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🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• Putin to Beijing in October: Three industrial warehouses in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv were struck by Russian drone strikes, causing a major fire and killing at least one person according to local authorities. A policeman was also killed and two civilians wounded by Russian artillery fire in Kherson. Meanwhile, Moscow said President Vladimir Putin will meet China’s Xi Jinping for talks in Beijing in October. It will be Putin’s first known trip abroad since the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest over the deportation of children from Ukraine.
• Azerbaijan launches “anti-terrorist” operations in Nagorno-Karabakh: Azerbaijan has announced a new offensive in its breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, nearly three years after the country went to war against Armenia over the disputed area. On Tuesday, four Azerbaijani police officers and two civilians were killed in mine blasts, with authorities blaming Armenian separatists. Fears that the simmering dispute in the former Soviet region could turn into all-out war have escalated in recent months after Azerbaijan mounted a blockade of the only land link into the enclave from Armenia.
• American prisoners freed from Iran land in U.S.: Five Americans freed from Iranian detention as part of a prisoner swap deal have returned to U.S. soil, landing in the Washington DC area early Tuesday after an initial stop in Doha, Qatar. The deal included the release of five Iranians held in the U.S. and the unfreezing of $6 billion in Iranian funds. Read French international affairs columnist Pierre Haski on the hard choices of realpolitik.
• India expels Canadian diplomat in tit-for-tat move: India has ordered a senior Canadian diplomat to leave the country within five days, hours after Ottawa expelled an Indian diplomat, as part of a growing rift between the two countries over the killing of Canadian citizen and prominent Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June. The expulsions came after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada was investigating “credible allegations” linking Indian government agents to the murder, a concern India dismissed as “absurd.”
• Protests erupt in Libya’s flood-hit Derna against authorities: Hundreds of protesters rallied in Libya’s Derna on Monday, setting fire to the house of the man who was the city’s mayor at the time of the flood, to demand accountability one week after a flood that killed thousands of residents. Following the protests, several Arab broadcasters reported that their journalists were ordered to leave the city. Meanwhile, the UN has warned that a disease outbreak could create “a second devastating crisis” as people are falling ill from contaminated water.
• Australia spots El Niño pattern in spring heatwave: Australia’s weather bureau has confirmed that an El Niño weather pattern was underway as the country’s southeast is facing an unusual September heatwave, raising concerns over a severe wildfire season and leading to the first total fire ban in three years. About 61 bushfires have been reported across New South Wales as of Tuesday morning.
• Musk says X could go behind paywall: Owner of social media platform X Elon Musk suggested the company could introduce a monthly fee for all users, in an effort to combat bots. Musk’s comment was part of a conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the question of online anti-Semitism and what the platform formerly known as Twitter could do to counter the use of bots that “replicate and amplify it.”
🗞️ FRONT PAGE
Bogotá-based El Espectador devotes its front page to the disturbingly high number of femicides of Colombian women in Mexico over the past decade. The latest case is the murder of Ana María Serrano, the 18-year-old niece of the former Colombian finance minister, José Manuel Restrepo, allegedly by her ex-boyfriend. Families and organizations have denounced Mexican authorities for their handling of the cases. “In Mexico, where the rate of femicides is high, families of victims face stigmatization during investigations of these cases. But when it comes to foreigners, the barriers are greater,” writes the daily.
#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS
29.1%
A nation-wide survey shows 29.1% of Japan’s population is aged 65 or older. It’s a record for the aging country, and far higher than others facing similar demographic trends, like 24.5% in Italy and 23.6% in Finland. According to data gathered by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, one in 10 people in Japan is now aged 80 or older, as the country struggles with social security spending.
📰 STORY OF THE DAY
Re;Memory — a new AI program makes talking to the dead come alive
There are many frontiers being crossed by AI lately, sparking debate and anxiety. But now, we're entering strange, new territory: an algorithm that lets bereaved family members communicate with deceased loved ones in the most realistic of ways. Yet it comes with very real and complicated risks, writes Gianluca Nicoletti in Italian daily La Stampa.
⚰️ Communing with the dead, real or imagined, is an experience that the digital world may now be ready to outflank the human competition. The technical term for these algorithms is "deadbots," which offer a sort of ephemeral evocation of the spirit of a deceased person. The most realistic of these chatbot models is the consolatory Re;Memory. This ectoplasmic recreation, designed by South Korean company DeepBrain, comes almost as a natural evolution to the spiritual seances to which we're accustomed.
🎥 In a promotional video for the chatbot we meet Mr. Lee, who is — or rather, was — an elegant and composed Korean gentleman. Perhaps, being terminally ill, he decided to visit the studios of the company where highly equipped operators recorded a monologue in which he addressed his family, as if he had already passed away. The AI recorded not only his facial expressions but also his gestures and voice. Re;memory then created a video clone of Mr. Lee, with whom it would be possible to interact, after his death, as if it were a video call to the afterlife.
⚖️ Certainly, the issue of the "freedom of one's thoughts to evolve post-mortem" will create a new dilemma regarding the protection of any future digital manifestation of our consciousness. The ethical and legal implications will raise important questions about privacy, consent, and the boundaries of posthumous representation in the digital age — add to that existential anxieties while we're at it.
➡️ Read more on Worldcrunch.com
📣 VERBATIM
"I'm running because democracy is at stake."
— In New York, U.S. President Joe Biden commented on his decision to run for re-election in 2024, once again against Donald Trump. Biden said that Trump and his “MAGA Republicans are determined to destroy American democracy,” while he is committed to always defend, protect and fight for democracy. He added that he sought to rally the world to “stand up to Vladimir Putin”, as he will not “side with dictators” like Trump would. Biden, 80, brought up how his age has been seen as problematic for some, saying he knows it “better than anyone” and that it should not be a concern.
👉 MORE FROM WORLDCRUNCH
• Lampedusa, The Far Right's Favorite European Island — FRANCE INTER
• Beyond Musk: Is The Right-Wing Shift Of Tech Spreading Worldwide?— WORLDCRUNCH
• The Changing Destiny Of Chicago's Polish Diaspora — GAZETA WYBORCZA
✍️ Newsletter by Emma Albright, Laure Gautherin, Michelle Courtois and Anne-Sophie Goninet
Let us know what’s happening in your corner of the world!
Geopolitics
Why China Has Bet On A Bigger (And Nastier) BRICS To Challenge The West
Growth engines
In its first decade, the big four BRIC economies appeared as an emerging, southern engine of global economic growth. That isn't the impression today, and the group's original and largely developmental vocation may change further with the entry of new members, due in January 2024.
If China and Russia have their way, the BRICS will represent a political challenge to the West and the global North, mounted from the East and the South. The new members include states grappling with some hefty economic and debt issues, like Argentina and Egypt, which limit their autonomy. Three others, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia, are strong enough to sustain independent foreign policies and a sixth new member, Ethiopia, maintains fluid, strategic and business ties with both the United States and China.
The expansion thus had seemed balanced enough... until a last-minute decision to include the Islamic Republic of Iran. Just that alone will rule out any idea of the group taking the middle-ground in diplomatic spats.
Iran's entry strengthens the "harsh face" China wants BRICS to show the West.
The regime in Tehran has helped arm Russia against Ukraine and kept selling oil and gas to China in a successful, if cut-price, bid to dodge Western sanctions imposed on it for activities including a suspect nuclear program. It will become the most vociferously anti-Western member of BRICS. The country's president, Ibrahim Raisi, an eager friend of Russia, says the inclusion confounded the West's bid to isolate Iran.
Its entry will also strengthen that "harsh face" China wants BRICS to show the West. And China effectively calls the shots in BRICS, in part for running its development bank, or cash till.
That development bank has $30 billion worth of funds, mostly Chinese money, and is based in Shanghai. As a goodwill gesture to Brazil and its left-wing government, the bank's president former Brazilian president, Dilma Rousseff. It is an enticing element to the 23 states that want in and especially to Latin America's three cash-strapped but 'revolutionary' states, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. They will have to wait, but probably not for long. The next BRICS summit to be held in Moscow, may be decisive in that respect.
Brazil and India have backed this irksome mutation in return for Chinese support for their bid to become permanent members of the UN Security Council. They share China's desire to promote national currencies instead of the dollar in trade.
U.S.-China "delinking"
The group's expansion and Iran's entry may give the impression of strength and momentum. For China, the lending bank is a useful tool to exploit the shifting needs and dubious neutrality of dozens of weaker states wary of openly taking sides. BRICS and its apparent dynamism may give to many of them the impression of a new balance of power, and China's irrepressible ascent.
Yet the picture isn't so clear. The United States is also courting the 'inbetweeners' and urging big firms to "wisely" move out of China. The big "de-linking" is costing China big money, with a marked decline in direct Western investments. It is of course exporting more to other states, like Mexico, and many of its exports will end up in the U.S. market.
Perhaps the change is in the labels and shape of trade flows - or the deceptive surface of things. But if it is still business as usual with China, expect a harsher tone and sharper practices at every turn.
Geopolitics
Will Iran Reignite With The Anniversary Of Mahsa Amini's Death?
The head of the Revolutionary guards, Hussein Salami, echoed his words, accusing "America and the West" of fanning protests, which he termed "the most dangerous and serious" of recent decades.
Political tensions, meanwhile, have become evident in the otherwise docile parliament, where some lawmakers have criticized the lackluster performance of President Ibrahim Raisi's government.
More reasons for discontent
Iranians have reasons enough to be upset with this regime, and the Raisi team especially. The economy has worsened in recent months, with rising prices putting many items out of reach of most households. Suicides are believed to have risen, perhaps in part due to economic desperation.
For two years, the Raisi government's economic recipe has consisted mostly of publishing good news and making big promises. It is now trying to placate the merchant class, or the bazaar, traditionally an influential sector of society, to prevent them from lending support to possible protests.
Even state media and economic observers inside Iran have become critical.
The government recently decided to backtrack, for now, on fixing prices, and will let the market operate in sectors like audiovisual equipment.
It is also making a big deal of the $6 billion dollars set to be returned to Iran in exchange for the release of five dual-national prisoners, after talks with the U.S. The government wants to frame the development as a prelude to economic openings and keep people hopeful about the outcome of secretive talks with the Biden administration.
It has also been tweaking the numbers to brighten the economic picture somewhat, using flawed stats to polish its economic achievements. But figures and claims are one thing, and the reality of everyday life in Iran, another.
Even state media and economic observers inside Iran have become critical. The government's bid to "massage" opinion with preposterous claims are fueling — as adding insult to injury inevitably will — resentment and contempt for an administration that can barely be qualified as elected and representative in the first place.
Regression: a tried and tested method
The regime has recently intensified repressive measures ahead of the anniversary of the 2022 protests. It has ramped up arrests, interrogations, phone threats and sentences against activists, with one body, the Center for Human Rights in Iran, counting 22 arrests in several cities in the first three weeks of August.
Sixteen women's rights activists were arrested just on August 16, in the northern province of Gilan. The Intelligence ministry made sinister claims ahead of the arrests, saying the women had been trained abroad.
In the second half of August, at least 40 university students were summoned for questioning by university authorities.
Security forces have been visibly deployed just to keep an eye on, well, everything.
The state is also pushing through a purge of "suspect" personnel in universities, to be replaced with up to 15,000 loyalist staff and academics. It also wants to organize pro-regime students into a nationwide network — or perhaps militia — promising exam credits for the 45,000 students said to be interested in its ideological training courses. For other students, the government wants to prolong distant and online learning until early October.
The Free Union of Iranian Workers (FUIW), one of the country's independent trade unions, is also reporting that dozens of its members are being held and dozens more are facing summonses or charges.
Many Iranians who have had a run-in with authorities in one form or another have been warned to avoid any gatherings. Hundreds of Iranians are currently being prosecuted for their parts in last year's protests, and thus in highly vulnerable situations before the law.
Even relatives of dead protesters are under intense pressure and scrutiny. Large numbers of security forces and policemen have been visibly deployed in numerous cities, ostensibly to enforce the hijab rules that sparked the revolt in 2022, but really, just to keep an eye on, well, everything.
Whatever happens on the anniversary, it is clear the gloves are off between Iranians and a dogged regime that firmly believes in sticking it out, come what may, until the tide turns in its favor.
Ideas
A Birthday Message For My Mother, An Innocent 69-Year-Old Held In Iranian Prison
Aug. 28, 2023 is a Monday, and on Mondays the political prisoners in the women's wing of Tehran's Evin Prison are allowed to make phone calls. I am glad about that. At least I can wish my mother, Nahid Taghavi, a happy 69th birthday on the phone.
For the third year in a row, she is now "celebrating" her special day behind bars. How do you celebrate your innocent mother while she is in prison? The same way as last year, and the year before: I will reassure her that this will be the last birthday she will spend in hostage detention. That's what I believe. That's what I've been fighting for, for 1047 days.
My mother is a retired architect and women's rights activist. On Oct. 16, 2020, she was arrested by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard's Intelligence Service, locked in solitary confinement for 200 days and interrogated for more than 1,000 hours, without access to a lawyer.
In the summer of 2021, a Tehran Revolutionary Court sentenced her to 10 years and eight months in prison, after a mockery of a trial.
Politically motivated arrests are part of the oppressive apparatus of Iran's theocratic authorities. Since the outbreak of the revolutionary movement in Sept. 2022 after the death of Jina Mahsa Amini in police custody, there have been more than 20,000 new arrests. What makes my mother's case different? Her German citizenship.
Lucrative business
The Islamic regime runs a lucrative business with its hostage diplomacy. For decades, Western citizens have been arrested in order to secure the release of Iranian agents, to secure political and economic concessions or to blatantly extort money.
For example, since May of this year, six European and five U.S. citizens have been freed from Iranian hostage detention. Their governments made their release a priority, established task forces, and involved their families in their strategic thinking and actions.
Belgium, Austria, and Denmark were able to bring their citizens home in a controversial prisoner exchange; previously, France had also safely returned two citizens.
No strategy for the return
Then, on Aug. 10, came the sensational news: five Iranian-born U.S. prisoners were to be released after years of imprisonment. In return, Washington agreed to release $6 billion in frozen Iranian government assets.
Only in Berlin, in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, does the release of a German citizen not seem to be on the agenda. To this day, the release of my mother has not even been publicly demanded.
To this day, there is no strategy for the safe return of my mother to Germany.
No action was taken in Berlin
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has not met with me, the daughter of a German detained in Iran. Even when the prominent human rights activist and fellow inmate of my mother Narges Mohammadi addressed the public in an open letter on June 2, 2023, drawing attention to the catastrophic state of my mother's health, no action was taken in Berlin.
Still, the German government and German companies have maintained close political and economic relations with the regime in Tehran for many years. Germany is Iran's largest European trading partner, and German companies like Thyssen Krupp, Siemens and Bosch have earned millions doing business with the mullahs.
It only became known in early August that Bosch supplied surveillance cameras to Iran from 2016 to 2018. Equipped with facial recognition software, they are used by the regime for human rights violations such as enforcing the mandatory headscarf.
So, there should be plenty of levers.
Women holding signs for Niloofar Bayani, Nahid Taghavi and other political prisoners of Iran for the Women's Day 2022 demonstration in Paris.
Mariam Claren via Twitter
Government silence
Policies of appeasement, one-sided advisors and economic interests give the impression that the current, but also the previous, federal governments prefer a softened course towards the Islamic Republic of Iran. Who pays the price? My mother, the German citizen Jamshid Sharmahd, who was sentenced to death, and ultimately also the Iranian people, who have suffered from mismanagement, poverty and oppression under dictatorship for 44 years.
The exact number of German citizens detained in Iran is not known. On Aug. 8, Clara Bünger, Member of the Bundestag for the Left Party parliamentary group, asked the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs how many German citizens had been released from Iranian custody since the fall of 2020.
On Aug. 16, 2023, she received the following answer: "The German Federal Government can confirm that it has successfully worked for the release of German citizens from detention in Iran during the reference period."
So, releases are possible, after all. Just not, it seems, if the prisoners are named Nahid or Jamshid.
History will not forget.
Will I wish my mother a happy 70th birthday next year in freedom? I will fight for it, even for another 365 days, in the hope that the German federal government will follow its words with deeds. History will not forget.
Mariam Claren, 43, is a marketing manager living in Cologne. She is the founder of the #freenahid campaign and an activist for the release of political prisoners in Iran.
Geopolitics
Cash-Strapped Iran Ramps Up A Favorite Old Business: Taking Hostages For Ransom
Humanitarian hostages
Iranian officials say the prisoners were released as a humanitarian gesture, even if public opinion in Iran and abroad may not likely associate this regime with humanitarianism. Iran began dabbling in hostage-taking for extortion in Lebanon, soon after the 1979 revolution in Iran.
That would also solve Iran's economic problems.
A former Iranian Revolutionary guards chief, Muhsin Rezai, warned during talks leading to the first nuclear agreement between Iran, the U.S. and allied countries in mid-2015, that if the U.S. were to attack, Iran would take 1,000 Americans hostage the very first week, and ask for a few billion dollars for each. That, he said, would also solve Iran's economic problems.
Vox describes the new hostage deal as a money-making enterprise for cash-strapped Iran. As the analyst Aaron David Miller observed in Foreign Policy on August 14, there are no good deals with Iran while the Islamic Republic is in power.
Seven years ago, when the government of President Hasan Rouhani held similar, secret talks with U.S. officials, just the rumors around them had a positive effect on Iran's currency and money markets. Not so today, amid a generalized despondency among Iranians and their deep-seated distrust of anything said by the regime and the Biden administration. So how much of an economic break can this deal give Iran?
August 22, 2023, Tehran: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi visits an exhibit celebrating the achievements of the country's defence industry
Iranian Presidency Office/ZUMA
Funds unfrozen, then wasted
A week after the prisoners were moved to a hotel, the German central bank became involved as its branch in Switzerland is to be the first place to receive the $6 billion blocked in South Korea. These must be converted from won to euro, then sent to banks in Qatar or Oman.
That means, part of the money, possibly as much as one billion dollars, will be lost in the exchange — South Korea's currency has recently lost value — and transfers. Some Iranian officials have said Iran can then access the money, though U.S. officials insist Iran will not be handling its cash, which can only be spent on essential consumer goods and under U.S. supervision.
Few people in Iran are giving the deal a thought as they expect no benefits and trust neither side in the deal. They already feel the funds will just melt away, like those Iran recovered on the back of the 2015 nuclear pact. This may be why Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi recently insisted this money would be used to boost production in Iran.
Joe Biden attends a joint press conference at the Trilateral Summit held at Camp David on Aug. 18
Nathan Howard - Pool via CNP/ZUMA
Not Even 'Magic Funds' Could Help
It is not clear how much money Iran has frozen in foreign banks. Iranian officials say it is $23 billion, and are hailing the deal, if it goes through, as a diplomatic victory and sign of Iran's clout.
But even official and semi-official economists in Iran doubt this could aid an economy battered by decades of "revolutionary" interventionism and hostility to the free market, electoral fraud, confiscations, cronyism and likely massive thefts and embezzlement.
The problem of Iran's economy is rooted in politics and ideology.
And that is even if the entire $23 billion or four times as much were unfrozen and duly spent inside Iran, and not to finance terrorists, rockets and regional militias.
The problem of Iran's economy is rooted in politics and ideology. Its debts and needs are off the charts. Iran owes the IMF around U.S. $112 billion. The parliamentary research office says the oil and gas sector needs $100 billion's worth of upgrading and investments. The head of the state railways is asking for $25 billion. The electricity grid needs its own $25 billion, according to a deputy-energy minister. The government owes the state forex reserves fund $74 billion. Astronomical sums have been cited as the amount of money Iran has sunk into Syria's civil war. No amount of hostage-taking could fix this.
Iranian activists and exiles have repeatedly warned Western states that secretive deals with the Islamic Republic only embolden it to intensify repression at home and spread its tentacles abroad.
The Biden administration has sought to balance its appeasement of Tehran with a firm gesture — sending 3,000 Marines to the region — which is meant to be taken as a warning in Tehran over its good conduct. The administration thus wants to send a signal to baffled observers: that it knows what it is doing. It has the situation in hand.
Work In Progress
Hot Summer Jobs: How Global Warming Weighs On The Workplace
It is mandatory to start adapting workplace conditions to face extreme heat. However, is setting up air-conditioning in every office sustainable? Could working from home be a way to minimize the effects of our hot-and-hotter summers? What are the most sustainable solutions at our disposal to face these heat waves?
Health and security
Heat exhaustion for workers is a common risk when temperatures are too high. Symptoms include dizziness, headaches, shaking and thirst. An even more serious medical problem is heat stroke, which occurs when the body’s core temperature rises above 40.6 °C (105 °F).
Shifting working hours, reinforcing air conditioning, providing refreshment facilities ...
This condition can lead to long-term organ damage and possibly death. Long-lasting heat can also cause a range of chronic health problems. Constant exposure to heat can be hard on the heart and kidneys, disrupt sleep and challenge our mental health.
During the work day, what can be done to help adapt to the heat? It is important for employers to prevent risks, meaning shifting working hours, reinforcing air conditioning, providing refreshment facilities or even increasing the number of breaks.
Workplace conditions are changing
In recent weeks, several countries have had to implement emergency protocols to deal with the high temperatures. Iran, with temperatures going up to 50 °C, declared two public holidays for public services and banks on Aug. 2 and 3. Back in June, the government had modified the working hours of public employees to allow them to start their day earlier, and in the process save energy.
In France, the “Code du Travail” (workplace code and ethic), does not determine a maximum workplace temperature, but it does require employers to make sure their workers are able to do their job under safe conditions, which applies to extreme heat.
In Spain and the United States, the media reported several deaths of people working outdoors despite the heatwave. Spanish media El Diaro reports that businesses have been fined up to 330,000 euros for risking their employees lives and health by failing to comply with safety regulations in the summer heat.
In Germany, Johannes Niessen, head of the Association of German Public Health Service Doctors, offered to extend the lunch break during the summer to allow for a “siesta,” reports German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung. The origins of this practice lie in the Spanish “siesta,” dating back to the time when rural workers took breaks during the hottest part of the day.
Sustainable solutions for the workplace
Apart from the obvious solutions like frequent water breaks and flexible working hours, there are other practices that can be implemented to help their workers deal with severe heat.
Employers should raise awareness about heat’s effect on health.
Cities could plant more trees in urban areas, which would prevent the accumulation of heat in concrete and significantly cool down buildings.
Employers should also raise awareness about heat’s effect on health, emphasizing the importance of hydration and train workers on detecting early symptoms of heatstroke.
For those where the job allows it, working from home is also an option to stay cool as employees can dress informally. But it should also be an option to come into the office when it is equipped with air conditioning.
The real problem
While nations reform laws or implement new regulations, we must not forget that this is only a symptom of climate change. According to a report released in May by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), global temperatures are likely to soar to record levels in the next five years.
Summer often reveals the impact of climate change with extreme weather, floods, and fires around the globe. Seeing our daily lives impacted by high temperatures and being forced to change the way we operate when facing the heat, is a reminder of what is happening to our planet.
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