considered, until recently, a trusted friend. The story begins with an astonishing sequence in Huda’s salon, where Reem has come for a seemingly routine appointment; the vibes are so relaxed, the chatter so casual, that it’s a shock when Reem loses consciousness and awakens, sometime later, to a shattering new reality. Huda, it turns out, works for the Israeli Secret Service, and she’s entrapped Reem, who must now become an informant herself or risk being (falsely) branded an adulteress.

Reem emotionally disintegrates as only the innocent can; the guilty Huda remains impassive and unmoved: “We’re in the same boat,” she says.

They are indeed, and for more than the obvious reasons. Years earlier, we learn, Huda fled a rotten marriage; Reem is stuck in one, to a jealous, controlling man named Yousef (Jamal Marsawa). It’s Yousef’s distrust that makes Reem such a vulnerable target, and while Huda insists there’s nothing personal about whom she chooses to blackmail (Reem is the latest mark of many), she clearly takes a certain satisfaction in targeting — and

Huda’s Salon (2021) / IMDB

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Maisa Abd Elhadi in “Huda’s Salon.”

(IFC Films)

along two parallel tracks: In one scene we are with Huda and her interlocutor; in the next we’re back with Reem, who grows increasingly isolated from Yousef and other family members as she tries to figure out what to do. Compounding her desperation is the knowledge that Huda has been arrested — and that the women being blackmailed, including Reem herself, likely have been exposed.

“Huda’s Salon” represents both a welcome return to home turf for Abu-Assad (whose previous film was the glossy, lousy Kate Winslet-Idris Elba survival drama “The Mountain Between Us”) and something of a departure. Admirers of his Oscar-nominated dramas “Paradise Now” and “Omar” will not be surprised by his skill at locating new sources of visceral and moral suspense — and also fresh grounds for multifaceted argument — within the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But his specific focus on the plight of Palestinian women is new and gratifying.

Working with cinematographers Ehab Assal and Peter Flinckenberg, Abu-Assad continually boxes his female leads into tight corners, visually and dramatically. Nearly every scene takes the form of a single unbroken shot, a technique that sometimes pulls you in and sometimes merely calls attention to its own virtuosity.

Huda and Reem are two very different women in peril: one older, stoic and cynical, the other younger, anxious and naive. But after their fateful opening encounter, they also inhabit two very different dramatic modes, the repeated juxtaposition of which finally makes more intellectual than dramatic sense.

Reem’s story is a tense realist thriller, but the act of cutting repeatedly to and away from her plight winds up compartmentalizing rather than deepening her anguish. And despite the believably harried intensity of Elhadi’s performance, the bifurcated structure also throws the foolishness of some of Reem’s more impulsive decisions into unflattering relief.

Huda’s story, by contrast, is a rhetorical two-hander that hovers

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Working with cinematographers Ehab Assal and Peter Flinckenberg, Abu-Assad continually boxes his female leads into tight corners, visually and dramatically. at the edge of abstraction. You can imagine it working superbly onstage; shot in pools of darkness illuminated only by the glare of an interrogation lamp, it finds Huda and Hasan, two fighters at ideological and tactical cross-purposes, coming to a grudging respect for one another, even as it’s clear there’s only one way this particular story can end. Huda knows that end is inevitable, and Awad is particularly superb — imperturbable, defiant, coolly magnetic — as a woman forced to define resistance on her own terms, who’s paid too dearly for her betrayals already to mind the final price that awaits. Even when you don’t believe the movie she’s in, you believe her entirely.

This review was originally published by Los Angeles Times ‘HUDA’S SALON’ In Arabic with English subtitles MPAA rating: R (for disturbing violent content and graphic nudity) Running time: 1:31 Where to watch: Now playing in theaters

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echnology

How to Create Meaning and Value in the Metaverse

Discussing Three Considerations for Companies that Want to Compete in this Immersive New World

By TJ Leonard Tech companies are currently stumbling over themselves to see who can make a bigger bet on the metaverse. However, beyond a massive financial commitment, exactly what it will take to win is still largely unproven. Will it simply be a “copy and paste” of the current digital landscape? Will our ad-filled 2D screens simply morph into privately owned virtual worlds overflowing with 3D ads? I think we all hope for something more. In the end, brands that actively try to right what the social web got wrong, and embrace the unique attributes of the new medium, will develop winning metaverse strategies.

The metaverse is so alluring in part because it gives us a chance to fix much of what we got wrong with the current version of the internet. The reality of the social web is that while it added a “write” component to the original web’s “read” functionality, it’s still primarily a publishing and consumption tool with only the most basic forms of interaction built in. The current social web is a collection of walled gardens with extractive business models that sell your privacy for profit. What’s worse, it does so while failing to accurately represent the society it serves, inflaming our differences instead of celebrating them. The result is a digital world designed to capture our attention, but one that provides little real meaning or purpose.

In the metaverse, the blueprint for success starts with delivering meaning, will leverage rich and immersive experiences, and flip the business model to allow communities to share the economic benefits from the virtual worlds they help to create.

DESIGN FOR DIVERSITY

As we have learned in the real world, a sense of belonging is central to creating lasting communities and the same will be true of our digital identities. While early stages of the metaverse have looked more like a race to acquire income or status via digital assets, the real winners will be those who build experiences that attract real

community and ongoing engagement.

On today’s social web, companies fail to engage diverse audiences when they focus on mass appeal rather than investing to create authentic content or when they allow user-generated content to inflame our differences. Brands that lead with representative content generate as much as 40% higher ROI than those that don’t. Companies attempting to enter the metaverse without embracing diversity will see similar gaps in engagement levels. If the path to success in the metaverse is in part about building meaning for our digital identities, companies must understand and embrace the differences, nuances, expressions, and tastes of all the cultures present.

Companies can win big with diverse audiences and position their campaigns by investing more funds into audience research and taking a more equitable approach as it relates to positioning their brand towards underrepresented markets. For example, it’s not enough for brands to take a commercial (that may feature a white family with American-brand clothing styles and American pop culture references) and translate that commercial into different languages.

Instead, companies must invest in production of marketing that is individualized to their target audiences. This doesn’t only include producing a different commercial or piece of content. Companies should also invest the time to research what brands, artists, and cultural references will resonate with those audiences in order to foster higher engagement levels. This can often be achieved by working with creative consultants from underrepresented communities who can validate your thinking.

Hoping for a representative community is not enough. But there is an opportunity to design for it and designers and content creators will play huge roles in building these new virtual worlds. Just as bias is present in today’s algorithms because of the lack of diversity within the AI field, we risk the same mistake if we don’t actively look to diversify talent as we build these new virtual worlds. Much of the early metaverse talent is migrating from gaming and digital development, where massive gaps exist. The STEM workforce (including computer jobs) is dominated by white males while Black

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Photo Credit: TNS

and Hispanic workers remain drastically underrepresented and women account for just 25%.

Prioritizing diverse design teams will require extra steps in the recruiting and training process, but if we draw conclusions from the social web, taking the extra time now will lead to higher engagement, more meaning, and greater ROI in the future.

Committing to prioritizing diversity during the recruiting and training processes is a hefty task, but one that’s absolutely essential. In order to successfully recruit diverse team members, companies will need to take a hard look at their recruiting efforts to see where they might fall short when it comes to diverse and underrepresented candidates. For companies who aren’t sure where to begin, it may be helpful to implement demographic targets, conduct audits of your organization to identify gaps, and set goals that the organization hopes to reach to make sure everyone is aligned and committed to equity during the recruiting process .

PROVIDE A RICH AND IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE

While Web 3.0 will undoubtedly introduce new forms of 3D and other immersive content, today’s social web and the rise of video provide some insight into what will be required to win. Brands are already struggling to keep up. The typical mid-size business must generate over 500 videos a year and large, public companies need to create thousands in order to remain competitive. Businesses with an effective video strategy typically see 49% revenue growth over businesses that don’t, and video dramatically outperforms video across social media. Just as the web today demands 100 times more content than it did a decade ago, the transition to the metaverse will require companies to churn out 100 times more content than they do today.

With the almost-overnight surge in video production, brands and

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Companies should invest the time to research what brands, artists, and cultural references will resonate with those audiences in order to foster higher engagement levels. larger marketing teams are feeling a massive strain to accelerate their video strategies to keep up with the growing demand for video while individual creators definitely have an advantage.

Things like complex workflows and content creation barriers ultimately make it harder for companies to generate video content quickly. In order to streamline their production processes, companies will need to revamp their existing workflows to cut out unnecessary steps that may be holding them back from creating quick, efficient content. Like diversifying recruiting processes, so much of the solution lies within proper research. Brands need to make sure they’re on the ball when it comes to having equitable and comprehensive sources for stock footage, navigating potential licensing concerns, and collaborating efficiently. It’s also important for brands to stay flexible and quickly adopt new creation tools. As the metaverse develops, we’re likely to see a new generation of content and tools to help generate high-quality content at scale and it’s crucial for brands to embrace these new platforms.

This article was originally published by Fast Company.

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Maria Zakharova: Defending Russia to the World

The Russian MFA Representative and Information and Press Department Director is Powerful and Much-admired

By Majalla Illustration by Jeannette Khouri Maria Vladimirovna Zakharova is the Director of the Information and Press Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation from 10 August 2015. She has a degree of Candidate in Historical Sciences, the Russian equivalent of a PhD. Zakharova was born on December 24, 1975, in Moscow to a family of diplomats. Her father, Vladimir Zakharov, moved the family to Beijing in 1981 when he was appointed to the Soviet embassy there. The family left Beijing in 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed and returned to Russia in 1993. Her mother, Irina Zakharova, is an art historian who has worked at Moscow’s Pushkin Museum. In 1998, Maria Zakharova graduated from the Faculty of International Journalism at MGIMO university in the field of orientalism and journalism.

Zakharova speaks English and Chinese fluently. Russians admire her straightforwardness, a combination of femininity and rigidity, and they often call her as «the Russian analog of Jen Psaki».

She joined the Russian Foreign Ministry after graduation and worked as an editor of the monthly magazine “Diplomatic Bulletin”.

From 2005 to 2008, she was the press secre-

tary of the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations in New York City. On 7 November 2005, Zakharova married Andrei Makarov at the Russian Consulate in New York City. They have a daughter Maryana, born in 2010.

From 2011 to 10 August 2015, Zakharova was the Deputy Head of the Department of Information and Press of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. Her duties included organizing and conducting briefings of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as spokesman, the organization of work of official Ministry accounts in social networks and information support of foreign visits of the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Zakharova is known for her participation in political talk shows on Russian television and for her commentary on sensitive political issues in social networks. She is one of the most quoted Russian diplomats and was often opposed to Jen Psaki (the official representative of the US State Department before 31 March 2015).

On 10 August 2015, by order of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zakharova was appointed director of the Information and Press Department to become the first woman in the history of the department to hold this post. In 2016, she was chosen as one of BBC’s 100 Women.

In 2017, Zakharova accused the European Union of hypocrisy over its different behav-

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iour towards the separatist crises in Crimea and Catalonia, after hundreds were injured by Spanish security forces preventing Catalans from voting during the Catalan independence referendum, saying “I see and read what is happening in Catalonia, and Europe will say something to us about the referendum in Crimea and the protection of human rights.”

In 2021, Zakharova criticised a massive NATO military exercise called Defender-Europe 21, one of the largest NATO-led military exercises in Europe in decades, which began in March 2021. It included “nearly simultaneous operations across more than 30 training areas” in Estonia, Bulgaria, Romania and other countries. She claimed that by conducting these exercises, NATO is gathering a “strike fist” near Russia’s borders.

On 15 April 2021, she stated that in 2021 alone “NATO is planning seven military exercises in Ukraine. The active phase of the Defender Europe 2021 exercise, the most extensive exercise for many years, is to commence near Ukraine soon.”

On 23 February 2022, a day before the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Zakharova was sanctioned by the European Union as “a central figure of the government propaganda” and for having “promoted the deployment of Russian forces in Ukraine”. She is barred from entering the EU countries, and her assets there are frozen.

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Finding Your Focus Trouble Concentrating When Doing Even the Simplest Tasks?

By Matthew Solan Here are eight tips to keep your attention front and center.

Your brain is a three-pound supercomputer capable of almost unlimited power to learn, remember, and solve problems. Yet, like any other body part, it gradually slows with age.

Over time, people may find it harder to perform certain thinking skills, especially the ability to concentrate and focus.

«This can make it challenging to retain essential medical information, manage personal finances, and remember detailed directions,» says Joan Gillis, senior clinical team manager of Geriatric Psychiatry Inpatient Services at

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Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital.

Brains also can get «rusty» as people age, since they are less likely to regularly engage in mentally-stimulating activities like working and socializing.

Fortunately, there are ways to keep your attention at full attention. Here are some strategies.

«Do one task at a time until it’s completed, and then move on to the next one. That way, your mind doesn’t have to compete with other stimuli.»

IN THE MOMENT When you feel your attention waning or need Nov. 22, 2021, by Scientific Reports found to prepare your brain for situations that re- that just 10 minutes of moderate-intensity quire a high level of focus, try the following: running increases blood flow to the prefrontal cortex -- the part of the brain responsible for Avoid multitasking. «Don›t be a mental su- executive function skills, like staying focused perhero,» says Gillis. «Do one task at a time on a task until completion. Not a runner? Try until it›s completed, and then move on to the a brisk walk -- or anything else that gets your next one. That way, your mind doesn›t have to body moving and heart pumping. compete with other stimuli.»

BUILD A BETTER BRAIN

Photo Credit: Harvard Health

Work in blocks of time. Find your ideal time frame for brain work. When you do routine mental activities, like reading a book passage, take note how much time has passed before your attention drifts. «You should be able to find a range where your attention is at its peak,» says Gillis. Work within this time segment (set a reminder when time›s up), take a break, and then return for another round.

Remove distractions. Turn off your TV and set up website blockers so the Internet won›t tempt you. If your smartphone interferes with your ability to stay focused, place it in a drawer, another room, or anywhere that you can›t see or hear it while you try to concentrate.

You also can adjust your phone›s settings to block calls during certain hours. (If you›re worried about missing a critical call, you can create a list of contacts who will be allowed to reach you.)

If you find that some background noise actually helps with concentration, listen to soothing ambient sounds, like nature settings or white noise.

Take a quick run. A study published online

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These lifestyle habits help maintain a healthy brain and keep thinking skills sharp.

Stay mentally engaged. Like your muscles, your brain needs frequent «exercise» to achieve and maintain peak performance. There are many ways to work out your mind and your thinking skills. For example, do crosswords and jigsaw puzzles, join a book club, take a class, volunteer, or work part-time.

Get enough rest. Aim for seven to nine hours of sleep nightly. Stick to a strict sleep schedule, and get to bed around the same time each night. Speak with your doctor about any medical issues that can cause sleep problems, such as obstructive sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, frequent nighttime bathroom trips (often caused by an enlarged prostate), or joint pain.

Check your medication. Many prescription drugs and even some over-the-counter medical products can make you drowsy and less focused. Your pharmacist can review your medications for these side effects; then you can talk with your doctor about switching

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drugs or lowering doses if needed.

Watch the caffeine. Studies have shown caffeine can temporarily increase attention, but too much can make you jittery and anxious and distract your thinking. The FDA considers 400 milligrams per day -- the amount found in about four or five cups of coffee -- a safe level for healthy adults, but experiment to find out how much gives you a mental jolt without the jitter.

BE OPEN TO MINDFULNESS

improve focus. One exercise to try is open awareness. The goal is to keep your mind from wandering while doing routine and mundane tasks like eating, showering, cooking a meal, or household cleaning. Here’s how to do it: Bring your attention to the sensations in your body, both physical and emotional.

Breathe in through your nose, allowing the air to fill your lungs. Let your abdomen expand fully. Then breathe out slowly through your mouth.

Practicing mindfulness is another way to

Carry on with the task at hand, slowly and with deliberation.

Work in blocks of time. Find your ideal time frame for brain work. When you do routine mental activities, like reading a book passage, take note how much time has passed before your attention drifts.

Engage each of your senses, paying close attention to what you can see, hear, feel, smell, and taste.

Try «single-tasking,» bringing your attention as fully as possible to what you›re doing in a given moment.

If your mind wanders away from your current task, gently refocus your attention back on the sensation of the moment.

This article was originally published by Harvard Health.

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Photo Credit: Marcus Aurelius / Pexels

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Is Henry Kissinger Worthy of All this Praise?

By Saif Al-Abri

The Pinochet regime’s severe human rights violation is known to have caused a record 230,000 casualties.

Records show that Kissinger knew the fact and stated, «I think we should understand our policy - that however unpleasant they act, this government is better for us than Allende was « .

Henry Kissinger is one of the most celebrated statesmen whose ideas and influence still shape and impact modern American policy discussion.

A certain side often presents him as an ideal labelled as the ‘wizard of the western world’ by the British foreign policy office. The historian Barry Gewen best articulates this side of thought: “He is more than a figure out of history. He is a philosopher of international relations who has much to teach us about how the modern world works—and often doesn’t. His arguments for his brand of Realism— thinking in terms of national interest and a balance of power—offer the possibility of rationality, coherence, and a necessary long-term perspective at a time when all three of these qualities seem to be in short supply.”

Is Henry Kissinger worthy of all that praise and worthy of being given the Nobel Peace Prize and countless other medals? Well, actions speak louder than words, so let›s have a brief look at his track record. Firstly, let›s look at Chile; it is known that Kissinger was a prominent advocate of overthrowing the democratically elected Allende government and assisting in giving power to a dictator in Chile -Pinochet.

The Pinochet regime›s severe human rights violation is known to have caused a record 230,000 casualties.

Records show that Kissinger knew the fact and stated, «I think we should understand our policy - that however unpleasant they act, this government is better for us than Allende was”.

The reason for overthrowing Chile’s Salvador Allende is that if successful,

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he would have nationalised all-natural resources and imposed protectionist policies; this would serve as a contagious model for other countries in Latin America like Salvador, conflicting with USA›s interest Another major war crime was Kissinger and the Vietnam war. Tapes show that Kissinger transmitted to the USA army air force ‘A massive bombing campaign in Cambodia.

Anything that flies on anything that moves”. He and Richard Nixon steered the last six years of the war in which more than 800,000 people were killed, participating in what the Asia-Pacific Journal called, “one of the most heavily-bombarded countries in history”. Another is Kissinger’s 1971 backing of the Pakistan war against Bangladesh, even though the massacre and rape cases were pretty evident.

There are plenty of other acts of horrific violence in which you’ll find a role for Henry Kissinger. Oddly, he is often labelled as an intellectual, yet he was a servant of power whose only role was to turn the interest of the elite into actual policies, which is the complete opposite role of the intellectual who is supposed to challenge and keep power in check. To see Henry Kissinger still praised and present in meeting with presidential administrations and to read articles titled “It is time to ask what Kissinger would have done?” seem to demonstrate further the true nature of American foreign policy, which is extreme ‘self-interest’ dressed up with moral rhetoric.