The Week - World

democrats-attack-sc-nominee-barrett-faith-adoption

Sat, 26 Sep 2020 15:40:39 GMT

American media, on Friday, reported that President Donald Trump is likely to name Amy Coney Barrett to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. 48-year-old Barrett has been attacked by leftists for adopting children from Haiti. One user, Dana Houle, an adoptive parent who supports Democrats wrote on Twitter, "Does the press even investigate details of Barrett's adoptions from Haiti? Some adoptions from Haiti were legit. Many were sketchy as hell. And if press learned they were unethical & maybe illegal adoptions, would they report it? Or not bc it involves her children."

Barrett has strong support from Republican Senators. She is the favourite choice of conservative Christians, who hope to overturn the landmark decision in Roe v. Wade, establishing a woman's right to an abortion. Trump is going ahead with the nomination despite strong opposition from the Democrats. Former vice president Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee.

Though House later deleted the tweet, she wrote, "I shouldn't have tweeted this...Not because it is smearing someone as engaging in child sex trafficking, but because I didn't realise all the rubes out there would take offence to it." The tweet was deleted after Republican Senators Tom Cotton and Josh Hawley lashed out at her. Another adoptive parent, John Lee Brother wrote, "As an adoptee, I need to know more about the circumstances of how Amy Coney Barrett came to adopt her children and the treatment of them since. Transracial adoption is fraught with trauma and potential for harm, and everything I see here is deeply concerning."

Democrats have also used her faith—Roman Catholicism against her as they believe she may not be able to keep her faith and judicial views separate from one another. Joe Lieberman said Friday that it would be a mistake for Democrats to focus too hard on Barrett's Catholicism during potential confirmation hearings. He was reported in a DailyMail report as saying, “You can disagree with somebody based on whether they're pro-life or pro-choice, but when you start to say that you're against them because their religion, in this case, their Roman Catholicism, determines their point of view, you're doing something really abhorrent that I think is bigoted, is un-American, and incidentally, is unconstitutional.”

California Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, questioned whether Barrett would be able to keep her faith separate from her legal opinions. “The conclusion one draws is that the dogma lives loudly within you,” she said.

On the issue of adoption, American journalist Meghan McCain tweeted, “President Bush politicised adoption and my little sister— my family and America never forgot it (I never forgave). It is historically noted as a dark mark on American political history. Do not do to Amy Coney Barrett’s family what was done to mine, democrats. It won’t end well.”

Barrett hasn’t commented on any of the vicious trolls around her adoption, nor has President Trump, so far.

lebanon-pm-deignate-resigns-cites-clashes-cabinet-formation

Sat, 26 Sep 2020 14:11:30 GMT

Lebanon’s prime minister-designate Mustapha Adib has announced his resignation amid a political impasse over government formation. The country had been facing an economic crisis since 2018 and has been seeking financial aid— $20bn— half from an International Monetary Fund programme and the other half from funds pledged by some donor nations at a 2018 conference.

Mustapha Adib was named prime minister-designate on August 31. Adib succeeded prime minister Hassan Diab, who stepped down a few days after nearly 3,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate unsafely stored at the Beirut exploded on August 4. The blast killed more than 200 people, wounded more than 6,000 people and destroyed tens and thousands of homes.

Adin announced after he met with President Michel Aoun that he was stepping down as his efforts to line up a non-partisan cabinet ran into trouble, especially over who would run the finance ministry. At the time Adib came into power, French President Emmanuel Macron had said promised the nation battling an economic crisis that France would provide help if its politicians made good on long-overdue reforms. Macron had also added that PM Adib "can only obtain legitimacy by quickly forming a mission government made up of professionals, the strongest possible team”.

Two dominant parties Shia parties— the Iran-backed Hezbollah and its ally the Amal movement are at loggerheads to name Shia ministers to the cabinet. Both groups seem keen to retain hold of the finance ministry, especially since the US slapped sanctions on two senior politicians close to Hezbollah, including the ex-finance minister. Both groups have also said that Adib wasn't consulting with them while naming ministers to the government.

why-activists-want-israel-to-stop-training-cops-from-Kashmir

Sat, 26 Sep 2020 12:28:08 GMT

In January this year, 40 Israeli nationals filed a plea in the country's Supreme Court demanding that the nation's security forces be stopped from training police officers from Jammu and Kashmir, given allegations of human rights violations.

Al Jazeera covered the issue in a report on Friday. Al Jazeera reported"The document was signed in January after the Israeli Police, Ministry of Internal Security and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs refused to pre-screen members of India’s police force from the Muslim-majority Himalayan region (Jammu and Kashmir)."

The plea is still pending in the Israeli Supreme Court. Al Jazeera reported that in May, the Israeli government had asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the plea, arguing any investigation of visiting Indian policemen could damage ties with New Delhi.

Israeli lawyer Eitay Mack, who filed the petition, wrote in The Wire earlier in September that the Indian policemen are trained as part of an agreement between the two countries in October 2014, covering counter-terror warfare.

Mack wrote in The Wire, "The Israeli citizens’ petition argues that the fact that India is the ‘biggest democracy in the world’, and an extremely important economic and political partner of the State of Israel and Western countries, cannot legally and morally justify the provision of assistance to specific Indian police officers that are involved and responsible for grave crimes under international law in Kashmir, by way of their training by the police in Israel.”

The petition also alleged that police in Kashmir used live fire and pellet guns, causing "hundreds" to lose their eyesight.

Human rights groups have previously alleged Israeli police training programmes were being used for repressive measures by other countries.

Al Jazeera noted, "A 2018 report by Researching the American-Israeli Alliance and the Jewish Voices for Peace group said ‘mass surveillance, justifying racial profiling and suppressing public protests’ in the US were a result of Israel’s training of US police officers."

While the activists behind the plea confide they are not confident the Supreme Court will rule in their favour, human rights activist Sigal Kook Avivi told Al Jazeera, "we can’t just sit quietly".

japan-pm-suga-says-tokyo-is-determined-to-host-the-olympics

Sat, 26 Sep 2020 12:20:41 GMT

Japan’s new prime minister Yoshihide Suga told the UN that he is willing to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un without any conditions. Suga, in doing so, is attempting to resolve the decades-old issue of North Korea’s abductions of Japanese citizens, along with the North’s growing nuclear and missile program.

“Establishing constructive relations between Japan and North Korea will not only serve the interests of both sides, but will also greatly contribute to regional peace and stability,” an AP report quoted Suga as saying. “I will miss no opportunity to take actions with all my dedication,” he said.

Suga noted that he has worked for many years on the abduction issue, which remains a big domestic concern in Japan. Suga, who has worked on the issues related to North Korea and the contentious issue of a US military base in Okinawa, credited former prime minister Shinzo Abe with successfully keeping Japan’s ties to the US firm.

Suga’s cautious approach might be linked to his lack of experience on the world stage and in part because his job as chief cabinet secretary required him to manage disasters and other crises at home. It might also be linked to his temperament.

With regards to hosting the Olympics, Suga said, “I will continue to spare no effort in order to welcome you to Games that are safe and secure.” Organisers of the Tokyo Olympics on Friday proposed cutting back the number of staff at next year’s Summer Games and shortening the opening period for training venues, so as to hold a streamlined event.

At the UN General Assembly, Suga also said Japan will go ahead and host the Olympics, scheduled to take place in March this year, but was postponed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Noting that while the coronavirus is an “unprecedented crisis,” he said it also “brought the international community back to cooperation from its tendencies towards division and isolation”. Japan has had 80,000 active cases of the coronavirus so far.

secret-man-cave-found-under-grand-central-terminus-new-york

Sat, 26 Sep 2020 10:19:40 GMT

At least three Metropolitan Transport Authority (MTA) employees have converted a storage unit under Grand Central Terminal, New York into a man cave. The underground clubhouse of sorts is where they come in to take naps and drink beer. The MTA suspended the employees without pay after it discovered their secret “man cave”. The Grand Central Terminal is one of the busiest transit hubs in New York.

The three employees, a wireman, a carpenter foreman and an electrical foreman were put on overnight shifts. The authorities were tipped off that the ‘secret liar’ has been in existence since February 2019. The room had a futon couch, a microwave, fridge and a big-screen television— the room was outfitted with clever cabinets to hide everything when the room wasn’t in use.

In the room, authorities found an air mattress and a receipt with the name of one of the employees. It isn’t clear if the employees used the room while they were on the clock.

The breakroom was shut down due to potential safety hazards and misuse of company resources.

A CNN report quoted Metropolitan Transportation Authority Inspector Carolyn Pokorny as saying, "Many a New Yorker has fantasised about kicking back with a cold beer in a prime piece of Manhattan real estate-- especially one this close to good transportation.”

man-cured-of-hiv-now-has-terminal-cancer

Sat, 26 Sep 2020 10:00:37 GMT

Timothy Ray Brown, also known as the Berlin patient, became the first person to be fully cured of HIV. Ray Brown is now suffering from a terminal form of leukaemia. Ray Brown’s leukaemia was said to have been cured along with the HIV infection, but it recurred. The 54-year-old, who is receiving hospice care in his current home in the US state of California, was cured of HIV by receiving bone marrow of a person resistant to the virus.

Ray Brown was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2006 and was to be treated by bone marrow transplant. Dr Gero Hütter from the University of Berlin at the time thought transplanting marrow of a person with natural resistance to HIV would cure him of the virus too. And while Ray Brown was cured of HIV, cancer still persisted. But, in 2007, following another transplant, he was cured of leukaemia as well.

Ray Brown’s story, which was widely published, gave hope to several HIV patients across the world. In an AP report, he is quoted as saying, “I'm still glad that I had it. It opened up doors that weren't there before," talking of choosing to go ahead with the revolutionary treatment in Berlin.

Scientists have since tried recreating the success they had Ray Brown. Only one man— Adam Castillejo, known as the London patient was successfully cured using the same method in 2016. Other patients either saw the virus return or eventually succumbed to cancer. The procedure is complicated and risky. Donors are rare too—the genetic mutation is found in only 1 per cent of white people living in northern and western Europe.

trump-expected-to-nominate-amy-coney-barrett-to-us-supreme-court

Sat, 26 Sep 2020 06:16:24 GMT

US President Donald Trump plans to nominate Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the nine-member bench of the US Supreme Court to fill up the vacancy following the death of Judge Ruth Bader Ginsberg, multiple news reports said on Friday.

Trump has said he will announce his Supreme Court nominee at the Rose Garden of the White House on Saturday (early hours of Sunday in India).

Barrett (48) is currently a judge on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, for which she was nominated by Trump in 2017. The US Senate confirmed her nomination by 55-43 votes.

The media reports said Trump could still change his mind between now and the announcement on Saturday.

According to The Hill newspaper, Barrett is the favourite choice of conservative Christians, who hope to overturn the landmark decision in Roe v. Wade, establishing a woman's right to an abortion.

She has strong support from conservative Republican senators. "He (Trump) has made his decision and it is Barrett," an unnamed official was quoted as saying. Multiple media reports said Trump has started informing his allies on Capitol Hill. The president is reported to have met Barrett at the White House earlier this week.

Nominations to the Supreme Court carry a lot of significance as the judges are appointed for lifetime and they do not have a retirement age unlike other apex courts of the world, including the Indian Supreme Court.

Trump is going ahead with the nomination despite strong opposition from the Democrats. Former vice president Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, has said the nomination needs to be done by the winner of the November 3 polls.

Trump has asserted that it is his constitutional duty to fill up the vacancy on the US Supreme Court. After Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, Barrett would be Trump's third nominee in the first term of his presidency.

"She was the plan all along. She is the most distinguished and qualified by traditional measures. She has the strongest support among the legal conservatives who have dedicated their lives to the court. She will contribute most to the court's jurisprudence in the years and decades to come," a former senior administration official familiar with the process told CNN.

Before being sworn-in as a judge on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, Barrett was the Diane and MO Miller II Research Professor of Law at the Notre Dame University Law School. She taught and researched in the areas of federal courts, constitutional law and statutory interpretation, in addition to publishing scholarship in leading legal journals such as the Columbia, Virginia and Texas Law Reviews.

Before joining the Notre Dame faculty, Barrett clerked for Associate Justice Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court and for Judge Laurence H. Silberman of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.

Following her clerkships, as an associate at Miller, Cassidy, Larroca & Lewin in Washington, DC, she litigated constitutional, criminal and commercial cases in both trial and appellate courts.

Barrett also served as a visiting associate professor and John M. Olin Fellow in Law at the George Washington University Law School, and as a visiting associate professor of law at the University of Virginia. She received her BA in English literature, magna cum laude, from Rhodes College and her JD, summa cum laude, from the Notre Dame University Law School, where she served as the executive editor of the Notre Dame Law Review.

imran-talks-of-genocide-of-kashmiris-at-un-indian-delegate-walks-out

Sat, 26 Sep 2020 05:41:51 GMT

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday continued his 'usual' approach of raking up the Kashmir issue at international forums.

This time, Imran used his speech at the first virtual meeting of the UN General Assembly to warn about an "impending genocide" of Kashmiris by India and the "fascist" RSS.

Imran was quoted by Geo News as saying, "While the Nazis' hate was directed at the Jews, the RSS directs it at the Muslims, and to a lesser extent, the Christians… The secularism of Gandhi and Nehru has been replaced by the dream of creating a Hindu Rashtra, by subjugating, even cleansing India's 200 million Muslims and other minorities."

Imran also brought up the Babri Masjid demolition, the Delhi riots of February and the Gujarat riots of 2002, which he mentioned happened when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the chief minister of the state.

Imran termed as "unprecedented" in history the alleged targeting of minorities by Hindutva groups. Imran referred to India as the "one country in the world where the states sponsors Islamophobia".

‘Final Solution’

Imran also spoke extensively about the security clampdown in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370. "About 13,000 Kashmiri youth were incarcerated and thousands tortured [since August 5, 2019]… Indian occupation forces have used brute force including pellet guns against peaceful protesters," Imran was quoted as saying by Geo News. Imran claimed the BJP government's plan in Kashmir was to implement a "Final Solution", again equating India to the Nazis.

Imran warned of the possibility of conflict over the Kashmir issue, which he claimed was rightly described as a "nuclear flashpoint".

Imran sought international intervention in the issue, noting, "“The Security Council must prevent a disastrous conflict and secure the implementation of its own resolutions as it did in the case of East Timor... It must take appropriate enforcement actions. It must also take steps to protect the Kashmiris from an impending genocide by India.”

India responds

Not surprisingly, the Indian government hit back. “PM of Pakistan statement a new diplomatic low—at 75th UN General Assembly. Another litany of vicious falsehood, personal attacks, war mongering and obfuscation of Pakistan’s persecution of its own minorities & of its cross-border terrorism. Befitting Right of Reply awaits," India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador T.S. Tirumurti tweeted.

The Indian delegate in the General Assembly Hall, Mijito Vinito, walked out when Imran started his usual diatribe about India. Vinito also read out India’s response to the speech by Imran. "This Hall heard the incessant rant of someone who had nothing to show for himself, who had no achievements to speak of, and no reasonable suggestion to offer to the world. Instead, we saw lies, misinformation, warmongering, and malice spread through this Assembly,“ Vinito was quoted as saying by NDTV. He noted Imran had described Osama Bin Laden as a “martyr” in Pakistan’s parliament in July. Vinito also pointed out Pakistan was the nation that brought genocide to South Asia, alluding to the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971.

India has categorically told the international community that the scrapping of Article 370 of the Constitution was its internal matter. It also advised Pakistan to accept reality and stop all anti-India propaganda.

2-wounded-in-paris-knife-attack-near-former-charlie-hebdo-office

Fri, 25 Sep 2020 18:28:15 GMT

French terrorism authorities are investigating a knife attack that wounded at least two people Friday near the former offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris, authorities said. A suspect has been arrested.

The area in eastern Paris remained cordoned off by police two hours after the attack. Children were being sequestered in nine schools while police worked to determine no other suspects were on the run, according to education and police officials.

It is unclear what motivated the attack or whether it was linked to Charlie Hebdo, which moved after its offices were targeted in a 2015 Islamic extremist attack that left 12 people dead.

Police cordoned off the area, including the former Charlie Hebdo offices, after a suspect package was noticed nearby, but the package was found to be harmless and no explosives were found, according a police official.

An investigation was opened into attempted murder in relation with a terrorist enterprise, according to an official at the prosecutor's office. Authorities did not release the identity of the suspect arrested in the area of the Bastille Plaza.

I saw a guy that was in his 30s or 40s with an axe in his hand who was walking behind a victim covered in blood...I cant tell you how many victims there was, I just saw one, witness Kader Alfa told The Associated Press at the scene.

AP reporters saw officers flooding into the neighborhood, near the Richard Lenoir subway station.

The two people confirmed injured worked for documentary film company Premieres Lignes, according to founder Paul Moreira. He told BFM television that the attacker fled into the subway, and the company's staff members were evacuated.

Moreira said a man in the street attacked two people who were in front of the building, didn't enter the building, and who attacked them with an axe and who left." He said the company had not received any threats.

A Paris police official said that while authorities initially thought two attackers were involved, they now believe it was only one person, who was detained. The official said police were still searching the area while they questioned the arrested suspect.

Police initially announced that four people were wounded in the attack, but the official told The Associated Press that there are in fact only two confirmed wounded. Police could not explain the discrepancies.

Police did not release the identities of the attacker or the wounded, who are in absolutely urgent condition, the official said. The official was not authorized to be publicly named.

French Prime Minister Jean Castex cut short a visit to a suburb north of Paris to head to the Interior Ministry to follow developments.

The trial in the Charlie Hebdo attacks is currently underway across town. Murmurs broke at the terrorism trial of 14 people, including 3 fugitives, accused of helping the attackers in the January 2015 killings, as the news filtered through. The widows of the Charlie Hebdo attackers are scheduled to testify Friday afternoon.

opinion--kamala-harris-and-the-great-american-divide

Fri, 25 Sep 2020 15:05:57 GMT

In the next few weeks, millions of anxious and angry Americans will tune in to watch a senate proceeding— the confirmation of a Supreme Court nominee. Trump’s court-packing plan, i.e to create a right-wing Supreme Court, will run into the dragon’s teeth of opposition from the Democrats. One Democrat, in particular, is supposed to spearhead the attack – Senator Kamala Harris.

She rose to national prominence because of her stellar role in the senate, questioning Trump’s previous nominees. In the past, even shoo-in candidates to the post have been dropped by previous administrations, when opposition to them was credible and sustained. This time around, much will depend on the campaign which Senator Harris and her colleagues organize to block the nominee.

This coming battle will be particularly ferocious and bitter as it comes at a tipping point in American politics. One hand is Senator Harris, a poster child for the American dream and immigrant aspirations. She is a representative of the progressive, post-racial America that the Obama Presidency was supposed to herald.

On the other side, the legions of the Republican Party, who are marshalling all their resources for the coming battle. They want to appoint their standard-bearer on the court, creating a more right-wing court for decades to come. Indeed this clash which is taking part under the overhang of the November 2020 Presidential election, is a battle for the soul of America.

Yet, regardless of the outcome of these feverish campaigns, Senator Harris, a political paladin will remain a cardinal figure in American politics. The junior senator from California has journeyed far and has stormed many a bastion in the treacherous realm of American politics. An Amazonian figure, as her opponents have discovered, she is heavily armoured and well-armed. As in war, a greater part of politics is about choosing one’s ground. In this, Kamala Harris has always displayed an unerring sense of terrain and manoeuvres adroitly. She chooses her target with great care and then engages it with the right mix of lethality and objectivity. She has finely honed instincts borne of a veteran of California politics and the acumen and judgement of ace prosecutor. Her career so far has been characterized by caution and few missteps, even as she nimbly ascends the political ladder.

The republicans have had a hard time attacking. So far there have been no revelations of skeletons in her closet, no shady business dealings or anything to taint her with. On the character and fitness score, she has a perfect grade. Her prosecutorial record is suggestive of a tough law and order politician, a plus in American politics. She has been accused of pandering and oscillating on key issues. But these are necessary traits in mainstream politics. All in all, she is a powerful centrist politician who is poised to occupy the commanding heights of US politics.

Yet she is politically handicapped! Handicapped in a way that a white, male, conservative politician would not be. That is because, beyond her strengths and prowess, lies the great American divide. A political and cultural chasm so wide and so unbridgeable that it will always impose certain extreme constraints on what she can achieve politically. It is a fissure that lies in history and has widened since the great recession of 2008.

It is a time tested truth that America while more accepting of immigrants than most countries embraces their capital, talent and labour while vehemently rejecting their social or political values. More so, because politics is oligarchical whilst populist, assimilative whilst nativist. These paradoxes are at the heart of what the American Historian, Richard Hofstadter called the ‘paranoid style of politics’.

As old as the founding fathers and the Declaration of Independence, the paranoid style of politics has always been an integral part of American political life. American politics, according to Hofstadter, has always been a theatre of angry minds with a pronounced tilt towards conspiratorial fantasizing and nativism. Its force of expression is high-pressure coercive campaigns and they aim to root out suspected subversives and traitors. It is characterized by attacks on the free press and editors.

Only the villains have changed. If it was Catholics, freemasons and Jews in the past, the victims of this right-wing vitriol currently are Socialists, Muslims and liberals. At particular times in American history, the influences of this brand of politics have waxed and waned. Yet whenever it reared its head, it signified a campaign of witch hunts, inquisitorial trials and lynch mob rallies. Throughout the 20th century, any political figure who acted to check on plutocratic dominance and entrenched racial hierarchies have been the victims of such sulphurous politics.

The Age of Obama was supposed to have signalled the end of such politics. Many naively believed that race-baiting, xenophobia, white nativism and other perennial demons haunting American public life, had finally been exorcised. Yet those malign beasts had only been pushed out of the centre by the crisis of the era. They found a ready home in the subterranean caverns of American life, far beyond the glare of beltway politics and mainstream media.

The Tea party movement and the Birther movement were the revitalizations of the paranoid style of US politics. The great betrayal and rage that the US middle class experienced by the great recession of 2008 towards Washington elites, was successfully channelized toward Obama and his administration. Trump, who was an early cheerleader of the movement, was able to convince millions of Americans that shyster elites were conspiring to hand over the country to ‘Un-American’ people like refugees and immigrants. America, he claimed would be hollowed out, by a disloyal government and its henchmen. This is the minefield through which Senator Harris is negotiating. No one, least of all the crores of Indians following her, should be puzzled by her future caution and circumspection concerning American domestic and foreign policy.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of THE WEEK