country:panamá

GBC - Gibraltar News - GBC TV and Radio Gibraltar
▻https://www.gbc.gi/news/gib-authorities-and-royal-marines-board-and-detain-supertanker-en-route-syria

https://www.gbc.gi/uploads/news/mlq0Q_2004492.jpg

Gibraltar Port and Law Enforcement agencies, assisted by a detachmentof Royal Marines, boarded and detained a super tanker carrying crude oil to Syria in the early hours of Thursday morning.

This followed information giving the Gibraltar Government reasonable grounds to believe that the vessel, the Grace 1, was acting in breach of European Union sanctions against Syria.

The operation took place overnight as the giant vessel sailed into Gibraltar waters.

The Government says it has reason to believe that the Grace 1 was carrying its shipment of crude oil to the Banyas Refinery in Syria.The refinery is the property of an entity subject to European Union sanctions against Syria.

#piraterie #gibraltar reste un atout géopolitique

en arabe : ▻https://www.raialyoum.com/index.php/%d8%b3%d9%84%d8%b7%d8%a7%d8%aa-%d8%ac%d8%a8%d9%84-%d8%b7%d8%a7%d8%b1%d9%8
où il est précisé que le navire est sous pavillon de Panama et que le pétrole serait iranien.

View from Nowhere. Is it the press’s job to create a community that transcends borders?

A few years ago, on a plane somewhere between Singapore and Dubai, I read Benedict Anderson’s Imagined Communities (1983). I was traveling to report on the global market for passports—how the ultrawealthy can legally buy citizenship or residence virtually anywhere they like, even as 10 million stateless people languish, unrecognized by any country. In the process, I was trying to wrap my head around why national identity meant so much to so many, yet so little to my passport-peddling sources. Their world was the very image of Steve Bannon’s globalist nightmare: where you can never be too rich, too thin, or have too many passports.

Anderson didn’t address the sale of citizenship, which only took off in earnest in the past decade; he did argue that nations, nationalism, and nationality are about as organic as Cheez Whiz. The idea of a nation, he writes, is a capitalist chimera. It is a collective sense of identity processed, shelf-stabilized, and packaged before being disseminated, for a considerable profit, to a mass audience in the form of printed books, news, and stories. He calls this “print-capitalism.”

Per Anderson, after the printing press was invented, nearly 600 years ago, enterprising booksellers began publishing the Bible in local vernacular languages (as opposed to the elitist Latin), “set[ting] the stage for the modern nation” by allowing ordinary citizens to participate in the same conversations as the upper classes. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the proliferation (and popularity) of daily newspapers further collapsed time and space, creating an “extraordinary mass ceremony” of reading the same things at the same moment.

“An American will never meet, or even know the names of more than a handful of his 240,000,000–odd fellow Americans,” Anderson wrote. “He has no idea of what they are up to at any one time.” But with the knowledge that others are reading the same news, “he has complete confidence in their steady, anonymous, simultaneous activity.”

Should the press be playing a role in shaping not national identities, but transnational ones—a sense that we’re all in it together?

Of course, national presses enabled more explicit efforts by the state itself to shape identity. After the US entered World War I, for instance, President Woodrow Wilson set out to make Americans more patriotic through his US Committee on Public Information. Its efforts included roping influential mainstream journalists into advocating American-style democracy by presenting US involvement in the war in a positive light, or simply by referring to Germans as “Huns.” The committee also monitored papers produced by minorities to make sure they supported the war effort not as Indians, Italians, or Greeks, but as Americans. Five Irish-American papers were banned, and the German-American press, reacting to negative stereotypes, encouraged readers to buy US bonds to support the war effort.

The US media played an analogous role in selling the public on the 2003 invasion of Iraq. But ever since then, in the digital economy, its influence on the national consciousness has waned. Imagined Communities was published seven years before the fall of the Berlin Wall, twenty-two years before Thomas Friedman’s The World Is Flat, and a couple of decades before the internet upended print-capitalism as the world knew it (one of Anderson’s footnotes is telling, if quaint: “We still have no giant multinationals in the world of publishing”).

Since Trump—a self-described nationalist—became a real contender for the US presidency, many news organizations have taken to looking inward: consider the running obsession with the president’s tweets, for instance, or the nonstop White House palace intrigue (which the president invites readily).

Meanwhile, the unprofitability of local and regional papers has contributed to the erosion of civics, which, down the line, makes it easier for billionaires to opt out of old “imagined communities” and join new ones based on class and wealth, not citizenship. And given the challenges humanity faces—climate change, mass migration, corporate hegemony, and our relationships to new technologies—even if national papers did make everyone feel like they shared the same narrative, a renewed sense of national pride would prove impotent in fighting world-historic threats that know no borders.

Should the press, then, be playing an analogous role in shaping not national identities, but transnational ones—a sense that we’re all in it together? If it was so important in shaping national identity, can it do so on a global scale?

Like my passport-buying subjects, I am what Theresa May, the former British prime minister, might call a “citizen of nowhere.” I was born in one place to parents from another, grew up in a third, and have lived and traveled all over. That informs my perspective: I want deeply for there to be a truly cosmopolitan press corps, untethered from national allegiances, regional biases, class divisions, and the remnants of colonial exploitation. I know that’s utopian; the international working class is hardly a lucrative demographic against which publishers can sell ads. But we seem to be living in a time of considerable upheaval and opportunity. Just as the decline of religiously and imperially organized societies paved the way for national alternatives, then perhaps today there is a chance to transcend countries’ boundaries, too.

Does the US media help create a sense of national identity? If nationalism means putting the interests of one nation—and what its citizens are interested in—before more universal concerns, then yes. Most journalists working for American papers, websites, and TV write in English with a national audience (or regional time zone) in mind, which affects how we pitch, source, frame, and illustrate a story—which, in turn, influences our readers, their country’s politics, and, down the line, the world. But a news peg isn’t an ideological form of nationalism so much as a practical or methodological one. The US press feeds off of more pernicious nationalisms, too: Donald Trump’s false theory about Barack Obama being “secretly” Kenyan, disseminated by the likes of Fox and The Daily Caller, comes to mind.

That isn’t to say that global news outlets don’t exist in the US. When coaxing subscribers, the Financial Times, whose front page often includes references to a dozen different countries, openly appeals to their cosmopolitanism. “Be a global citizen. Become an FT Subscriber,” read a recent banner ad, alongside a collage featuring the American, Chinese, Japanese, Australian, and European Union flags (though stories like the recent “beginner’s guide to buying a private island” might tell us something about what kind of global citizen they’re appealing to).

“I don’t think we try to shape anyone’s identity at all,” Gillian Tett, the paper’s managing editor for the US, says. “We recognize two things: that the world is more interconnected today than it’s ever been, and that these connections are complex and quite opaque. We think it’s critical to try to illuminate them.”

For Tett, who has a PhD in social anthropology, money serves as a “neutral, technocratic” starting point through which to understand—and tie together—the world. “Most newspapers today tend to start with an interest in politics or events, and that inevitably leads you to succumb to tribalism, however hard you try [not to],” Tett explains. “If you look at the world through money—how is money going around the world, who’s making and losing it and why?—out of that you lead to political, cultural, foreign-policy stories.”

Tett’s comments again brought to mind Imagined Communities: Anderson notes that, in 18th-century Caracas, newspapers “began essentially as appendages of the market,” providing commercial news about ships coming in, commodity prices, and colonial appointments, as well as a proto–Vows section for the upper crust to hate-read in their carriages. “The newspaper of Caracas quite naturally, and even apolitically, created an imagined community among a specific assemblage of fellow-readers, to whom these ships, brides, bishops, and prices belonged,” he wrote. “In time, of course, it was only to be expected that political elements would enter in.”

Yesterday’s aristocracy is today’s passport-buying, globe-trotting one percent. The passport brokers I got to know also pitched clients with the very same promise of “global citizenship” (it sounds less louche than “buy a new passport”)—by taking out ads in the Financial Times. Theirs is exactly the kind of neoliberal “globalism” that nationalist politicians like Trump have won elections denouncing (often hypocritically) as wanting “the globe to do well, frankly, not caring about our country so much.” Isn’t upper-crust glibness about borders, boundaries, and the value of national citizenship part of what helped give us this reactionary nativism in the first place?

“I suspect what’s been going on with Brexit and maybe Trump and other populist movements [is that] people. . . see ‘global’ as a threat to local communities and businesses rather than something to be welcomed,” Tett says. “But if you’re an FT reader, you see it as benign or descriptive.”

Among the largest news organizations in the world is Reuters, with more than 3,000 journalists and photographers in 120 countries. It is part of Thomson Reuters, a truly global firm. Reuters does not take its mandate lightly: a friend who works there recently sent me a job posting for an editor in Gdynia, which, Google clarified for me, is a city in the Pomeranian Voivodeship of Poland.

Reuters journalists cover everything from club sports to international tax evasion. They’re outsourcing quick hits about corporate earnings to Bangalore, assembling teams on multiple continents to tackle a big investigation, shedding or shuffling staff under corporate reorganizations. Perhaps unsurprisingly, “more than half our business is serving financial customers,” Stephen Adler, the editor in chief, tells me. “That has little to do with what country you’re from. It’s about information: a central-bank action in Europe or Japan may be just as important as everything else.”

Institutionally, “it’s really important and useful that we don’t have one national HQ,” Adler adds. “That’s the difference between a global news organization and one with a foreign desk. For us, nothing is foreign.” That approach won Reuters this year’s international Pulitzer Prize for uncovering the mass murder of the Rohingya in Myanmar (two of the reporters were imprisoned as a result, and since freed); it also comes through especially sharply in daily financial stories: comprehensive, if dry, compendiums of who-what-where-when-why that recognize the global impact of national stories, and vice versa. A recent roundup of stock movements included references to the US Fed, China trade talks, Brexit, monetary policy around the world, and the price of gold.

Adler has led the newsroom since 2011, and a lot has changed in the world. (I worked at Reuters between 2011 and 2013, first as Adler’s researcher and later as a reporter; Adler is the chair of CJR’s board.) Shortly after Trump’s election, Adler wrote a memo affirming the organization’s commitment to being fair, honest, and resourceful. He now feels more strongly than ever about judiciously avoiding biases—including national ones. “Our ideology and discipline around putting personal feelings and nationality aside has been really helpful, because when you think about how powerful local feelings are—revolutions, the Arab Spring—we want you writing objectively and dispassionately.”

The delivery of stories in a casual, illustrated, highly readable form is in some ways more crucial to developing an audience than subject matter.

Whether global stories can push communities to develop transnationally in a meaningful way is a harder question to answer; it seems to impugn our collective aptitude for reacting to problems of a global nature in a rational way. Reuters’s decision not to fetishize Trump hasn’t led to a drop-off in US coverage—its reporters have been especially strong on immigration and trade policy, not to mention the effects of the new administration on the global economy—but its stories aren’t exactly clickbait, which means ordinary Americans might not encounter them at the top of their feed. In other words, having a global perspective doesn’t necessarily translate to more eyeballs.

What’s more, Reuters doesn’t solve the audience-class problem: whether readers are getting dispatches in partner newspapers like The New York Times or through the organization’s Eikon terminal, they tend to be the sort of person “who does transnational business, travels a good deal, is connected through work and media, has friends in different places, cares about what’s going on in different places,” Adler says. “That’s a pretty large cohort of people who have reason to care what’s going on in other places.”

There are ways to unite readers without centering coverage on money or the markets. For a generation of readers around the world, the common ground is technology: the internet. “We didn’t pick our audience,” Ben Smith, the editor in chief of BuzzFeed, tells me over the phone. “Our audience picked us.” He defines his readers as a cohort aged 18–35 “who are on the internet and who broadly care about human rights, global politics, and feminism and gay rights in particular.”

To serve them, BuzzFeed recently published a damning investigative report into the World Wildlife Fund’s arming of militias in natural reserves; a (not uncontroversial) series on Trump’s business dealings abroad; early exposés of China’s detention of Uighur citizens; and reports on child abuse in Australia. Climate—“the central challenge for every newsroom in the world”—has been harder to pin down. “We don’t feel anyone has cracked it. But the shift from abstract scientific [stories] to coverage of fires in California, it’s a huge change—it makes it more concrete,” Smith says. (My husband is a reporter for BuzzFeed.)

The delivery of these stories in a casual, illustrated, highly readable form is in some ways more crucial to developing an audience than subject matter. “The global political financial elites have had a common language ever since it was French,” Smith says. “There is now a universal language of internet culture, [and] that. . . is how our stuff translates so well between cultures and audiences.” This isn’t a form of digital Esperanto, Smith insists; the point isn’t to flatten the differences between countries or regions so much as to serve as a “container” in which people from different regions, interest groups, and cultures can consume media through references they all understand.

BuzzFeed might not be setting out to shape its readers’ identities (I certainly can’t claim to feel a special bond with other people who found out they were Phoebes from the quiz “Your Sushi Order Will Reveal Which ‘Friends’ Character You’re Most Like”). An audience defined by its youth and its media consumption habits can be difficult to keep up with: platforms come and go, and young people don’t stay young forever. But if Anderson’s thesis still carries water, there must be something to speaking this language across cultures, space, and time. Call it “Web vernacular.”

In 2013, during one of the many recent and lengthy US government shutdowns, Joshua Keating, a journalist at Slate, began a series, “If It Happened There,” that imagined how the American media would view the shutdown if it were occurring in another country. “The typical signs of state failure aren’t evident on the streets of this sleepy capital city,” Keating opens. “Beret-wearing colonels have not yet taken to the airwaves to declare martial law. . . .But the pleasant autumn weather disguises a government teetering on the brink.”

It goes on; you get the idea. Keating’s series, which was inspired by his having to read “many, many headlines from around the world” while working at Foreign Policy, is a clever journalistic illustration of what sociologists call “methodological nationalism”: the bias that gets inadvertently baked into work and words. In the Middle East, it’s sectarian or ethnic strife; in the Midwest, it’s a trigger-happy cop and a kid in a hoodie.

His send-ups hit a nerve. “It was huge—it was by far the most popular thing I’ve done at Slate,” Keating says. “I don’t think that it was a shocking realization to anyone that this kind of language can be a problem, but sometimes pointing it out can be helpful. If the series did anything, it made people stop and be conscious of how. . . our inherent biases and perspectives will inform how we cover the world.”

Curiously, living under an openly nationalist administration has changed the way America—or at the very least, a significant part of the American press corps—sees itself. The press is a de facto opposition party, not because it tries to be, but because the administration paints it that way. And that gives reporters the experience of working in a place much more hostile than the US without setting foot outside the country.

Keating has “semi-retired” the series as a result of the broad awareness among American reporters that it is, in fact, happening here. “It didn’t feel too novel to say [Trump was] acting like a foreign dictator,” he says. “That was what the real news coverage was doing.”

Keating, who traveled to Somaliland, Kurdistan, and Abkhazia to report his book Invisible Countries (2018), still thinks the fastest and most effective way to form an international perspective is to live abroad. At the same time, not being bound to a strong national identity “can make it hard to understand particular concerns of the people you’re writing about,” he says. It might be obvious, but there is no one perfect way to be internationally minded.

Alan Rusbridger—the former editor of The Guardian who oversaw the paper’s Edward Snowden coverage and is now the principal at Lady Margaret Hall, a college at Oxford University—recognizes the journalistic and even moral merits of approaching news in a non-national way: “I think of journalism as a public service, and I do think there’s a link between journalism at its best and the betterment of individual lives and societies,” he says. But he doesn’t have an easy formula for how to do that, because truly cosmopolitan journalism requires both top-down editorial philosophies—not using certain phrasings or framings that position foreigners as “others”—and bottom-up efforts by individual writers to read widely and be continuously aware of how their work might be read by people thousands of miles away.

Yes, the starting point is a nationally defined press, not a decentralized network, but working jointly helps pool scarce resources and challenge national or local biases.

Rusbridger sees potential in collaborations across newsrooms, countries, and continents. Yes, the starting point is a nationally defined press, not a decentralized network; but working jointly helps pool scarce resources and challenge national or local biases. It also wields power. “One of the reasons we reported Snowden with the Times in New York was to use global protections of human rights and free speech and be able to appeal to a global audience of readers and lawyers,” Rusbridger recalls. “We thought, ‘We’re pretty sure nation-states will come at us over this, and the only way to do it is harness ourselves to the US First Amendment not available to us anywhere else.’”

In employing these tactics, the press positions itself in opposition to the nation-state. The same strategy could be seen behind the rollout of the Panama and Paradise Papers (not to mention the aggressive tax dodging detailed therein). “I think journalists and activists and citizens on the progressive wing of politics are thinking creatively about how global forces can work to their advantage,” Rusbridger says.

But he thinks it all starts locally, with correspondents who have fluency in the language, culture, and politics of the places they cover, people who are members of the communities they write about. That isn’t a traditional foreign-correspondent experience (nor indeed that of UN employees, NGO workers, or other expats). The silver lining of publishing companies’ shrinking budgets might be that cost cutting pushes newsrooms to draw from local talent, rather than send established writers around. What you gain—a cosmopolitanism that works from the bottom up—can help dispel accusations of media elitism. That’s the first step to creating new imagined communities.

Anderson’s work has inspired many an academic, but media executives? Not so much. Rob Wijnberg is an exception: he founded the (now beleaguered) Correspondent in the Netherlands in 2013 with Anderson’s ideas in mind. In fact, when we speak, he brings the name up unprompted.

“You have to transcend this notion that you can understand the world through the national point of view,” he says. “The question is, What replacement do we have for it? Simply saying we have to transcend borders or have an international view isn’t enough, because you have to replace the imagined community you’re leaving behind with another one.”

For Wijnberg, who was a philosophy student before he became a journalist, this meant radically reinventing the very structures of the news business: avoiding covering “current events” just because they happened, and thinking instead of what we might call eventful currents—the political, social, and economic developments that affect us all. It meant decoupling reporting from national news cycles, and getting readers to become paying “members” instead of relying on advertisements.

This, he hoped, would help create a readership not based on wealth, class, nationality, or location, but on borderless, universal concerns. “We try to see our members. . . as part of a group or knowledge community, where the thing they share is the knowledge they have about a specific structural subject matter,” be it climate, inequality, or migration, Wijnberg says. “I think democracy and politics answers more to media than the other way around, so if you change the way media covers the world you change a lot.”

That approach worked well in the Netherlands: his team raised 1.7 million euros in 2013, and grew to include 60,000 members. A few years later, Wijnberg and his colleagues decided to expand into the US, and with the help of NYU’s Jay Rosen, an early supporter, they made it onto Trevor Noah’s Daily Show to pitch their idea.

The Correspondent raised more than $2.5 million from nearly 50,000 members—a great success, by any measure. But in March, things started to get hairy, with the publication abruptly pulling the plug on opening a US newsroom and announcing that staff would edit stories reported from the US from the original Amsterdam office instead. Many of the reasons behind this are mundane: visas, high rent, relocation costs. And reporters would still be reporting from, and on, the States. But supporters felt blindsided, calling the operation a scam.

Today, Wijnberg reflects that he should have controlled the messaging better, and not promised to hire and operate from New York until he was certain that he could. He also wonders why it matters.

“It’s not saying people who think it matters are wrong,” he explains. “But if the whole idea of this kind of geography and why it’s there is a construct, and you’re trying to think about transcending it, the very notion of Where are you based? is secondary. The whole point is not to be based anywhere.”

Still: “The view from everywhere—the natural opposite—is just as real,” Wijnberg concedes. “You can’t be everywhere. You have to be somewhere.”

And that’s the rub: for all of nationalism’s ills, it does instill in its subjects what Anderson calls a “deep, horizontal comradeship” that, while imagined, blossoms thanks to a confluence of forces. It can’t be replicated supranationally overnight. The challenge for a cosmopolitan journalism, then, is to dream up new forms of belonging that look forward, not backward—without discarding the imagined communities we have.

That’s hard; so hard that it more frequently provokes a retrenchment, not an expansion, of solidarity. But it’s not impossible. And our collective futures almost certainly depend on it.

▻https://www.cjr.org/special_report/view-from-nowhere.php
#journalisme #nationalisme #Etat-nation #communauté_nationale #communauté_internationale #frontières #presse #médias

Vous avez entendu parler de ces compagnies israéliennes régulièrement montrées du doigt parce que participant à l’espionnage ou au piégeage d’appareils électroniques à des fins politiques.

L’une d’entre elles est NSO, pour le logiciel Pegasus, lié à l’assassinat de Jamal Khashoggi et à l’espionnage d’Amnesty International, mais aussi à d’autres saloperies au Mexique, au Panama etc.

On trouve parmi les actionnaires principaux de NSO, le couple formé du Britannique Stephen Peel et de sa femme, la Canadienne Yana Peel. Lui était membre du conseil d’administration de Global Witness, une organisation de défense des droits humains (!), et elle était la présidente du conseil d’administration d’une grande galerie d’art internationale, Serpentine Galleries.

Dénoncé par des militants, il a du démissionner en février dernier. Quant à elle, le Guardian ayant rendu ces fait publiquement la semaine dernière, elle a également été poussée à la démission.

Stephen Peel has stepped down as a member of the Global Witness Board
Global Witness, le 18 février 2019
▻https://www.globalwitness.org/en/press-releases/stephen-peel-has-stepped-down-member-global-witness-board

UK rights advocate co-owns firm whose spyware is ’used to target dissidents’
Jon Swaine et Stephanie Kirchgaessner, The Guardian, le 14 juin 2019
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/787319

Serpentine Galleries Chief Quits, With Harsh Words for Activist Artists
Alex Marshall, The New-York Times, le 18 juin
▻https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/18/arts/design/serpentine-galleries-ceo-resigns.html

#Palestine #israel #NSO #Pegasus #surveillance #Jamal_Khashoggi #Stephen_Peel #Yana_Peel #Global_Witness #Serpentine

Oman attack: Iran is the immediate, but unlikely, suspect - Iran - Haaretz.com

Oman attack: Iran is the immediate, but unlikely, suspect
U.S. officials rushed to point to Tehran, but somehow the world’s leading intelligence services failed to discover who is actually behind the strike. And even if they knew, what could be done without risking all-out war?
Zvi Bar’el | Jun. 14, 2019 | 8:36 AM | 3
▻https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/iran/.premium-oman-attack-iran-is-the-immediate-but-unlikely-suspect-1.7368134

https://www.haaretz.com/polopoly_fs/1.7368151.1560467486!/image/2520102874.jpg_gen/derivatives/headline_1200x630/2520102874.jpg

Who, then, struck the tankers? Whom does this strike serve and what can be done against such attacks?

In all previous attacks in the Gulf in recent weeks Iran was naturally taken to be the immediate suspect. After all, Iran had threatened that if it could now sell its oil in the Gulf, other countries would not be able to ship oil through it; Tehran threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz, and in any case it’s in the sights of the United States, Saudi Arabia and Israel. But this explanation is too easy.

The Iranian regime is in the thrones of a major diplomatic struggle to persuade Europe and its allies, Russia and China, not to take the path of pulling out of the 2015 nuclear agreement. At the same time, Iran is sure that the United States is only looking for an excuse to attack it. Any violent initiative on Tehran’s part could only make things worse and bring it close to a military conflict, which it must avoid.

Iran has announced it would scale back its commitments under the nuclear deal by expanding its low-level uranium enrichment and not transferring the remainder of its enriched uranium and heavy water to another country, as the agreement requires. The International Atomic Energy Agency’s reports reveal that it has indeed stepped up enrichment, but not in a way that could support a military nuclear program.

It seems that alongside its diplomatic efforts, Iran prefers to threaten to harm the nuclear deal itself, responding to Washington with the same token, rather than escalate the situation to a military clash.

Other possible suspects are the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, who continue to pound Saudi targets with medium-range missiles, as was the case last week with strikes on the Abha and Jizan airports, near the Yemeni border, which wounded 26 people. The Houthis have also fired missiles at Riyadh and hit targets in the Gulf. In response, Saudi Arabia launched a massive missile strike on Houthi-controlled areas in northern Yemen.

The strike on the oil tankers may have been a response to the response, but if this is the case, it goes against Iran’s policy, which seeks to neutralize any pretexts for a military clash in the Gulf. The question, therefore, is whether Iran has full control over all the actions the Houthis take, and whether the aid it gives them commits them fully to its policies, or whether they see assaults on Saudi targets as a separate, local battle, cut off from Iran’s considerations.

The Houthis have claimed responsibility for some of their actions in Saudi territory in the past, and at times even took the trouble of explaining the reasons behind this assault or the other. But not this time.

Yemen also hosts large Al-Qaida cells and Islamic State outposts, with both groups having a running account with Saudi Arabia and apparently the capabilities to carry out strikes on vessels moving through the Gulf.

In the absence of confirmed and reliable information on the source of the fire, we may meanwhile discount the possibility of a Saudi or American provocation at which Iran has hinted, but such things have happened before. However, we may also wonder why some of the most sophisticated intelligence services in the world are having so much trouble discovering who actually carried out these attacks.

Thwarting such attacks with no precise intelligence is an almost impossible task, but even if the identity of those responsible for it is known, the question of how to respond to the threat would still arise.

If it turns out that Iran initiated or even carried out these attacks, American and Saudi military forces could attack its Revolutionary Guards’ marine bases along the Gulf coast, block Iranian shipping in the Gulf and persuade European countries to withdraw from the nuclear deal, claiming that continuing relations with Iran would mean supporting terrorism in general, and maritime terrorism in particular.

The concern is that such a military response would lead Iran to escalate its own and openly strike American and Saudi targets in the name of self-defense and protecting its sovereignty. In that case, a large-scale war would be inevitable. But there’s no certainty that U.S. President Donald Trump, who wants to extricate his forces from military involvement in the Middle East, truly seeks such a conflict, which could suck more and more American forces into this sensitive arena.

An escape route from this scenario would require intensive mediation efforts between Iran and the United States, but therein lies one major difficulty – finding an authoritative mediator that could pressure both parties. Russia or China are not suitable candidates, and ties between Washington and the European Union are acrimonious.

It seems that all sides would be satisfied if they could place responsibility for the attacks on the Houthis or other terror groups. That is not to say that the United States or Saudi Arabia have any magic solutions when it comes to the Houthis; far from it. The war in Yemen has been going on for five years now with no military resolution, and increased bombardment of concentrations of Houthi forces could only expand their efforts to show their strength. But the United States would pay none of the diplomatic or military price for assaults on the Houthis it would for a forceful violent response against Iran itself.

If sporadic, small-scale attacks raise such complex dilemmas, one can perhaps dream of an all-out war with Iran, but it is enough to look at the chaos in Iraq and Afghanistan to grow extremely cautious of the trajectory in which such dreams become a nightmare that lasts for decades.❞
#Oman #Iran
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/786937

UK maritime group warns of incident in the Gulf of Oman | News | Al Jazeera
▻https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/06/uk-maritime-group-warns-incident-gulf-oman-190613054602630.html

A United Kingdom maritime safety group is warning that an unspecified incident has taken place in the Gulf of Oman and is urging “extreme caution” amid heightened United States-Iran tensions.

The UK’s Maritime Trade Operations, which is run by the British navy, put out the alert early on Thursday. It did not elaborate further, but said it was investigating the incident.

Joshua Frey, a spokesman for the US Navy’s Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, said his command was “aware” of a reported incident in the area.

“We are working on getting details,” Frey told The Associated Press.

Iranian media reported, without offering any evidence, that there had been an explosion in the area targeting oil tankers.

U.S. is using unreliable dental exams to hold teen migrants in adult detention

https://www.latimes.com/resizer/tULt3wHPviEFLV-Bct_SHtHFH6k=/800x0/www.trbimg.com/img-5cdb2872/turbine/la-1557866603-vkc7o08sxl-snap-image#.jpg

The young Bangladeshi sitting in the dentist’s chair last October thought he was getting checked for diseases.

Dental staff examined his teeth, gave him a cleaning and sent him back to the juvenile facility where he had been held for months since illegally crossing the border in July.

But a checkup wasn’t the real purpose of the dental work. The government wanted to figure out if “I.J.,” as the young migrant has been identified, really was 16, as he said, or an adult.

The use of dental exams to help determine the age of migrants increased sharply in the last year, one aspect of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration and illegal border crossings.

The accuracy of forensic testing to help determine the age of migrants is very much a subject of the debate. And with the stakes so high, the exams are becoming another legal battleground for the government.

Federal law prohibits the government from relying exclusively on forensic testing of bones and teeth to determine age. But a review of court records shows that in at least three cases – including I.J.’s – the government did just that, causing federal judges to later order the minors released from adult detention.

In a case last year, a Guatemalan migrant was held in adult detention for nearly a year after a dental exam showed he was likely 18, until his attorneys fought to get his birth certificate, which proved he was 17.

For I.J., the results had serious ramifications. Based on the development of his teeth, the analysis showed an 87.70% probability that he had turned 18.

An immigration official reported that it was apparent to the case manager that I.J. “appeared physically older than 17 years of age,” and that he and his mother had not been able to provide a second type of identification that might prove his age.

The next month, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents took him away in shackles and placed him in a medium-security prison that houses immigrant detainees.

He spent about five months in adult detention and 24 of those days in segregated custody. Whenever he spoke with an officer, he would say he was a minor — unaware for more than a month that his teeth had landed him there.

“I came to the United States with a big dream,” I.J. said. “My dream was finished.”

But when the Arizona-based Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project took I.J.’s case to federal court, a district judge found that the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s age re-determination violated federal law and the agency’s own guidelines.

In April, the judge ordered I.J. released back into Office of Refugee Resettlement custody, a program responsible for unaccompanied migrant children. He has since reunited with his family in New York. The Florence Project also filed another case in federal court that resulted in the government voluntarily returning a Bangladeshi minor to ORR custody and rescinding his age re-determination.

As the government grappled with an influx of the number of families and children arriving at the border in fiscal year 2018, approvals of ORR age determination exams more than doubled.

https://i.imgur.com/jnIVX9C.png

These handful of cases where a minor was released from adult detention is almost certainly an undercount, as most migrants held in adult detention do not have legal representation and are unlikely to fight their cases.

It is unclear how often migrants pretend to be minors and turn out to be adults. In a call with reporters earlier this year, a Customs and Border Protection official said that from April 2018 to March 25 of this year, his agents had identified more than 3,100 individuals in family units making fraudulent claims, including those who misrepresented themselves as minors.

Unaccompanied minors are given greater protections than adults after being apprehended. The government’s standard refers migrants to adult custody if a dental exam analysis shows at least a 75% probability that they are 18 or older. But other evidence is supposed to be considered.

Dr. David Senn, the director of the Center for Education and Research in Forensics at UT Health San Antonio, has handled more than 2,000 age cases since 1998.

A program that Senn helped develop estimates the mean age of a person and the probability that he or she is at least 18. In addition to looking at dental X-rays, he has also looked at skeletal X-rays and analyzed bone development in the hand and wrist area.

He handled a larger number of cases in the early 2000s, but last year he saw his caseload triple — rising to 168. There appears to be a slowdown this calendar year for Senn, one of a few dentists the government uses for these analyses.

He said making an exact age determination is not possible.

“We can only tell you what the statistics say,” Senn said. “I think the really important thing to note is that most people who do this work are not trying to be policemen or to be Border Patrol agents or immigration …. what we’re trying to do is help. What we’re trying to do is protect children.”

In 2007 and again in 2008, the House Appropriations Committee called on the Department of Homeland Security to stop relying on forensic testing of bones and teeth. But it was the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 that declared age determinations should take into account “multiple forms of evidence, including the non-exclusive use of radiographs.”

In a Washington state case, an X-ray analysis by Senn showed a 92.55% probability that Bilal, a Somali migrant, already had reached 18 years of age. ICE removed him from his foster home and held him in an adult detention center.

“Not only were they trying to save themselves money, which they paid to the foster family, but they were wrecking this kid’s life,” said Matt Adams, legal director for the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, which represented Bilal. “They were just rolling the dice.”

In 2016, a federal judge found that the Office of Refugee Resettlement relied exclusively on the dental exam and overturned the age determination for the young Somali.

Last year, in the case of an Eritrean migrant who said he was 17, Senn’s analysis of dental X-rays showed a 92.55% probability that he had turned 18, and provided a range of possible ages between 17.10 and 23.70.

https://i.imgur.com/wPjRrXj.png

It was enough to prompt his removal from a juvenile facility and placement into an adult one.

Again, a district judge found that the government had relied exclusively on the dental exam to determine his age and ordered the migrant released back into ORR custody.

Danielle Bennett, an ICE spokeswoman, said the agency “does not track” information on such reversals.

“We should never be used as the only method to determine age,” Senn said. “If those agencies are not following their own rules, they should have their feet held to the fire.”

Similar concerns over medical age assessments have sprung up in other countries, including the United Kingdom and Sweden.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ guidance about how adolescent migrants’ ages should be analyzed says that if countries use scientific procedures to determine age, that they should allow for margins of error. Michael Bochenek, an attorney specializing in children’s rights at Human Rights Watch, said that for adolescents, the margin of error in scientific tests is “so big that it doesn’t tell you anything.”

An influx of Bangladeshi migrants claiming to be minors has contributed to the government’s recent use of dental exams. From October through March 8, more than 150 Bangladeshis who claimed to be minors and were determined to be adults were transferred from the Office of Refugee Resettlement to ICE custody, according to the agency.

In fiscal year 2018, Border Patrol apprehensions of Bangladeshi migrants went up 109% over the year before, rising to 1,203. Similarly, the number of Bangladeshi minors in ORR custody increased about 221% between fiscal 2017 and fiscal 2018, reaching 392.

Ali Riaz, a professor at Illinois State University, said Bangladeshis are leaving the country for reasons including high population density, high unemployment among the young, a deteriorating political environment and the “quest for a better life.”

In October, Myriam Hillin, an ORR federal field specialist, was told that ICE had information showing that a number of Bangladeshi migrants in their custody claiming to be underage had passports with different birth dates than on their birth certificates.

Bochenek said it’s common for migrant children to travel with fake passports that make them appear older, because in some countries minors are more likely to be intercepted or questioned by immigration agents.

While I.J. was able to regain status as a minor, three Bangladeshi migrants who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally in the San Diego area in October 2018 are still trying to convince the government they are underage.

Their passports didn’t match their birth certificates. Dental exams ordered by immigration officials found that each of them had about an 89% likelihood of being adults.

“Both subjects were adamant that the passports were given to them by the ‘agent’ (smuggler), however, there is little reason to lie to any of the countries they flew into,” wrote one Border Patrol agent, describing the arrest of two of the migrants. “Also, it is extremely difficult to fake a passport, especially for no reason. I have seen [unaccompanied children] fly into each of the countries (except for Panama and Costa Rica) and pass through with no problem. This is a recent trend with Bangladeshis. They do it in order to be released from DHS custody faster.”

During interviews, the young migrants, Shahadat, Shahriar and Tareq, told asylum officers that smugglers had given them the passports, according to records from the interviews.

When asked why they had been given those birth dates, they said it had something to do with smugglers’ plans for their travel.

“I don’t have that much idea,” Shahadat told an asylum officer, according to the officer’s notes in a summary-style transcript. “When I asked why, they told me that if I don’t give this [date of birth] there will be problems with travel.”

Shahriar told the officer that the smuggler became aggressive when questioned.

The migrants have submitted copies of birth certificates, school documents and signed statements from their parents attesting to their claimed birth dates. An online database of birth records maintained by the government of Bangladesh appears to confirm their date of birth claims.

Shahriar also provided his parents’ birth certificates. If he were as old as immigration officials believe him to be, his mother would have been 12 years old when she had him.

In each case, immigration officials stood by the passport dates.

Shahadat and Shahriar are being held in Otay Mesa Detention Center. Tareq was held at the facility for months before being released on a $7,500 bond. All three are moving through the immigration system as adults, with asylum proceedings their only option to stay in the U.S..

At least one of the migrants, Shahadat, was placed in administrative segregation, a version of solitary confinement in immigration detention, when his age came into question, according to documents provided by their attorney.

A judge ordered him deported.

▻https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-immigrant-age-migrants-ice-dental-teeth-bangladesh-20190602-story.
#tests_osseux #os #âge #USA #Etats-Unis #mineurs #enfants #enfance #rétention #détention_administrative #dents #migrations #asile #réfugiés #USA #Etats-Unis

Chinese Surveillance Complex Advancing in Latin America

In February, 2019, in a story that went almost unnoticed in Washington, the small South American nation of #Uruguay began installing the first of 2,100 surveillance cameras, donated by the People’s Republic of China to improve control of its borders with neighboring Argentina and Brazil.

The move highlights the significant deepening of the Uruguay-PRC relationship over the last decade, including their establishment of a “Strategic Partnership” in October 2016, and the signing of a memorandum of understanding in August 2018 for Uruguay to join China’s Belt and Road initiative (despite being about as far from the PRC as is geographically possible).

Beyond Uruguay, the development also highlights a little-discussed but important dimension of China’s advance: its expanding global sales of surveillance and control technologies. Although the press and U.S. political leadership have given significant attention to the risks of employing Chinese telecommunications companies such as Huawei the equally serious but newer issue of expanding sales of Chinese surveillance systems has been less discussed.

The installation of Chinese surveillance systems, acquired through PRC government donations or commercial contracts, is a growing phenomenon in Latin America and elsewhere.

Such systems began to appear in the region more than a decade ago, including in 2007, when then mayor of Mexico City (now Mexican Foreign Minister) Miguel Ebrard returned from a trip to the PRC with a deal to install thousands of Chinese cameras to combat crime in the Mexican capital. More recent examples include ECU-911 in Ecuador, a China-built national system of surveillance and communication initially agreed to by the administration of anti-U.S. populist president Rafael Correa. The system, which has expanded to currently include 4,300 cameras and a command center manned by thousands of Ecuadorans, has been built almost completely from Chinese equipment, designed for a range of otherwise noble purposes from emergency response and combatting crime, to monitoring volcanoes. Bolivia boasts a similar Chinese built system, albeit more limited in scope, BOL-110, in addition to hundreds of surveillance cameras donated by the PRC to at least four of Bolivia’s principal cities.

In Panama, which abandoned Taiwan to establish relations with the PRC in 2017, the government of Juan Carlos Varela has agreed to allow Huawei to install a system of cameras in the crime-ridden city of Colon and the associated free trade zone. Not by coincidence, in July 2019, Hikivision, China’s largest producer of surveillance cameras, announced plans to set up a major distribution center in Colon to support sales of its products throughout the Americas.

In northern Argentina, near where the Chinese are developing a lithium mining operation and constructing the hemisphere’s largest array of photovoltaic cells for electricity generation, the Chinese company ZTE is installing another “911” style emergency response system with 1,200 cameras.

In Venezuela, although not a surveillance system per se, the Chinese company ZTE has helped the regime of Nicholas Maduro implement a “fatherland identity card” linking different kinds of data on individuals through an identity card which allows the state to confer privileges (such as rationing food) as a tool for social control.

As with sectors such as computers and telecommunications, the PRC arguably wishes to support the global export of such systems by its companies to advance technologies it recognizes as strategic for the Chinese nation, per its own official policy documents such as Made In China 2025.

The risks arising from spreading use of Chinese surveillance equipment and architectures are multiple and significant, involving: (1) the sensitivity of the data collected on specific persons and activities, particularly when processed through technologies such as facial recognition, integrated with other data, and analyzed through artificial intelligence (AI) and other sophisticated algorithms, (2) the potential ability to surreptitiously obtain access to that data, not only through the collection devices, but at any number of points as it is communicated, stored, and analyzed, and (3) the long-term potential for such systems to contribute to the sustainment of authoritarian regimes (such as those in Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba, and formerly Ecuador) whose corrupt elites provide strategic access and commercial benefits to the Chinese state.

The risk posed by such Chinese architectures is underestimated by simply focusing on the cameras and sensors themselves.

Facial and other recognition technologies, and the ability to integrate data from different sensors and other sources such as smartphones enables those with access to the technology to follow the movement of individual human beings and events, with frightening implications. It includes the ability to potentially track key political and business elites, dissidents, or other persons of interest, flagging possible meetings between two or more, and the associated implications involving political or business meetings and the events that they may produce. Flows of goods or other activities around government buildings, factories, or other sites of interest may provide other types of information for political or commercial advantage, from winning bids to blackmailing compromised persons.

While some may take assurance that the cameras and other components are safely guarded by benevolent governments or companies, the dispersed nature of the architectures, passing information, instructions, and analysis across great distances, means that the greatest risk is not physical access to the cameras, but the diversion of information throughout the process, particularly by those who built the components, databases and communication systems, and by those who wrote the algorithms (increasingly Chinese across the board).

With respect to the political impact of such systems, while democratic governments may install them for noble purposes such as crimefighting and emergency response, and with limitations that respect individual privacy, authoritarian regimes who contract the Chinese for such technologies are not so limited, and have every incentive to use the technology to combat dissent and sustain themselves in power.

The PRC, which continues to perfect it against its own population in places like Xinjiang (against the Uighur Muslims there), not only benefits commercially from selling the technology, but also benefits when allied dictatorships provide a testing ground for product development, and by using it to combat the opposition, keeping friends like Maduro in power, continuing to deliver the goods and access to Beijing.

As with the debate over Huawei, whether or not Chinese companies are currently exploiting the surveillance and control systems they are deploying across Latin America to benefit the Chinese state, Chinese law (under which they operate) requires them to do so, if the PRC government so demands.

The PRC record of systematic espionage, forced technology transfer, and other bad behavior should leave no one in Latin America comfortable that the PRC will not, at some point in the future, exploit such an enormous opportunity.

▻https://www.newsmax.com/evanellis/china-surveillance-latin-america-cameras/2019/04/12/id/911484

#Amérique_latine #Chine #surveillance #frontières #contrôles_frontaliers #Argentine #Brésil
ping @reka

Le professeur de sciences politiques de l’Académie navale d’Annapolis : quel que soit le plan pour virer Maduro, il faut se préoccuper du lendemain.

• Une intervention militaire est peu probable car il y a un large consensus pour considérer que son coût serait prohibitif en vies humaines, en argent et [surtout !…] en terme de base électorale.

• Une intervention militaire coûte toujours plus cher que prévu. De plus, si elle peut conduire à une amélioration de la situation, elle peut aussi déboucher sur l’anarchie.

• Le Venezuela est la lanterne rouge du continent en ce qui concerne l’état des institutions, des droits humains et abus de la force [la situation qu’il décrit – guérillero, paramilitaires, bandes criminelles – s’applique pourtant aussi bien, voire mieux, à la Colombie voisine].

• Les événements du 30 avril (tentative de coup) montrent les divisions internes au sein du pouvoir [ce qui ne me semble pas du tout évident].

• Au moins, É.-U. et Russie se parlent.

“Cualquier plan para sacar a Maduro tiene que considerar el día después”
▻http://www.el-nacional.com/noticias/politica/cualquier-plan-para-sacar-maduro-tiene-que-considerar-dia-despues_28227

http://en-cdnmed.agilecontent.com//resources/jpg/1/3/1557860402931.jpg

“En la coyuntura actual es difícil imaginar una intervención militar”, señaló John Polga-Hecimovich, profesor del Departamento de Ciencias Políticas de la Academia Naval de Estados Unidos y analista interesado en las instituciones políticas y la gobernabilidad y estabilidad democrática de América Latina.

“Las voces en el gobierno de Donald Trump que apoyan una estrategia intervencionista en Venezuela son pocas. Más bien hay un consenso relativamente amplio entre los políticos y sus asesores de que una intervención militar podría incurrir en costos significativos para Estados Unidos en términos de vidas humanas, dinero y apoyo electoral para el presidente”, indicó.

Afirmó que dada la situación desesperante en Venezuela y la supervivencia de Nicolás Maduro en la presidencia, es entendible que muchos venezolanos esperen una intervención armada para liberar el país al estilo de Panamá en 1989: “Las posibilidades para una maniobra así son mínimas. El Grupo de Lima reiteró la semana pasada que no apoya ninguna intervención militar en Venezuela y los países vecinos se han opuesto a esta estrategia”.

Explicó que una intervención armada podría empeorar la situación ya crítica que viven los venezolanos. “Esto se debe al hecho de que cualquier intervención militar suele ser más costosa en realidad que en teoría y en parte porque la reconstrucción después de una intervención extranjera es un esfuerzo largo y agotador. Mientras tiene la posibilidad de mejorar la situación, también podría resultar en la anarquía”, observó.

Detalló que en una hipotética invasión Estados Unidos podría desplegar sus fuerzas militares en un ataque de precisión o una invasión a gran escala: “Cualquiera de las dos opciones probablemente sacaría exitosamente del poder a Maduro; el problema, sin embargo, es lo que implica para el día después”.

Polga-Hecimovich aseguró que Venezuela es el país de las Américas con peor institucionalidad, Estado de Derecho y abuso de la fuerza, debido a la presencia de guerrilleros, paramilitares y bandas criminales.

“Debido a la débil institucionalidad, el país requeriría un proyecto sostenido de fortalecimiento institucional para lograr la estabilidad. Esto sugiere que cualquier intervención militar probablemente termine con una ocupación prolongada. La situación de Venezuela es grave, pero cualquier plan para sacar a Maduro tiene que considerar lo que viene después”, destacó.

Advirtió que los acontecimientos del 30 de abril “muestran que hay divisiones en el círculo de Maduro y que existen espacios de negociación”.

Indicó que la crisis no es solo internacional, sino que la solución política y económica requiere implicar a otros países. “El hecho de que Rusia y Estados Unidos estén hablando significa que los dos están dispuestos a considerar soluciones diplomáticas”, dijo.

Tiens, Trump se pose des questions sur le #Venezuela, au moins sur la stratégie suivie jusque là, avec le succès que l’on sait…

A frustrated Trump questions his administration’s Venezuela strategy - The Washington Post
▻https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/a-frustrated-trump-questions-his-administrations-venezuela-strategy/2019/05/08/ad51561a-71a7-11e9-9f06-5fc2ee80027a_story.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/resizer/tDi4kLFuUNEIkZRz0dXBVAqoFgs=/1484x0/arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/F6FBWJDMGII6TO7HDR4Y7OAFGY.jpg

President Trump is questioning his administration’s aggressive strategy in Venezuela following the failure of a U.S.-backed effort to oust President Nicolás Maduro, complaining he was misled about how easy it would be to replace the socialist strongman with a young opposition figure, according to administration officials and White House advisers.

The president’s dissatisfaction has crystallized around national security adviser John Bolton and what Trump has groused is an interventionist stance at odds with his view that the United States should stay out of foreign quagmires.

Trump has said in recent days that Bolton wants to get him “into a war” — a comment that he has made in jest in the past but that now betrays his more serious concerns, one senior administration official said.

The administration’s policy is officially unchanged in the wake of a fizzled power play last week by U.S.-backed opposition leader Juan Guaidó. But U.S. officials have since been more cautious in their predictions of Maduro’s swift exit, while reassessing what one official described as the likelihood of a diplomatic “long haul.”

U.S. officials point to the president’s sustained commitment to the Venezuela issue, from the first weeks of his presidency as evidence that he holds a realistic view of the challenges there and does not think there is a quick fix.

But Trump has nonetheless complained over the past week that Bolton and others underestimated Maduro, according to three senior administration officials who like others interviewed for this story spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.

Opposition leader Juan Guaidó called on Venezuelans to protest April 30 and urged the military to “keep advancing” in efforts to oust President Nicolás Maduro. (Reuters)
Trump has said that Maduro is a “tough cookie” and that aides should not have led him to believe that the Venezuelan leader could be ousted last week, when Guaidó led mass street protests that turned deadly.

Mike Pompeo : Melting sea ice presents ’new opportunities for trade’ - CNNPolitics
▻https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/06/politics/pompeo-sea-ice-arctic-council/index.html

https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/190114180840-01-pompeo-oman-0114-super-tease.jpg

Pour Washington, la fonte de l’#Arctique représente « de nouvelles opportunités commerciales »
▻https://www.ulyces.co/news/pour-washington-la-fonte-de-larctique-represente-de-nouvelles-opportunites-co

https://www.ulyces.co/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/ice.jpg

Alors même que les aver­tis­se­ments sur les effets catas­tro­phiques du réchauf­fe­ment clima­tique n’ont jamais été aussi pres­sants, le secré­taire d’État améri­cain Mike Pompeo s’est permis une sortie aber­rante lors d’un discours prononcé lundi 6 mai 2019 à Rova­niemi, en Finlande. Il s’est réjoui des « nouvelles oppor­tu­ni­tés commer­ciales » qu’offre la fonte des glaces de la région arctique, rapporte CNN. Il a égale­ment assuré que le président Donald Trump était « déter­miné à exploi­ter les ressources de manière écolo­gique­ment respon­sable ».

Le secré­taire d’État a expliqué que la dispa­ri­tion de la glace pour­rait réduire de vingt jours le temps néces­saire pour voya­ger d’Est en Ouest. « Les voies mari­times de l’Arc­tique pour­raient deve­nir les canaux de Suez et de Panama du XXIe siècle », a souli­gné Pompeo. « L’Arc­tique est à la pointe des oppor­tu­ni­tés et de l’abon­dance car [cette région] contient 13 % du pétrole non décou­vert dans le monde, 30 % de son gaz non décou­vert, une abon­dance d’ura­nium, de miné­raux de terres rares, d’or, de diamants, et des millions de km² de ressources inex­ploi­tées et de pêche à profu­sion. »

#climat #etats-unis

Venezuela : peu d’informations sur les événements en cours.
Point à 14h30 (20h30 à Paris) : regroupements, utilisation de lacrymogène, un véhicule blindé a renversé des opposants, ailleurs (Puerto Ordaz) les véhicules auraient été éloignés des manifestants,…

Los acontecimientos más relevantes de este 30 de abril en Venezuela
▻http://www.el-nacional.com/noticias/politica/los-acontecimientos-mas-relevantes-este-abril-venezuela_280996

http://en-cdnmed.agilecontent.com//resources/jpg/4/4/1556636087944.jpg

Este martes el presidente interino de Venezuela, Juan Guaidó, hizo un llamado a materializar el cese de la usurpación. Guaidó se dirigió a la ciudadanía desde la Base Aérea La Carlota, donde anunció el alzamiento militar de los funcionarios de ese sitio y el respaldo a la causa opositora. 

Guaidó: “El cese de la usurpación es irreversible”
En la base militar también estuvo el dirigente opositor Leopoldo López, preso por motivos políticos desde el 18 de febrero del año 2014. 

El dirigente opositor aseguró que el grupo de políticos y militares que se alzó en esta misma jornada contra Nicolás Maduro ha mantenido comunicación con altos cargos del gobierno chavista.

López burló la condena de más de 14 años de cárcel que pagaba en su domicilio y se trasladó hasta la Base Aérea militar de La Carlota, en el este de Caracas, para acompañar al jefe del Parlamento, Juan Guaidó, quien junto con una centena de militares que se pronunciaron pidió a los venezolanos salir a las calles.

Leopoldo López dice que alzados y gobierno de Maduro se comunican
Luego del llamado de Juan Guaidó a la calle para apoyar el primer paso para el restablecimiento de la democracia, la ciudadanía se movilizó hasta el distribuidor Altamira, en la autopista Francisco Fajardo, así como a la plaza Altamira, en la avenida Francisco de Miranda. 

Desde el momento en que llegaron, los manifestantes se enfrentaron a bombas lacrimógenas arrojadas por funcionarios afectos a Nicolás Maduro para dispersar la movilización. 

Una tanqueta manejada por funcionarios castrenses arrolló a un grupo de manifestantes en el distribuidor Altamira. Hasta el momento se conoce que hubo un herido. 

Ciudadanos llegaron al Distribuidor Altamira en apoyo a Juan Guaidó
Funcionarios de Nicolás Maduro se manifestaron a través de las redes sociales en rechazo a las acciones de Juan Guaidó y de Leopoldo López para materializar el cese de la usurpación del gobierno de Venezuela. 

Nicolás Maduro aseguró en su cuenta de Twitter que la situación está bajo control. Dijo que se ha comunicado con los comandantes de las regiones estratégicas de defensa integral y las zonas operativas de defensa integral, que supuestamente le indicaron normalidad en las filas militares y le expresaron su lealtad. 

Delcy Rodríguez aseguró este martes que han “derrotado los golpes de Estado” y lo harán “nuevamente” con el alzamiento del presidente del Parlamento y también presidente interino, Juan Guaidó, quien recibió el apoyo de un grupo de militares de la Base Aérea La Carlota. 

Vladimir Padrino dijo este martes que los cuarteles del país están funcionando con «normalidad» y rechazó el pronunciamiento que hizo más temprano Juan Guaidó desde la base aérea militar. También acusó a la oposición de «buscar derramamiento de sangre» y la hizo responsable de «toda muerte que ocurra en las calles».

Ningún funcionario de Maduro, incluido este, ha ofrecido declaraciones televisadas en vivo. 

Maduro asegura que tiene bajo su mando a todas las fuerzas armadas
La comunidad internacional se ha manifestado con respecto a la situación que atraviesa Venezuela en estos momentos. Los presidentes de Panamá, Brasil, Francia, Estados Unidos, Colombia, Costa Rica manifestaron su respaldo a las aspiraciones democráticas de los venezolanos. 

El Parlamento Europeo apoyó la gesta de Guaidó, mientras que la Organización de Naciones Unidas pidió a todas las partes en Venezuela evitar la violencia. 

Comunidad Internacional apoya mayoritariamente el alzamiento en Venezuela

(note : les titres graissés correspondent à des liens vers les articles mentionnés)

L’Equateur retire l’asile à Julian Assange, la police britannique l’arrête dans l’ambassade (VIDEO) — RT en français
▻https://francais.rt.com/international/60877-equateur-retire-asile-julian-assange-police-britannique-arrete-am
▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z00wtysST4

Le lanceur d’alerte Julian Assange, réfugié depuis près de sept ans dans l’ambassade d’Equateur à Londres, a été arrêté ce 11 avril par la police britannique après que Quito a révoqué son asile.

#WikiLeaks

Blanchiment : L’UE va ajouter l’Arabie saoudite à sa liste noire, selon le FT
▻https://www.latribune.fr/depeches/reuters/KCN1PX0ER/blanchiment-l-ue-va-ajouter-l-arabie-saoudite-a-sa-liste-noire-selon-le-ft

(Reuters) - La Commission européenne va ajouter l’Arabie saoudite et le Panama sur la liste des pays qui représentent un danger pour l’Union européenne du fait de leur laxisme dans la lutte contre le blanchiment d’argent et contre le financement du terrorisme, rapporte vendredi le Financial Times.

L’Allemagne, la France et la Grande-Bretagne ont fait part de leur réticence à l’égard de cette décision, précise le journal, citant des représentants de l’UE.

Cette liste, basée en grande partie sur les critères du Groupe d’action financière (Gafi) qui a été créé par le G7 pour combattre le blanchiment d’argent, comporte actuellement 16 pays dont l’Iran, l’Irak, la Syrie, l’Afghanistan et le Yémen, va être élargie à plus de 20 pays.

Deux sources ont déclaré à Reuters le mois dernier que Bruxelles avait ajouté l’Arabie saoudite à un projet de mise à jour de cette liste des pays à risque, en rapport avec les nouvelles règles mises en place en 2017 par la Commission en matière de lutte contre le blanchiment d’argent et contre le financement du terrorisme.

(Shubham Kalia à Bangalore ; Jean Terzian pour le service français)

Your Complete Guide to the N.Y. Times’ Support of U.S.-Backed Coups in Latin America
▻https://www.truthdig.com/articles/your-complete-guide-to-the-n-y-times-support-of-u-s-backed-coups-in-latin-

https://www.truthdig.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/maduronyt.jpg

A survey of The New York Times archives shows the Times editorial board has supported 10 out of 12 American-backed coups in Latin America, with two editorials—those involving the 1983 Grenada invasion and the 2009 Honduras coup—ranging from ambiguous to reluctant opposition. The survey can be viewed here.

Covert involvement of the United States, by the CIA or other intelligence services, isn’t mentioned in any of the Times’ editorials on any of the coups. Absent an open, undeniable U.S. military invasion (as in the Dominican Republic, Panama and Grenada), things seem to happen in Latin American countries entirely on their own, with outside forces rarely, if ever, mentioned in the Times. Obviously, there are limits to what is “provable” in the immediate aftermath of such events (covert intervention is, by definition, covert), but the idea that the U.S. or other imperial actors could have stirred the pot, funded a junta or run weapons in any of the conflicts under the table is never entertained.

(bourré de citations accablantes...) #venezuela #medias

Undercover agents target cybersecurity watchdog who detailed Israeli firm NSO’s link to #Khashoggi scandal
Haaretz.Com
▻https://www.haaretz.com/misc/article-print-page/.premium-undercover-agents-target-watchdog-who-detailed-israeli-firm-nso-s-

Operatives with fake identities are pursuing members of #Citizen_Lab, the group that uncovered the connection between Jamal Khashoggi’s murder and Israel’s surveillance company #NSO
The Associated Press | Jan. 26, 2019 | 4:19 PM

The researchers who reported that Israeli software was used to spy on Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s inner circle before his gruesome death are being targeted in turn by international undercover operatives, The Associated Press has found.

Twice in the past two months, men masquerading as socially conscious investors have lured members of the Citizen Lab internet watchdog group to meetings at luxury hotels to quiz them for hours about their work exposing Israeli surveillance and the details of their personal lives. In both cases, the researchers believe they were secretly recorded.

Citizen Lab Director Ron Deibert described the stunts as “a new low.”

“We condemn these sinister, underhanded activities in the strongest possible terms,” he said in a statement Friday. “Such a deceitful attack on an academic group like the Citizen Lab is an attack on academic freedom everywhere.”

Who these operatives are working for remains a riddle, but their tactics recall those of private investigators who assume elaborate false identities to gather intelligence or compromising material on critics of powerful figures in government or business.

Citizen Lab, based out of the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, has for years played a leading role in exposing state-backed hackers operating in places as far afield as Tibet , Ethiopia and Syria . Lately the group has drawn attention for its repeated exposés of an Israeli surveillance software vendor called the NSO Group, a firm whose wares have been used by governments to target journalists in Mexico , opposition figures in Panama and human rights activists in the Middle East .

In October, Citizen Lab reported that an iPhone belonging to one of Khashoggi’s confidantes had been infected by the NSO’s signature spy software only months before Khashoggi’s grisly murder. The friend, Saudi dissident Omar Abdulaziz, would later claim that the hacking had exposed Khashoggi’s private criticisms of the Saudi royal family to the Arab kingdom’s spies and thus “played a major role” in his death.

In a statement, NSO denied having anything to do with the undercover operations targeting Citizen Lab, “either directly or indirectly” and said it had neither hired nor asked anyone to hire private investigators to pursue the Canadian organization. “Any suggestion to the contrary is factually incorrect and nothing more than baseless speculation,” NSO said.

NSO has long denied that its software was used to target Khashoggi, although it has refused to comment when asked whether it has sold its software to the Saudi government more generally.

The first message reached Bahr Abdul Razzak, a Syrian refugee who works as a Citizen Lab researcher, Dec. 6, when a man calling himself Gary Bowman got in touch via LinkedIn. The man described himself as a South African financial technology executive based in Madrid.

“I came across your profile and think that the work you’ve done helping Syrian refugees and your extensive technical background could be a great fit for our new initiative,” Bowman wrote.

Abdul Razzak said he thought the proposal was a bit odd, but he eventually agreed to meet the man at Toronto’s swanky Shangri-La Hotel on the morning of Dec. 18.

The conversation got weird very quickly, Abdul Razzak said.

Instead of talking about refugees, Abdul Razzak said, Bowman grilled him about his work for Citizen Lab and its investigations into the use of NSO’s software. Abdul Razzak said Bowman appeared to be reading off cue cards, asking him if he was earning enough money and throwing out pointed questions about Israel, the war in Syria and Abdul Razzak’s religiosity.

“Do you pray?” Abdul Razzak recalled Bowman asking. “Why do you write only about NSO?” ’’Do you write about it because it’s an Israeli company?" ’’Do you hate #Israel?"

Abdul Razzak said he emerged from the meeting feeling shaken. He alerted his Citizen Lab colleagues, who quickly determined that the breakfast get-together had been a ruse. Bowman’s supposed Madrid-based company, FlameTech, had no web presence beyond a LinkedIn page, a handful of social media profiles and an entry in the business information platform Crunchbase. A reverse image search revealed that the profile picture of the man listed as FlameTech’s chief executive, Mauricio Alonso, was a stock photograph.

“My immediate gut feeling was: ’This is a fake,’” said John Scott-Railton, one of Abdul Razzak’s colleagues.

Scott-Railton flagged the incident to the AP, which confirmed that FlameTech was a digital facade.

Searches of the Orbis database of corporate records, which has data on some 300 million global companies, turned up no evidence of a Spanish firm called FlameTech or Flame Tech or any company anywhere in the world matching its description. Similarly, the AP found no record of FlameTech in Madrid’s official registry or of a Gary Bowman in the city’s telephone listings. An Orbis search for Alonso, the supposed chief executive, also drew a blank. When an AP reporter visited Madrid’s Crystal Tower high-rise, where FlameTech claimed to have 250 sq. meters (2,700 sq. feet) of office space, he could find no trace of the firm and calls to the number listed on its website went unanswered.

The AP was about to publish a story about the curious company when, on Jan. 9, Scott-Railton received an intriguing message of his own.

This time the contact came not from Bowman of FlameTech but from someone who identified himself as Michel Lambert, a director at the Paris-based agricultural technology firm CPW-Consulting.

Lambert had done his homework. In his introductory email , he referred to Scott-Railton’s early doctoral research on kite aerial photography — a mapping technique using kite-mounted cameras — and said he was “quite impressed.

We have a few projects and clients coming up that could significantly benefit from implementing Kite Aerial Photography,” he said.

Like FlameTech, CPW-Consulting was a fiction. Searches of Orbis and the French commercial court registry Infogreffe turned up no trace of the supposedly Paris-based company or indeed of any Paris-based company bearing the acronym CPW. And when the AP visited CPW’s alleged office there was no evidence of the company; the address was home to a mainly residential apartment building. Residents and the building’s caretaker said they had never heard of the firm.

Whoever dreamed up CPW had taken steps to ensure the illusion survived a casual web search, but even those efforts didn’t bear much scrutiny. The company had issued a help wanted ad, for example, seeking a digital mapping specialist for their Paris office, but Scott-Railton discovered that the language had been lifted almost word-for-word from an ad from an unrelated company seeking a mapping specialist in London. A blog post touted CPW as a major player in Africa, but an examination of the author’s profile suggests the article was the only one the blogger had ever written.

When Lambert suggested an in-person meeting in New York during a Jan. 19 phone call , Scott-Railton felt certain that Lambert was trying to set him up.

But Scott-Railton agreed to the meeting. He planned to lay a trap of his own.

Anyone watching Scott-Railton and Lambert laughing over wagyu beef and lobster bisque at the Peninsula Hotel’s upscale restaurant on Thursday afternoon might have mistaken the pair for friends.

In fact, the lunch was Spy vs. Spy. Scott-Railton had spent the night before trying to secret a homemade camera into his tie, he later told AP, eventually settling for a GoPro action camera and several recording devices hidden about his person. On the table, Lambert had placed a large pen in which Scott-Railton said he spotted a tiny camera lens peeking out from an opening in the top.

Lambert didn’t seem to be alone. At the beginning of the meal, a man sat behind him, holding up his phone as if to take pictures and then abruptly left the restaurant, having eaten nothing. Later, two or three men materialized at the bar and appeared to be monitoring proceedings.

Scott-Railton wasn’t alone either. A few tables away, two Associated Press journalists were making small talk as they waited for a signal from Scott-Railton, who had invited the reporters to observe the lunch from nearby and then interview Lambert near the end of the meal.

The conversation began with a discussion of kites, gossip about African politicians, and a detour through Scott-Railton’s family background. But Lambert, just like Bowman, eventually steered the talk to Citizen Lab and NSO.

“Work drama? Tell me, I like drama!” Lambert said at one point, according to Scott-Railton’s recording of the conversation. “Is there a big competition between the people inside Citizen Lab?” he asked later.

Like Bowman, Lambert appeared to be working off cue cards and occasionally made awkward conversational gambits. At one point he repeated a racist French expression, insisting it wasn’t offensive. He also asked Scott-Railton questions about the Holocaust, anti-Semitism and whether he grew up with any Jewish friends. At another point he asked whether there might not be a “racist element” to Citizen Lab’s interest in Israeli spyware.

After dessert arrived, the AP reporters approached Lambert at his table and asked him why his company didn’t seem to exist.
He seemed to stiffen.

“I know what I’m doing,” Lambert said, as he put his files — and his pen — into a bag. Then he stood up, bumped into a chair and walked off, saying “Ciao” and waving his hand, before returning because he had neglected to pay the bill.

As he paced around the restaurant waiting for the check, Lambert refused to answer questions about who he worked for or why no trace of his firm could be found.

“I don’t have to give you any explanation,” he said. He eventually retreated to a back room and closed the door.

Who Lambert and Bowman really are isn’t clear. Neither men returned emails, LinkedIn messages or phone calls. And despite their keen focus on NSO the AP has found no evidence of any link to the Israeli spyware merchant, which is adamant that it wasn’t involved.

The kind of aggressive investigative tactics used by the mystery men who targeted Citizen Lab have come under fire in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse scandal. Black Cube, an Israeli private investigation firm apologized after The New Yorker and other media outlets revealed that the company’s operatives had used subterfuge and dirty tricks to help the Hollywood mogul suppress allegations of rape and sexual assault.

Scott-Railton and Abdul Razzak said they didn’t want to speculate about who was involved. But both said they believed they were being steered toward making controversial comments that could be used to blacken Citizen Lab’s reputation.

“It could be they wanted me to say, ’Yes, I hate Israel,’ or ’Yes, Citizen Lab is against NSO because it’s Israeli,’” said Abdul Razzak.
Scott-Railton said the elaborate, multinational operation was gratifying, in a way.

“People were paid to fly to a city to sit you down to an expensive meal and try to convince you to say bad things about your work, your colleagues and your employer,” he said.

“That means that your work is important.”

Les animaux génétiquement modifiés : pas (...) - Inf’OGM
▻https://www.infogm.org/6254-animaux-ogm-pas-vraiment-au-point

https://www.infogm.org/local/cache-vignettes/L1000xH667/arton6254-54760.jpg?1537292330

Il existe des millions d’animaux transgéniques, créés en laboratoires à des fins de recherche : principalement des rats, mais aussi des lapins, des chèvres, des vaches, etc. Ils sont utilisés pour étudier les mécanismes génétiques, mimer des maladies humaines, tester ou synthétiser des molécules [1]. D’après le Daily Mail, en 2007, 3,2 millions d’expériences ont eu lieu sur des animaux transgéniques, une augmentation de 6 % par rapport à 2006. L’Inra en France, par exemple, a dès la fin des années 90, modifié génétiquement par transgenèse des animaux. Louis-Marie Houdebine, chercheur à l’Inra, a ainsi « créé » un lapin fluorescent qu’un artiste, Eduardo Kac, a ensuite médiatisé. Dans la même veine, un programme de recherche médicale de l’Inra utilisait des brebis transgéniques, elles aussi fluorescentes. Preuve qu’on ne maîtrise jamais totalement la sécurité de ces programmes de recherche, une agnelle transgénique a été vendue pour sa viande à un particulier, en 2014. L’Inra a dénoncé cet acte malveillant, reconnaissant un dysfonctionnement interne.

Très peu d’animaux transgéniques autorisés à la commercialisation

Les premières plantes transgéniques sont apparues sur le marché à la fin des années 90… et vingt ans après, ce sont toujours les quatre mêmes plantes qui dominent le marché (voir p.4-5). Un nombre faible qui montre que malgré les discours, les difficultés techniques et économiques restent des contraintes fortes. En ce qui concerne les animaux transgéniques, les difficultés sont encore plus conséquentes. La transgenèse animale est « très coûteuse et d’un maniement relativement délicat », confirme L.-M. Houdebine. Ainsi, sont autorisés commercialement un nombre très restreint d’animaux génétiquement modifiés.
Des milliers de moustiques transgéniques lâchés au Brésil

Le 10 avril 2014, le Brésil a autorisé la dissémination commerciale dans l’environnement du moustique Aedes aegypti transgénique (OX513A) de l’entreprise britannique Oxitec (liée à Syngenta). Au Brésil, la production a commencé : plusieurs usines ont déjà été construites. Celle de Juazeiro (état de Bahia) produit des milliers de moustiques transgéniques depuis 2011. Ce moustique transgénique stérile est censé permettre de lutter contre la dengue.
Des essais en champs ont été réalisés par Oxitec dans les îles Caïmans, en Malaisie, au Panama et au Brésil. Les essais prévus en Floride (États-Unis) n’ont toujours pas eu lieu. Les prétendus « résultats probants » de ces essais n’ont toujours pas été publiés. Cependant, en se basant sur les données communiquées par Oxitec, les organisations de la société civile estiment qu’il faudrait plus de sept millions de moustiques GM stériles par semaine pour avoir une chance de supprimer une population sauvage de seulement 20 000 moustiques. Oxitec doit se frotter les mains devant un marché captif aussi prometteur.
Autre faiblesse : 3 % d’entre eux ne seront pas stériles, reconnaît Oxitec et en présence d’un antibiotique très répandu, la tétracycline, le taux de survie monte à 15 % environ.
Une efficacité à 100 % ne serait pas non plus la panacée… L’agence brésilienne précise qu’elle a « identifié la nécessité de surveiller les populations sauvages du moustique Aedes albopictus [le moustique tigre], un autre vecteur du virus de la dengue, en raison du risque que cette espèce occupe la niche écologique laissée par l’élimination de Aedes aegypti ». Et que connaissons-nous avec précision du rôle de Aedes aegypti dans la chaîne alimentaire ?
Un saumon GM vendu au Canada

Le saumon transgénique développé par AquaBounty Technologies a été modifié pour grandir quatre fois plus vite que sa version non transgénique. Après des péripéties judiciaires et réglementaires qui ont duré près de 20 ans, il a finalement été autorisé pour la consommation humaine aux États-Unis le 19 novembre 2015. Mais quelques mois plus tard, fin janvier 2016, les États-Unis suspendaient l’autorisation « jusqu’à ce que la FDA publie des lignes directrices en matière d’étiquetage pour informer les consommateurs finaux » [2]. Cette suspension peut paraître tout à fait surprenante. En effet, aux États-Unis, jusqu’à présent, aucun produit GM ne doit obligatoirement faire l’objet d’un étiquetage spécifique.
Au Canada, la vente de ce saumon et la production d’œufs sont autorisées sur l’île du Prince Edward, mais pas l’élevage. Ces œufs sont envoyés au Panama, seul pays au monde qui a autorisé l’élevage de saumon transgénique. De même, l’autorisation étasunienne « ne permet pas que ce saumon soit conçu et élevé aux États-Unis », une restriction qui en dit long.
En 2017, pour la première fois, ce saumon a été vendu, au Canada [3] : ces cinq tonnes de filets de saumon transgénique ont rapporté 53 300 dollars à l’entreprise. Il s’agit de la première commercialisation d’un animal transgénique destiné à l’alimentation humaine.
Ce saumon pose de nombreux problèmes tant environnementaux que sanitaires. Premièrement, selon une étude publiée en 2002, l’hormone de croissance, produite par transgenèse, aboutit à plusieurs dégâts collatéraux. Ainsi, ces animaux ont une tendance supérieure aux autres à devenir diabétiques et les poissons d’AquaBounty devront probablement être vendus sous forme de filets ou dans des plats cuisinés du fait de leurs difformités. Ensuite, une étude de 2009 montrent que si des poissons transgéniques s’échappent, ils auront tendance à « coloniser » les saumons non transgéniques, ce qu’avaient déjà montré des chercheurs en 1999. Autre élément : les poissons transgéniques accumulent plus les toxines dans leur chair que les autres poissons.
L’ensemble de ces risques a donné une image bien négative de ce saumon… Ainsi, de nombreuses collectivités territoriales dont les états de l’Alaska, de la Californie et une soixantaine d’entreprises agro-alimentaires - comme Subway, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s ou Kroger ou encore CostCo, deuxième plus grand détaillant étasunien qui achète chaque semaine 272 tonnes de saumon - se mobilisent contre son autorisation.
Nouveaux animaux GM bientôt autorisés ?

Parmi les papys des AGM, évoquons le cochon transgénique (« Enviropig »). Ce projet date de 1995 et est mené par l’Université de Guelph, au Canada. Ce cochon est censé contenir moins de phosphore dans ses excréments. Abandonné en 2012, il est réapparu moins d’un an après sous un nouveau nom : « Cassie Line ». Officiellement, l’abandon était lié à la méfiance des consommateurs et des industriels. Mais en fait, l’article scientifique de 2012 publié par l’Université de Guelph parle d’un cochon GM dont la nouvelle lignée est plus stable génétiquement parlant… : ce serait donc plus pour des questions techniques que les premiers cochons auraient été euthanasiés.
La recherche s’intéresse aussi de près aux insectes. Ces derniers sont actuellement testés en champs et pourraient être prochainement autorisés, tous mis au point par l’entreprise Oxitec pour être stériles. Ainsi, en 2011, aux États-Unis, était expérimenté en champs un papillon génétiquement modifié (Plutella xylostella, OX4319), un parasite important des choux, colzas et autres plantes de la famille des Brassicacées. Au Brésil, c’est la mouche méditerranéenne des fruits (Ceratitis capitata) transgénique de l’entreprise Oxitec qui était lâchée à titre expérimental… Enfin, en 2013 et en 2015, Oxitec faisait une demande pour disséminer en Espagne des milliers de mouches de l’olivier (Bactrocera oleae, OX3097D-Bol), essais refusés par les autorités catalanes.
Et les animaux GM 2.0 ?

Les recherches actuelles de modification des animaux passent par l’utilisation de nouveaux outils de modification génétique, comme les Talen, ou Crispr/Cas9. En voici quelques exemples.
Brice Whitelaw, du Roslin Institut, en Grande-Bretagne, a modifié des moutons et des bovins. Grâce aux protéines Talen, il a coupé la séquence génétique qui code pour la production de la myostatine qui freine le développement musculaire. Les animaux ainsi modifiés ont un système musculaire hypertrophié. Économiquement parlant, si cette délétion génétique arrive à produire des animaux viables, elle permettrait d’augmenter la masse musculaire de l’animal. En Chine, un des pays leaders dans le domaine, plusieurs équipes ont réussi, malgré des taux d’échecs importants, à désactiver certaines séquences génétiques en utilisant les technologies Talen ou Crispr/Cas9. Ainsi, l’une d’entre elles a mis au point des chiens de race Beagle plus musclés qui courent plus vite, et espère les vendre aux chasseurs... voire à l’armée ; une autre équipe propose un cochon nain qui reste vraiment nain, et espère le vendre comme animal de compagnie ; enfin, une troisième équipe travaille à réduire le taux de cholestérol chez le cochon, une innovation qui permettrait de limiter les maladies cardio-vasculaires…
Éric Marois (CNRS / Inserm) estime que les deux outils Talen et Crispr/Cas9 « permettront d’obtenir très rapidement des mutations inactivant des gènes ciblés. Pour des manipulations génétiques plus complexes (remplacement d’un allèle par un autre, donnant par exemple une résistance à une maladie), ces outils permettront probablement d’accélérer les techniques déjà existantes développées chez la souris ».
Au-delà des avantages techniques qui restent à démontrer, ces nouveaux OGM pourraient bien avoir un avantage considérable pour l’industrie : ne pas être considérés légalement com- me des OGM. Leur diffusion en serait facilitée car ils ne seraient plus soumis à autorisation, évaluation et étiquetage.
Le forçage génétique

Associé à une technique de transformation du vivant, le forçage génétique permet de propager une modification génétique plus vite que selon les lois classiques de Mendel sur l’hérédité, en quelques générations seulement. De nombreux laboratoires travaillent donc actuellement à forcer génétiquement des moustiques pour diffuser une stérilité rapidement. Objectif : éliminer les vecteurs pour éliminer les maladies. Mais avec quelles conséquences sur les équilibres écologiques ?
Tous ces projets s’inscrivent dans une logique productiviste - des saumons plus gros, des cochons avec plus de muscle, etc. - ou mécaniste – éradiquer le vecteur pour combattre une maladie, sans comprendre la complexité d’un éco-système. C’est donc le risque de voir apparaître un autre vecteur qu’il faudra à son tour éliminer…
Des AGM... juste pour le (...)
Des AGM... juste pour le fun !
GloFish

Les premiers animaux transgéniques commercialisés étaient deux poissons d’ornement, destinés à des aquariums. Night Pearl®, conçu par l’Université de Taïwan, et GloFish®, conçu par l’Université de Singapour, ont été génétiquement modifiés avec un gène de fluorescence, issu respectivement d’une méduse et d’une anémone de mer. Ces poissons sont commercialisés à Taïwan, et aux États-Unis (sauf en Californie et au Michigan qui ont interdit les animaux transgéniques). GloFish est désormais une marque commerciale qui propose plusieurs espèces de poissons (poisson-zèbre, barbeau, tetra, etc.), disponibles dans plusieurs couleurs (orange, bleu, vert, rouge, violet, etc.).
Interdits en Europe, quelques individus de ces poissons transgéniques ont été découverts dans plusieurs États membres – Allemagne, Irlande, Norvège, Pays-Bas, République Tchèque, Royaume-uni - de l’Union européenne entre 2006 et 2016.

AIS Animation Shows Commercial Response to Sincerity Ace Incident in Pacific Ocean – gCaptain
▻https://gcaptain.com/ais-animation-shows-commercial-response-to-sincerity-ace-incident-in-pacif
▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRZkXfl1Q4c

We have obtained satellite AIS data showing the car carrier Sincerity Ace and the commercial response that followed after the vessel suffered a major fire during a voyage across the Pacific Ocean on New Year’s Eve.

The satellite data is provided by exactEarth with the animation by Genscape Vesseltracker. 

As we have reported, the fire broke out onboard the Panamanian-flagged MV Sincerity Ace on New Year’s Eve as it was approximately half way between Japan and Hawaii.

Due to the remoteness of the location, about 2,000 miles northwest of Hawaii, crews of commercial vessels participating in the Automated Mutual-Assistance Vessel Rescue System (AMVER) we first to respond to the scene and helped rescue 16 of the 21 crew members on board.

As of Wednesday, the search was continuing for two missing crew members. Three crew members were located in the water but could not be recovered as they were unresponsive.
[…]
The Automated Mutual-Assistance Vessel Rescue System, or #AMVER, is a worldwide voluntary reporting system sponsored by the United States Coast Guard. It is a computer-based global ship reporting system used worldwide by search and rescue authorities to arrange for assistance to persons in distress at sea.

L’Aquarius ne sauvera plus personne | Euronews
▻https://fr.euronews.com/2018/12/07/l-aquarius-ne-sauvera-plus-personne

L’Aquarius, le navire de secours en mer de Médecins sans frontières et de SOS Méditerranée, ne sauvera plus personne. Même si les deux ONG refusent de rester les bras croisés alors que des gens continuent de mourir en mer, elles se sont résignées à mettre un terme aux opérations de sauvetage de l’Aquarius, devenu le symbole de la crise politique autour de l’accueil des migrants.

Privé de pavillon par Gibraltar puis par le Panama, le navire s’est retrouvé bloqué à Marseille début octobre dans l’attente d’un registre où s’inscrire. La semaine dernière Berne lui avait refusé le pavillon suisse malgré une pétition citoyenne.

« Pour nous, il y a une combinaison de facteurs, ce procureur en Italie qui a demandé la saisie du bateau et notre recherche de pavillon nous ont amené à penser qu’il n’est plus possible de continuer avec ce bateau, mais cela ne veut pas dire que nous ne reviendrons pas avec un autre navire », a expliqué Karline Kleijer, responsable des urgences à MSF.

Projet de mon prochain patriarche sur l’or.
Patriarche n°8 - El Dorado
à partir de cette image

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Bernhard_otto_holterman_with_630lb_gold_from_Hill_End.jpg

"Bernard Otto Holtermann and the world’s largest “nugget” of gold, North Sydney, ca. 1874-1876 / montage photograph by American and Australasian Photographic Company" The “nugget” was found in Hill End, New South Wales by German prospector, Bernhard Otto Holtermannon 19th October 1872. More than half of the 630 lbs weight was pure gold, at that time having the value of 12,000 pounds ($24,000). Today, with gold worth say $1400 per ounce, the value today would be over $10 million. Three photographs were used to create this image of Holtermann, (supposedly holding the worlds’ largest accumulation of rock and gold ever brought to the surface in one piece). He was posed in the studio with his hand on a headclamp, the nugget was inserted and both placed on a photograph of the verandah of his mansion, built from the proceeds of his goldmine.[1]

–-------

Fiche wikipédia sur la montagne d’or
▻https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montagne_d%27or_(mine)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Bento_Rodrigues%2C_Mariana%2C_Minas_Gerais_%2822526418164%29.jpg

Projet Montagne d’or en Guyane : après la mine de Lefa en Guinée, Nordgold peut-il faire mieux ? - Outre-mer la 1ère
▻https://la1ere.francetvinfo.fr/pojet-montagne-guyane-apres-mine-lefa-guinee-nordgold-peut-il-fa

https://la1ere.francetvinfo.fr/sites/regions_outremer/files/styles/top_big/public/assets/images/2018/10/15/63c7831585e8678765ec8a58bcfe758d-891390.jpg?itok=4Q-vra2k

L’Etat doit se prononcer sur la réalisation de ce projet avant la fin de l’année. François de Rugy, le ministre de la Transition écologique a été interrogé à plusieurs reprises par la presse à ce sujet. Il a déclaré sur France Inter que « le projet ne pouvait pas être mené tel qu’il avait été envisagé ». A l’Assemblée nationale, le ministre a été plus loin en ajoutant « qu’il fallait le revoir de fond en comble ».

Nordgold en Guinée
En attendant la décision de l’Etat, deux journalistes du Monde et de France Inter se sont intéressés aux activités en Guinée du groupe russe Nordgold censé se charger de l’exploitation de la Montagne d’or en Guyane.

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Le projet de Montagne d’or en Guyane va être revu pour obtenir le feu vert de l’Etat

Cette mine d’or, qui serait la plus grande jamais construite sur le territoire français, provoque l’hostilité d’une partie de la population.

▻https://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2018/09/07/montagne-d-or-nordgold-pret-a-revoir-son-projet-pour-obtenir-le-feu-vert-de-

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Guyane française : la traque des orpailleurs clandestins
▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRtFvKlC43w

Cayenne : le nouveau far west français
▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SebdJ9FN-mc

Chasseur de chercheur, l’or de Guyane
▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5geIRZZPWSc

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Controverses géopolitiques 1A - Projet de la montagne d’or en Guyane
▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qEeddqdPNA

Mines en Guyane : le projet Montagne d’or "inacceptable" pour les autochtones
▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5XaI65Hn-Y

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mine d’or en Australie

https://smiffy2011.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/super-pit-1-1280x768.jpg

The ‘Super Pit’ is Australia’s largest open cut gold mine. It is 3.5 km long, 1.5 km wide and 350 m deep, and is large enough to be seen from space. It produces around 28 tonnes of gold per year, and they estimate it won’t reach the end of its life until 2021.

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Mine de Yanacocha (Pérou)
La plus grande mine d’or à ciel ouvert d’Amérique du sud

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/OperacionesYanacocha.jpg

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Cartographie

Schéma structural de la Guyane française( C. Delor , 2004 )

http://gisguyane.brgm.fr/images/geologie/struc_guyane.gif http://www.jump-voyage.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Carte-Guyane.png

▻http://sphaera.cartographie.ird.fr/images/telechargement/00756.pdf

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Vers la structuration d’une filière aurifère « durable » ? Etude du cas de la Guyane française
Jessica Oder

L’objectif de cet article est de se demander si la filière aurifère légale en Guyane française peut servir les objectifs du développement durable. En effet, cette filière est en proie à des difficultés : alors que les cours de l’or sont en constante augmentation, le nombre d’opérateurs miniers diminue constamment, depuis près de sept ans. Ce paradoxe aurifère guyanais trouve ses origines dans la volonté étatique française d’organiser la filière et d’en faire un exemple en matière de « durabilité », volonté clairement exprimée à la suite du Grenelle de l’Environnement. Principalement élaboré à partir d’entretiens semi-directifs et d’archives, l’article a notamment cherché à analyser les principaux éléments de cette structuration, le schéma départemental d’orientation minière (SDOM), en cours d’adoption, et plusieurs initiatives destinées à améliorer les pratiques des opérateurs miniers qui sont majoritairement des artisans. Toutefois, cette évolution révèle des antagonismes entre les parties prenantes (collectivités territoriales, services de l’État, opérateurs miniers et environnementalistes). Ces derniers ont fait surface lors de l’affaire du Camp Caïman, impliquant la multinationale Iamgold, et pendant le processus d’élaboration du SDOM lui-même. Des problématiques connexes telles que les revendications locales de gestion de la ressource aurifère, mais aussi et surtout l’orpaillage illégal, dressent des perspectives d’avenir plutôt incertaines pour la filière aurifère.

https://journals.openedition.org/echogeo/docannexe/image/12587/img-1-small580.jpg https://journals.openedition.org/echogeo/docannexe/image/12587/img-2.jpg https://journals.openedition.org/echogeo/docannexe/image/12587/img-3.jpg https://journals.openedition.org/echogeo/docannexe/image/12587/img-8.jpg https://journals.openedition.org/echogeo/docannexe/image/12587/img-10-small580.jpg

▻https://journals.openedition.org/echogeo/12587

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#mad_meg #or

Le fisc peut-il croire à nos profils Facebook ?
▻https://www.franceinter.fr/emissions/la-fenetre-de-la-porte/la-fenetre-de-la-porte-13-novembre-2018

https://cdn.radiofrance.fr/s3/cruiser-production/2018/11/246c79f3-1821-4dcd-86f1-ef5b0ea5ad61/600x337_gettyimages-821527478.jpg

Mais, à mon sens, les vraies questions sont ailleurs.

Tout ça repose sur l’idée que ce que les gens versent dans les réseaux sociaux, c’est vraiment leur vie. Il suffit de les fréquenter un peu pour s’apercevoir que non. Pas vraiment… C’est la vie mise en scène. Concrètement, ça veut dire quoi : qu’on peut mentir sur la date d’une photo, sur qui y apparaît, et qu’on transforme vite une chaumière en château… C’est assez drôle parce que l’administration fiscale est habituée à débusquer des gens qui essaient de se faire passer pour moins riches qu’ils le sont. Là elle risque de devoir dénouer le problème inverse : être confrontée à des gens qui essaient de se faire passer pour plus riches qu’ils ne le sont. Le risque n’est-il pas de perdre beaucoup de temps ?

Par ailleurs, je ne suis pas un pro de la fraude, mais je me pose une question : est-ce vraiment chez les gens qui s’affichent dans les réseaux sociaux qu’on va débusquer les gros fraudeurs ? Je dis ça parce qu’après l’affaire Cahuzac, l’administration fiscale a ouvert un guichet pour les fraudeurs qui voulaient régulariser leur situation. 36 000 dossiers ont été traités entre 2013 et fin 2017, 35 milliards d’euros cachés à l’étranger, 7,8 milliards de redressements fiscaux. Savez-vous quel était l’âge moyen du repenti ? 72 ans… Pas sûr qu’on les ait beaucoup vus s’afficher sur Instagram allongés en string sur leurs Porsche ceux-là… Et il me semble que les affaires de fraude ou d’évasion massive - révélées par exemple par les Panama Papers - n’ont rien à voir avec la différence entre un train de vie annoncé au fisc et train de vie réel : le problème est celui de montages financiers hyper complexes, de l’alliance entre banques et sociétés off-shore etc…

#Médias_sociaux #Xavier_de_La_Porte #Fraude_Fiscale

#Venezuela: 97% de los venezolanos está insatisfecho con la economía
▻http://www.el-nacional.com/noticias/politica/los-venezolanos-esta-insatisfecho-con-economia_259498

http://en-cdnmed.agilecontent.com//resources/jpg/1/1/1527688501111.jpg

La insatisfacción en la democracia, los altos niveles de corrupción y la crisis económica hacen de Venezuela el peor país evaluado en América Latina por sus ciudadanos, según el informe anual de Latinobarómetro, el cual muestra las percepciones de los habitantes de 18 naciones de la región sobre esos 3 aspectos.

El estudio indica que 9 de cada 10 venezolanos afirman que en el último año ha aumentado la corrupción, lo que ubica al país en el primer puesto. Agrega que 65% de los consultados cree que el presidente y sus funcionarios están inmiscuidos en casos de corrupción, mientras que 64% considera que los parlamentarios de la Asamblea Nacional también han estado involucrados en hechos ilegales.

Los casos de corrupción que se han destapado en América Latina ha sido uno de los factores que ha incidido negativamente en la visión de los ciudadanos sobre sus funcionarios, señala Latinobarómetro. Venezuela no escapa de ello, en los últimos años ha mostrado la confianza más baja en el gobierno, en 2018 este indicador se ubica en 24%. Lo cual influye en el clima democrático del país.

“¿Diría que está muy satisfecho, más bien satisfecho, no muy satisfecho o nada satisfecho con el funcionamiento de la democracia en Venezuela?”. A la pregunta solo 12% respondió de manera positiva. El resto, 88%, está insatisfecho, lo que representa el peor índice desde 1995, según el registro de la ONG con sede en Chile.

Venezuela es el país de la región que presenta una caída constante en el nivel de satisfacción democrática. Este año la medición está 10 puntos porcentuales por debajo de 2017, reporta el estudio financiado por el Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, el Instituto de Integración de América Latina y el Banco de Desarrollo de América Latina, entre otros.

El país alcanzó su máximo nivel de satisfacción en 2007 con 59%, en esa fecha se llevó a cabo el referéndum revocatorio para la reforma constitucional y ganó la opción “no”. Desde entonces, ese nivel se vino abajo, hasta ahora que comparte el primer lugar con Nicaragua, donde un tercio de la población asegura que no hay democracia.

A pesar de que 37% de los entrevistados afirman que no viven en democracia, 75% apoya ese sistema. Sin embargo, ese respaldo cayó 3 puntos porcentuales con respecto al año pasado.

El estudio añade que los venezolanos son los latinoamericanos menos satisfechos con la economía del país: 97% dice que no está a gusto, 3% responde que sí y para 1% la situación es buena.

Venezuela se encuentra entre los primeros países, por debajo de México y Paraguay, con la peor expectativa económica: 3 de cada 10 habitantes muestran desesperanza en que la situación mejore. “Estos tres países han tenido elecciones presidenciales en 2018 y esta expectativa es la que tienen de los nuevos gobiernos”, indica.

Las expectativas netas son positivas en toda la región a excepción de Venezuela, donde 14% de los consultados considera que el futuro económico es negativo. “Es la primera vez que registramos una expectativa económica futura negativa, indicando más bien el nivel de desesperanza del pueblo venezolano”.

De las 18 naciones consultadas, Venezuela es el país con menor confianza en la Fuerza Armada y el segundo que desconfía de la policía, está por debajo de Panamá que el índice es cero.

Se encuentra entre los 15 países de la región donde menos del tercio de la población confía en el Poder Judicial, solo 18% lo hacen. Ese índice se repite en el indicador de confianza en el Poder Electoral. También señala que es el país con mayor desconfianza en ONG y sindicatos con 23% y 14% respectivamente.

La institución que tiene mayor credibilidad y confianza es la Iglesia. 7 de cada 10 venezolanos afirman que creen en las autoridades eclesiásticas.

[Rap] Olivier Besancenot - Diviser pour mieux régner (feat. Jo)
▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6yeig34Y38

Le premier acte de ce nouveau gouvernement, exécuté le jour même du remaniement, est un signal donné à toutes celles et ceux qui lui résistent. À l’évidence, en Macronie, mieux vaut être dans la cour de Jupiter que dans son opposition politique et sociale.

▻https://npa2009.org/communique/perquisitions-le-deux-poids-deux-mesures-sauce-macron

Duc de Saint-Frippon

Quand ton service abonnement te téléphone en pleine nuit pour te dire que les boîtes mails sont saturées de demandes de désabonnement

Edwy Plenel
‏Compte certifié @edwyplenel

En dix ans de révélations d’intérêt public, @Mediapart a subi des campagnes de dénigrement des soutiens de Sarkozy, Valls, Cahuzac, Fillon, Le Pen, Hollande, Macron et, maintenant, Mélenchon. Décidément la presse libre et indépendante dérange. @Mediapart

. . . . . .

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dp6JqjyWwAAML5Z.jpg

Source : ▻https://twitter.com/MFrippon/status/1053428210837438466

Une affaire d’évasion fiscale coûte 55 milliards d’euros aux Etats européens Cédric Guigon/gma - 18 Octobre 2018 - RTS
▻https://www.rts.ch/info/monde/9928011-une-affaire-d-evasion-fiscale-coute-55-milliards-d-euros-aux-etats-europ

Le quotidien français Le Monde, associé à 17 autres médias européens, révèle jeudi une gigantesque affaire d’évasion fiscale. La somme dérobée serait de 55 milliards d’euros en l’espace de quinze ans à plusieurs Etats européens.
L’enquête internationale s’appelle « CumEx Files ». Contrairement à l’affaire des Panama Papers, il ne s’agit pas de paradis fiscaux mais de financiers, en bande organisée, qui opèrent sur les marchés par des échanges rapides et discrets d’actions de grandes entreprises cotées en Bourse.

L’escroquerie aurait donc profité de la souplesse qu’offrent les marchés. A l’origine, l’enquête s’appuie sur une fuite de documents judiciaires en Allemagne. En 2015, une bande de #traders, de #banques et d’#avocats auraient mis en place un montage fiscal pour frauder l’administration du pays. La facture aurait coûté plus de 10 milliards d’euros au contribuable allemand.

https://www.challenges.fr/assets/img/2017/04/24/cover-r4x3w1000-59b13b915d491-000-par8316314.jpg

Taxe sur les dividendes
La technique, baptisée « Cum Ex », consiste à duper les Etats européens, qui ont mis en place une taxe sur les dividendes des actionnaires.

Le but est de transférer rapidement les actions entre différents propriétaires étrangers afin que les Etats européens peinent à en retrouver les véritables détenteurs, et rembourse ainsi plusieurs fois la taxe sur les dividendes.

Banques dans le coup
Traders, courtiers, fonds, avocats et mêmes banques, seraient alliés dans cette escroquerie. L’enquête des CumEx Files affirme que cinquante institutions financières parmi les plus grandes de la planète y auraient participé, à des degrés divers.

Les établissements bancaires auraient été au courant et auraient même joué le jeu. Le directeur de l’administration fiscale allemande, cité par Le Monde, parle de « crime organisé ». Les banques françaises, contactées par le quotidien, ont démenti catégoriquement toute implication.

La Suisse concernée
Le schéma aurait été répliqué sous des formes similaires au #Danemark, en #Belgique, en #Autriche, en #Norvège et en #Suisse. L’enquête ne précise en revanche pas quels montants auraient été dérobés à la Confédération, ni si certaines banques seraient impliqués.

La #France, les #Pays-Bas, l’#Espagne auraient également subis des préjudices.

La fraude liée au CumEx serait la partie émergée d’un problème bien plus important et qui coûterait des milliards de francs aux Etats : l’arbitrage des dividendes. Une forme d’optimisation fiscale qui permettrait aux banques internationales d’éviter l’impôt sur les dividendes.

 #bourse #cac40 #dividendes #économie #finance #capitalisme #actionnaires #fiscalité #CumEx

Sri Lanka: Government Slow to Return Land. Create Consultative Process to End Military Occupation

The Sri Lankan government has yet to fully restore civilian ownership of land and property nearly a decade since the end of the civil war in 2009, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Progress, particularly since the election of a new government in 2015, has been hindered by broad military claims of national security and the lack of a transparent process.

The 80-page report, “‘Why Can’t We Go Home?’: Military Occupation of Land in Sri Lanka,” details security force occupation of land both during and after the armed conflict. It identifies the lack of transparency and due process, failure to map occupied land, inadequate support to affected people and communities, and prolonged delays in providing appropriate reparations for decades of loss and suffering. The military has also used some confiscated lands for commercial profit rather than national security and returned damaged or destroyed property to owners without compensation.

“All those displaced during Sri Lanka’s brutal civil war are entitled to return to their homes,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director. “Despite repeated pledges by the authorities, the military has been frustratingly slow to restore land to its rightful owners.”

The report is based on over 100 interviews between August 2017 to May 2018 with members of affected communities, activists, local officials, and lawyers. It looks into cases of military occupation and land release in 20 areas in six districts, primarily in Sri Lanka’s north and east.

The three-decade civil war in Sri Lanka ended with the decisive defeat of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May 2009. Large areas, including those previously held by the LTTE in the north and east, came under military control. At the end of the war, some 300,000 people ended up in a military detention camp.

While the administration of then-President Mahinda Rajapaksa released some land to its original owners, the military retained control over large areas for military but also non-military purposes, such as agriculture, tourism, and other commercial ventures.

The new government, led by President Maithripala Sirisena, took some steps to release civilian land held by the security forces. At the United Nations Human Rights Council in October 2015, the government promised to address conflict-related issues, including returning land to its original owners. However, the government’s response has fallen far short of its promises. On October 4, 2018, the president ordered the state to release all civilian land by December 31, 2018.

The military has also retained control of land it previously announced it would return. For instance, in April 2017, the navy responded to protests by displaced communities from the Mullikulam area in Mannar by announcing it would release 100 acres of the land that security forces had been occupying. More than a year later, people are still waiting.

“Now there is no war,” said Francis Crooss, a village elder. “It’s now peacetime. So why can’t we go back home?”

State agencies have exchanged properties without releasing the land to civilians. In Pallimunai in Mannar, land belonging to residents displaced since 1990 was occupied first by the army and then the police. At war’s end, the police promised to release their land and homes, but instead, the navy took control.

“We’ve been made refugees in our own village,” said Helena Perera, one of the residents.

All three major ethnic communities in the country – the Sinhalese, Tamils, and Muslims – are affected by military occupation of land in the north and east. However, the vast majority of cases impact the Tamil community.

Human Rights Watch documented a number of cases in which properties were destroyed while held by the military after the war, including Hindu temples, churches, mosques, and Buddhist shrines.

Government authorities have also carried out land grabs since the end of the war. In July 2010, the military forcibly evicted residents of Ragamwela, Panama, in southeastern Ampara district. In November 2011, 200 soldiers arrived in Ashraf Nagar village in Ampara district and demanded that all its occupants leave. In such cases, the security forces set up military camps or used the land for other purposes, including commercial use.

The government’s failure to establish a uniform policy on resettlement remains a critical problem, Human Rights Watch said. Some displaced families did not receive proper resettlement assistance when they returned to formerly occupied lands. The government transferred others from displacement camps, but they then entered into other forms of displacement, such as living with friends and relatives, or moving to other camps closer to their original properties, which the military still occupied. Those resettled more than once were denied full resettlement assistance when their land was eventually released.

A 70-year-old fisherman from Myliddy said his family had moved 24 times in 27 years until the military released his property in July 2017. But without resettlement assistance, he is severely in debt. “We hope the government will at least help us restart our lives this one last time,” he said.

Partial releases pose particular problems for returnee communities. Military control of neighboring areas hinders access to services and jobs, and heightens fears of surveillance and harassment by soldiers.

Establishing ownership of land where multiple displacements have occurred over decades is difficult, Human Rights Watch said. But instead of leaving it exclusively to the military, the government should urgently set up a transparent and consultative process, including displaced communities, to establish land claims and restore civilian ownership.

“The government has adopted an arbitrary, piecemeal approach to land returns, which is fomenting deep distrust among communities wary that the military is still in charge,” Ganguly said. “It should address rights violations and provide remedies to end the distress of those who have long suffered because of the military’s occupation of land.”

https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/styles/1070w/public/multimedia_images_2018/201810asia_srilanka_main.jpg?itok=RvobQPoa#.jpg

Lien vers le rapport:
▻https://www.hrw.org/report/2018/10/09/why-cant-we-go-home/military-occupation-land-sri-lanka