China hit by COVID protests

According to Reuters report, protests against China's heavy COVID-19 curbs spread to more cities, including the financial hub Shanghai on Sunday, nearly three years into the pandemic, with a fresh wave of anger sparked by a deadly fire in the country's far west.

The fire on Thursday that killed 10 people in a high-rise building in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang region, has sparked widespread public anger. Many internet users surmised that residents could not escape in time because the building was partially locked down, which city officials denied. The fire has fuelled a wave of civil disobedience unprecedented in mainland China since Xi Jinping assumed power a decade ago.

In Shanghai, China's most populous city, residents gathered on Saturday night at Wulumuqi Road - which is named after Urumqi - for a candlelight vigil that turned into a protest in the early hours of Sunday.

As a large group of police looked on, the crowd held up blank sheets of paper - a protest symbol against censorship. Later on, they shouted, “lift lockdown for Urumqi, lift lockdown for Xinjiang, lift lockdown for all of China”, according to a video circulated on social media.

At another point a large group began shouting, “Down with the Chinese Communist Party, down with Xi Jinping", according to witnesses and videos, in a rare public protest against the country's leadership.

The police tried at times to break up the crowd.

Beijing is adhering to a zero-COVID policy even while much of the world tries to coexist with the coronavirus. While low by global standards, China's cases have hit record highs for days, with nearly 40,000 new infections reported on Sunday for the previous day.

China defends Xi's signature zero-COVID policy as life-saving and necessary to prevent overwhelming the healthcare system. Officials have vowed to continue with it despite the growing public pushback and its mounting toll on the world's second-biggest economy.

Widespread public protest is extremely rare in China, where room for dissent has been all-but eliminated under Xi, forcing citizens mostly to vent on social media, where they play cat-and-mouse with censors.

Frustration is boiling just over a month after Xi secured a third term at the helm of China's Communist Party.

"This will put serious pressure on the party to respond. There is a good chance that one response will be repression, and they will arrest and prosecute some protesters," said Dan Mattingly, assistant Professor of political science at Yale University.

Still, he said, the unrest is far from approaching that seen in 1989, when protests across the country culminated in the bloody crackdown in Tiananmen Square.

"Popular sentiment matters," he said. "But as long as there is no split in the elite and as long the PLA (People's Liberation Army) and security services remain on his side he does not face any meaningful risk to his hold on power."

The next few weeks could be China's worst since the early weeks of the pandemic for the economy and the healthcare system, Mark Williams of Capital Economics said in note last week, as containing the outbreak will require additional lockdowns.

In the northwestern city of Lanzhou, residents on Saturday upturned COVID staff tents and smashed testing booths, posts widely shared on social media showed. Protesters said they were put under lockdown even though no one had tested positive.

Videos from Shanghai showed crowds facing police and chanting “Serve the people”, “We want freedom", and “We don’t want health codes”, a reference to the mobile phone apps that must be scanned for entry into public places across China.

The city's 25 million people were put under lockdown for two months earlier this year, an ordeal that provoked anger and protests.

Chinese authorities have since then sought to be more targeted in their COVID curbs, an effort that has been challenged by the surge in infections as the country faces its first winter with the highly transmissible Omicron variant.

On Friday night, crowds took to the streets of Urumqi, chanting "End the lockdown" and pumping their fists in the air after the fire, according to videos on social media.

Many of Urumqi's 4 million residents have been under some of the country's longest lockdowns, barred from leaving their homes for as long as 100 days.

In Beijing, 2,700 km (1,700 miles) away, some residents under lockdown staged small protests or confronted local officials on Saturday over movement restrictions, with some successfully pressuring them into lifting the curbs ahead of a schedule.

A video shared with Reuters showed Beijing residents marching in an unidentifiable part of the capital on Saturday, shouting "End the lockdown"

 

 

 

US creating make or break situation for Iran

United States and its allies across the globe are struggling to support protesters in Iran in what observers say is a make-or-break moment that could tip the scales for regime change in Tehran.  

US President, Joe Biden said in early November that “we’re gonna free Iran. They’re gonna free themselves pretty soon.”  

But outside experts say US policy focused on diplomacy with Tehran over its nuclear program, and the disunity within and outside Iran, puts the favor in the hands of the nation’s current government.  

“The problem is not only the foreign policy decisions of the US. There’s no united front on the end of the protest movement, there is no leadership,” said Ceng Sagnic, Chief Analyst of TAM-C Solutions, a multinational private intelligence company. 

Iran’s leaders have attempted to brutally suppress demonstrators that originally took to the streets protesting the death of Mahsa Amini, after she died in custody of the country’s morality police. Amini was detained for allegedly wearing her headscarf incorrectly.

Since then, protests have grown to include calls for the downfall of the country’s Islamic rulers. 

At least 14,000 people are reported to have been arrested and hundreds are believed to have died in the demonstrations, including dozens of children. The youngest victim is believed to be nine years old.  

“The Iranian government and the regime as a whole have the potential power to suppress the protest movement,” Sagnic said.  

US Special Envoy for Iran, Rob Malley reacted to a recent CNN investigation saying that it documented unspeakable acts of sexual violence by Iranian officials in detention centers. 

“It’s a reminder of what is at stake for the Iranian people – and of the lengths to which the regime will go in its futile attempt to silence dissent,” he tweeted. 

The US, European Union and United Kingdom have imposed sanctions on individuals and entities they have identified as responsible for the violent crackdown on protesters. They’ve sought to ease restrictions on internet access to aid protesters who have had their service cut off. 

Member-states of the United Nations are looking for ways to condemn and isolate the Islamic Republic, the ruling government of which came to power in 1979 following a revolution. Outside Iran, individuals are working to maintain support for the protesters globally.  

The Iranian national soccer team stayed silent when their national anthem played at the World Cup in Qatar, widely viewed as a sign of support for the protesters. Solidarity protests in Berlin, Los Angeles and Washington, DC, last month brought together tens of thousands of the Iranian diaspora and their supporters. 

Shayda Gangi, an Iranian American living in DC, helped launch an exhibit in Georgetown displaying protest art created over the past two months in an effort to keep attention on the struggle of the people of Iran.  

“All these articles being written, all the people who come to these exhibits, and showcase this work, is so important and it’s doing what it’s supposed to do, which is to raise awareness and keep the spotlight on Iran,” she told The Hill.  

The exhibit, which ran for three days, featured more than 100 pieces from artists all over the world, including Iranians living abroad, Italian and Israeli artists, and at least one artist from inside Iran, who sent her work with great secrecy, quickly deleting communication and even blocking the organizers at one point as a security precaution, Gangi said.  

“I tried to put myself in her shoes and think, ‘would I do the same thing?’” Gangi said. “And I don’t know. She was scared and is in Iran, and it’s dangerous, but even with all of that, she was so happy to contribute to this event, and to do what she could do and to send her artwork to be shown.” 

Sherry Hakimi, an Iranian American activist and founder and executive director of a nonprofit focused on gender equality, was one of five Iranian women invited to meet with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other top State Department officials in October to offer their advice on how the US could best support protesters.  

“I appreciate that senior US leaders have been listening to the calls made by Iranians and Iranian Americans alike,” she told The Hill, but said governments need to be more innovative in how they think about aiding the protesters.  

“These are unprecedented times – this is the first female-led revolution – so meeting the moment requires unprecedented measures.” 

Hakimi said that on top of sanctions and efforts to hold the Islamic Republic accountable at the United Nations, countries should focus on providing health care assistance because injured protesters risk arrest if they seek care at a hospital.  

“I want to see more health care-focused aid being sent to Iran, whether that’s through the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, or some other organization or mechanism.

There are parts of Iran where people are no longer able to seek treatment, because the regime has made it impossible — either hospitals won’t treat them or if they do go to a hospital they can risk arrest, which makes things worse,” she said.  

“To me, that seems like one of the most basic things.” 

Human rights groups and news reports have documented accounts from protesters that they are avoiding hospitals for fear of arrest from security forces, and that the Iranian government is using ambulances to infiltrate protests and detain demonstrators.  

The danger for protesters seeking medical help was echoed by Cameron Khansarinia, Policy Director for the nonprofit and nonpartisan National Union for Democracy in Iran (NUFDI), which also helped sponsor the art exhibit in Georgetown.  

“Protesting in Iran is not like protesting in any other country,” he said, referencing the extreme tactics of targeting protesters, the use of live ammunition, detentions, allegations of torture and killings.  

NUFDI is advocating for the US and other governments to explore setting up a “strike fund” to distribute the Islamic Republic’s frozen assets abroad among protesters who have their livelihoods threatened by the government.  

“So providing, at least, a small modicum of financial support to allow these workers to go on strike and allow their families to have bread at the end of the day … are very tangible means by which a foreign government could empower the Iranian people,” he said, calling for governments to devise a “mechanism” to deliver such cash.   

Khansarinia, like others interviewed for this article, described the protests as unprecedented for their massive scale in the face of extreme violence by security authorities.   

The Norway-based Iran Human Rights organization has documented at least 416 people killed, and that includes 51 children. The rights group is also pointing to the government systematically and disproportionately targeting minorities in Iran, in particular in the Baluch and Kurdish ethnic regions. 

The tactic is aimed at seeking to delegitimize the protests as an ethnic, separatist movement, private intelligence analyst Sagnic said. 

“By increasing the oppression in the Kurdish areas, violent tactics, striking Kurdish Peshmerga bases in Iraq, trying to make it more an ethnic issue, something that separates Kurdish groups from the rest of Iran, which is a successful tactic, to be honest,” he said.  

Gangi, who helped organize the Georgetown art exhibit, said that she feels this moment is different because of the scale of support from the international community. 

“This is by far, in my personal experience following these things throughout the years, this is the first time I’ve seen this much support from not just the Iranian community and not just within Iran, but the global community,” she said.   

“With what they’re doing within Iran, with the internet shutdowns, and all the violence — what we’re seeing outside is a small percentage of what’s happening there. I would really just ask everyone to continue to do what they’re doing, and keep the light on, on Iran.” 

 

EU Countries Lambast Gas Price Cap Proposal

European Union Energy Ministers locked horns on Thursday over a proposed gas price cap at 275 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), grappling over its effectiveness at that level and the impact on supplies and incentives to cut consumption.

The long-standing disagreements were holding up other policies to alleviate the acute energy crisis, such as the launch of joint EU gas purchases and a quicker permit process for renewables.

Diplomats said the 27 EU countries agreed on these two in principle but delayed formal approval until another meeting called for December 13, 2022 with proponents of a cap demanding a green light for all three proposals or none at all.

Polish Climate Minister Anna Moskwa called the 275 euro blueprint put forward by the European Commission a joke.

Belgium's Energy Minister Tinne Van der Straeten also chimed in, telling reporters, "The text that is on the table is unsatisfactory ... it doesn't clearly say if it will have an effect on prices."

Their Greek counterpart, Konstantinos Skrekas said a cap of 150-200 euros/MWh would be realistic.

"It could help us reduce gas prices and therefore reduce electricity prices, which is a major challenge in Europe this winter," he said.

Malta was also unhappy with the proposed ceiling. Energy minister Miriam Dalli said the strict conditions needed for the mechanism to kick in made it "next to impossible".

As many as 15 EU states want a set limit to contain energy costs after gas prices soared to record highs in August 2022, driven up by Russia cutting supplies to Europe in the wake of Western sanctions over Moscow's war against Ukraine.

But stiff opposition comes from a smaller but powerful camp led by Germany, the EU's biggest economy. Together with the Netherlands, Sweden, Austria and Finland, they say a cap could shift supply elsewhere and cut incentives to lower consumption.

The Commission proposed to limit the front-month price on the Netherlands' Title Transfer Facility (TTF) gas exchange if it exceeds 275 euros/MWh for two weeks and if the price is more than 58 euros higher from a liquefied natural gas (LNG) global reference for 10 consecutive trading days.

Dutch minister Rob Jetten was highly critical of the plan.

"The proposal is flawed," he said. "There is a lot of risk for damaging the energy security of supply, and also for stability of the financial markets."

German state secretary for climate, Sven Giegold, added, "We still have a lot of work to do."

The Estonian minister was the only one to say the plan was OK, pretty much as a temporary measure and only to address extreme price increases rather than a permanent solution.

The EU has approved a series of measures to mitigate the crisis in recent months, ranging from consumption savings to windfall taxes to claw back profits from energy producers. But the issue of whether and how to cap gas prices has split the bloc.

Ukraine's energy minister was also due to dial in, according to an EU diplomat, to discuss support for his country where the Russian war destroyed civilian infrastructure and incapacitated power and heating systems as winter cold sets in.

 

 

Ghana to buy oil with gold instead of US dollar

Ghana's government is working on a new policy to buy oil products with gold rather than US dollars, Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia said on Facebook on Thursday.

The move is meant to tackle dwindling foreign currency reserves coupled with demand for dollars by oil importers, which is weakening the local cedi and increasing living costs.

Ghana's Gross International Reserves stood at around US$6.6 billion at the end of September 2022, equating to less than three months of imports cover. That is down from around US$9.7 billion at the end of last year, according to the government.

“If implemented as planned for the first quarter of 2023, the new policy will fundamentally change our balance of payments and significantly reduce the persistent depreciation of our currency," Bawumia said.

Using gold would prevent the exchange rate from directly impacting fuel or utility prices as domestic sellers would no longer need foreign exchange to import oil products, he explained.

"The barter of gold for oil represents a major structural change," he added.

The proposed policy is uncommon. While countries sometimes trade oil for other goods or commodities, such deals typically involve an oil-producing nation receiving non-oil goods rather than the opposite.

Ghana produces crude oil but it has relied on imports for refined oil products since its only refinery shut down after an explosion in 2017.

Bawumia's announcement was posted as Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta announced measures to cut spending and boost revenues in a bid to tackle a spiraling debt crisis.

In a 2023 budget presentation to parliament on Thursday, Ofori-Atta warned the West African nation was at high risk of debt distress and that the cedi's depreciation was seriously affecting Ghana's ability to manage its public debt.

The government is negotiating a relief package with the International Monetary Fund as the cocoa, gold and oil-producing nation faces its worst economic crisis in a generation.

 

Pakistan Stock Exchange benchmark index closes flat

The uncertainty stemming from the appointment of the next Chief of Army Staff kept Pakistan Stock Exchange under pressure during the week ended on November 25, 2022. The benchmark index ended the week at 42,937, posting 0.48%WoW gain.

Participation in the market remained lackluster, with daily average trading volume at 159.58 million shares, as compared to 186.3 million shares traded in the earlier week.

All eyes had been on the Monetary Policy announcement scheduled for Friday; the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) decided to increase the policy rate 100bps to 16%.

Other major news flows during the week were: 1) Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves declined by
US$134 million to US$7.8 billion, 2) fertilizer offtakes plunged by 50.3%YoY in October, 2022, 3) revenue collection target for December 2022 set at PKR 965 billion, 4) FDI dropped 52% to US$348 million during first four months of current financial year, 5) World Bank approved soft loan of US$200 million for Pakistan for green project, 6) Credit default swap shoots up to 92.53% on political unrest and 7) SBP failed in setting up US$400 million oil fund.

The top performing sectors were: Jute, Technology & Communication and Transport, while the least favorite sectors were: Power generation & distribution, Vanaspati & Allied Industries and Cable & Electrical.

Stock-wise, top performers were: INDU, SYS, ENGRO, DAWH and PSEL, while laggards included: HUBC, MUREB, FCEPL, FATIMA and KEL.

Flow wise, Individuals were major buyers with net buy of US$4.8 million, followed by Foreign Investors (US$1.1 million), while Mutual Funds were major sellers during the week, with a net sell of US$2.8 million. Insurance continued to be a seller, with a net sell of US$1.4 million during the week.

The market is expected to remain range-bound in the near future. The 100bps increase in policy rate announced on Friday does not bode well and likely to dampen the outlook for equity markets.

Furthermore, the upcoming maturity of the International
Sukuk of US$1 billion will be in focus, with a positive outcome possibly restoring sentiment regarding Pakistan's external position that would follow the same.

Any development regarding the 9th review by the IMF would remain in the limelight. The market could come under further pressure due to political uncertainty from the continuing long march slated to reach Rawalpindi by November 26, 2022.

Analysts advise clients to stay cautious while building new positions in the market.

US bans Huawei, ZTE equipment sales

According to Reuters, the Biden administration has banned approvals of new telecommunications equipment from China's Huawei Technologies and ZTE because they pose an unacceptable risk to US national security.

The US Federal Communications Commission said on Friday it had adopted the final rules, which also bar the sale or import of equipment made by Chinese surveillance equipment maker Dahua Technology Co, video surveillance firm Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co and telecoms firm Hytera Communications Corp.

The move represents Washington's latest crackdown on the Chinese tech giants amid fears that Beijing could use them to spy on Americans.

"These new rules are an important part of our ongoing actions to protect the American people from national security threats involving telecommunications," FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement.

Huawei declined to comment. ZTE, Dahua, Hytera and the Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Hikvision said in a statement that its products don't threaten US security.

"This decision by the FCC will do nothing to protect US national security, but will do a great deal to make it more harmful and more expensive for US small businesses, local authorities, school districts, and individual consumers to protect themselves, their homes, businesses and property," Hikvision said, adding that it will continue to serve US customers in full compliance with US regulations.

Rosenworcel circulated the proposed measure, which effectively bars the firms from selling new equipment in the United States, to the other three commissioners for final approval last month.

The FCC said in June 2021 it was considering banning all equipment authorizations for all companies on the covered list.

That came after a March 2021 designation of five Chinese companies on the so-called covered list as posing a threat to national security under a 2019 law aimed at protecting US communications networks: Huawei, ZTE, Hytera Communications Corp Hikvision and Dahua.

All four commissioners at the agency, including two Republicans and two Democrats, supported Friday's move. The agency said it has authority to revoke prior authorizations, but declined to do so.

 

 

 

Poland seeking German support to sanction Russian Druzhba oil pipeline

According to a Reuters Report, Poland is seeking German support to slap EU sanctions on the Polish-German section of the Druzhba crude pipeline so Warsaw can abandon a deal to buy Russian oil next year without paying penalties.

The sources also said the pair was nearing an agreement for Poland to coordinate seaborne oil supplies to Germany via Gdansk and part of Druzhba to facilitate Poland's purchase of the Russian-owned Schwedt refinery in Germany.

The EU has pledged to stop buying Russian oil via maritime routes from December 05, 2022, but Druzhba is currently exempt from sanctions. That presents a problem for Polish refiner PKN Orlen, which has a long-term deal to purchase Russian oil via the pipeline and would need to pay penalties to break the contract.

If the EU were to impose sanctions on Druzhba - or at least its northern section supplying Poland and Germany - both countries would be able to get out of their Russian oil importing commitments penalty-free.

The southern section of the pipeline supplies Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic which, unlike Poland and Germany, would struggle to diversify their oil imports.

According to the sources, the Polish climate ministry and German economy ministry are in the final stage of talks on a memorandum of understanding on oil logistics, which could unlock non-Russian flows and help Poland's top refiner pursue its interest in Schwedt.

Germany remains committed to not using Russian oil from 2023 and is working on a solution with Poland to secure the supply of Schwedt, a spokeswoman for the economy ministry in Berlin said on Friday.

Meeting pledges by Poland and Germany to stop buying Russian oil requires regulation at the EU level and both countries are cooperating to achieve this, the Polish climate ministry said on Friday.

Germany has put Schwedt under a six month trusteeship, stopping short of nationalising the refinery, and is seeking ways to supply it with oil.

Poland and Germany promised in spring to try to end Russian oil imports via Druzhba's northern leg by the end of year but Orlen remains tied to its contract with Russian oil and gas company Tatneft.

The Polish refiner has nominated supplies for Druzhba for 2023 as stipulated by the contract but these would stop if the pipeline was hit by sanctions, one of the sources said.

Orlen declined to comment on Friday.

The company has already cut its reliance on Russian oil to 30% of its requirement, replacing it with deliveries from Saudi Arabia and Norway among others.

Kommersant newspaper reported earlier this month that Orlen had submitted an application to the Russian oil pipeline operator Transneft for the supply of 3 million tonnes of oil to Poland through Druzhba in 2023.

Control over Schwedt, which also supplies western Poland, would boost Orlen's refining capacity and control over the flows of oil and its products in the region with assets in Poland, Czech Republic, Lithuania and Germany.

 

 

 

OGDC: Takeaways from FY22 Analyst Briefing

Pakistan’s largest exploration and production company; Oil & Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL), held its analyst briefing earlier, wherein the following was discussed:

The Company has posted the highest quarterly profit after tax of PKR53.3 billion (EPS: PKR12.4) for 1QFY23, higher by 145%QoQ and 58.5%YoY basis.

Major projects during the year were: Discovery in Wali block with cumulative potential of 219bcf gas and 13 million bbl oil and exploration and appraisal activities at Abu-Dhabi offshore block 5.

Other developments during the year included: company entering into a framework agreement with the Government of Pakistan, provincial government of Baluchistan, GHPL, PPL and Barrick Gold Corporation for extraction of gold and copper reserves from Reko Diq.

As per company presentation, OGDCL holds 87,300 square km of exploration coverage with total of 57/111 exploration/development licenses, respectively.

Province wise concession shares are: KPK 19%, Sindh 21%, Punjab 21% and 39% Baluchistan.

Seismic survey acquisition during the last six fiscal years was 15,380 Line km of 2D and 3,766 sq. km of 3D portraying.

OGDCL’s share in total industry stood at 80% 2D and 31%3D surveys. Finally, OGDCL’s share in gross production works out at 23%, with industry’s total production at 73,400 bpd as on June 2022.

According to management, average natural decline rate of major oil fields stands at 16% (5-year average). Although, the said decline rate has been arrested to 6-8% more recently with the help of workovers and development wells etc.

Industry’s net gas production stood at 3,390mmcfd (OGDCL share 29%) during FY22. Natural depletion rate stands at 8% for major fields (Mela, Nashpa, Kunnar Pasakhi Deep etc.), but has been arrested at 5% by the company through workovers and development wells etc.

Management stated that Reko Diq project is a stepping stone for the diversification strategy company is trying to achieve. Company is also trying to move into power and other energy projects as well.

LNG trade faces unprecedented times

According to Seatrade Maritime News, LNG shipping is seeing exceptional strength, already fueled by geopolitical vagaries, and with the impact of winter weather patterns yet to be determined.

The sector received considerable emphasis at Marine Money’s mid-November Ship Finance Forum, held in midtown New York.

Mike Tusiani, Poten & Partner’s Chairman Emeritus, in introducing the day’s kick-off panel, described the present situation as an unprecedented time in the LNG trades.

His colleague at Poten, Jefferson Clarke, talked about “ton time” having supplanted ton miles as the operative metric in explaining LNG shipping’s rise.

He said that commodity prices are driving the flows of LNG; in short, it gives the incentive for charterers to hold on to tonnage…and not get access to tonnage.

He explained that vessel charterers have been moving vigorously into the term market, and explicitly linked high LNG prices with demand for term charters.

Though media headlines within the mainstream and trade press have pointed to charter hires for high end LNG carriers at US$400,000 per day or more, spot fixtures are actually few and far between.

Oystein Kalleklev, CEO of Flex LNG said, after reviewing fixture lists, that he could only find two spot fixtures done in November.

On a shipowner panel later in the day, Kalleklev opined that LNG shipping is like a liner trade in contrast to more spot-oriented commodity sectors, including VLGC/ LPG transporter Avance Gas, where he is Executive Chairman.

On that same panel, he described the FLNG strategy, if he were taking delivery of a hypothetical new vessel, as “fix it out, finance it, and pay a hell of a lot of dividends.”

He described one year time charters as being in the US$200,000 per day range with three-year deals drawing around US$170,000 per day but added that there will be volatility.

In the earlier panel, he indicated a preference for a strategy of fixing FLNG’s vessels on term business when they come off existing charters, rather than expanding the fleet with expensive newbuilds.

Kalleklev attributed strength in the markets to waiting and delays, which effectively reduce available supply, in explaining the market’s dynamics. In LNG trades, he explained that “ton time has mitigated the downturn in ton miles.

People are waiting more, people are deploying floating storage. One component of the potential volatility awaiting market participants this time around might be unwinding of such storage if the present contango structure LNG pricing was to flatten out.

He noted that a precipitous market fall in late 2018 had been brought about by a previous instance of floating storage being unwound.

 

 

 

US may save itself, but destroy others

The United States hopes to save itself by destroying others, rather than solving its own problems by managing and controlling crises. The US has created many crises in its relations with China. If they're not properly dealt with, not only China, but also the US itself will suffer, and the latter will suffer more.

Some elites in Washington make no attempt to improve themselves when facing competition with China and dealing with domestic woes, instead, they dedicate themselves to taking China down through committing sabotage.

Former US Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers warned US policymakers to focus on building the country's own economic strengths in its contest with China, rather than attacking its adversary.

"If we change our focus from building ourselves up to tearing China down, I think we will be making a very risky and very unfortunate choice," he was quoted as saying, according to Bloomberg's report.

The primary reason why Washington focuses on "tearing China down," rather than concentrate on its own innovation, infrastructure, education and challenges lies in the US political system's structural contradictions.

The US is now trapped in conundrums such as the loss of manufacturing capability, the hollowing out of local industries, and the asymmetric distribution of benefits from global trade among different groups in the country. For the US, the top capitalist country, the excessive expansion of financial capital will inevitably lead to the emergence of the above mentioned problems.

If the US wants to improve itself as Summers suggested, it must overcome the constraints of its system and carry out domestic reforms to curb the excessive expansion of financial capital, implement a fairer tax policy, and manage the wide income distribution gap between different groups. It also needs to plan and guide national innovation through policies so as to enhance the creativity and competitiveness of the country. However, unless the US becomes a socialist country, these are difficult to accomplish under its existing capitalist framework, Shen Yi, a professor at the School of International Relations and Public Affairs of Fudan University, told the Global Times.

In addition, reforms require short-term costs, but under the current US system with political parties facing pressure of winning more votes in the elections, any reforms demanding short-term costs cannot be implemented in the US unless the two parties reach a consensus," said Shen.

The simpler solution, for both parties, is to "hoax" the American public that the US has been running smoothly and that the main obstacle for US' development is because of a "bad" country. Both Republicans and their Democratic counterparts claim that they can help deal with the "bad" country if elected, so as to solve their current predicament. To win the election, the two parties have been intensifying their steps to contain China.

As a matter of fact, there is nothing complicated about what is the proper solution for the US, and many elites, including Summers, are fully aware of it. Shen noted that the US seems to stay in a paralysis state, under which the brain is actually sober, but the body cannot operate according to people's thoughts.

This is how Washington's strategic anxiety in terms of China policy has been formulated. In this context, decision-makers have been given some absurd advice, with strong gambling and speculative mentality.

Furthermore, US term of office and election determine that the government has very limited time to carry out practical policies, as much time is spent on election and buck-passing. Such a nature of US political games also determines that Washington has little time to make remarkable changes.

Only when the entire US reaches a new consensus, realizing that US problems do not lie in China, but the US itself, can the US make fundamental changes on its China policy. Until that day comes, what Summers proposed will not take place.

Gaza beekeepers and struggle for survival

According to a report by Reuters, more than 15 years of Israeli blockade has not quite killed off beekeeping in Gaza, but beekeepers say climate change just might.

This time, it wasn't the bulldozers or the bullets, but the rain and the wind. Weather kept the bees confined to their hives in the spring, when they should have been out foraging for nectar.

"This year was the worst for beekeepers in Gaza," said Waleed Abu Daqqa, who tends hives in the eastern section of the Palestinian coastal enclave. "Lots of bees have died."

Temperatures have been rising for half a century in the territory, where 2 million Palestinians live under an economically devastating blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt since Hamas Islamists took control in 2007.

Over recent years, the number of hives has almost been halved and the production of honey went down to 180 tons from 400 tons a few years ago, said Adham Al-Basyouni, an official from the agriculture ministry.

Beekeepers and their bees have lost access to prime agricultural land, bulldozed near the borders of the strip. The blockade and six wars between militants and Israel have made it difficult and expensive to import supplies.

And now, the "prime factor" causing a bee crisis is climate change caused by global warming, Baysouni said. This year, in Gaza, that unpredictable climate brought an unseasonable cold spell. Few Gazans had the right sort of hives to withstand it.

"We witnessed repeated rain storms that forced the bees to stay inside the hives and they fed on what was inside and that led to poor production," he said.

Bees and other pollinators are vital to agriculture and wildlife around the world, and the impact of climate change is a global problem.

"Radical shifts in temperature, droughts, and floods are disrupting native ranges for pollinators, making ecosystems unsuitable for the processes needed to sustain populations, such as overwinter hibernation, spring nest establishment, and reproduction," wrote bee researchers Diana Cox-Foster and Gloria DeGrandi-Hoffman of the US Department of Agriculture.

Ratib Sammour, a Gazan agricultural engineer and beekeeper, has built a successful business selling health products from bees and treating patients with bee stings, known as apitherapy. Now it is at risk.

Not only has honey production fallen, but with it the quantity of other products such as royal jelly, bee pollen, bee venom and bee glue known as propolis.

"When the quantity of bees started to decline it reflected on us," he said.

 

Iran’ 1st fishery park goes operational

Iranian Agriculture Minister Javad Sadati-Nejad has announced the launch of the country’s first fishery industries park, IRIB reported on Tuesday.

Making the announcement on the sidelines of the 6th International Fisheries Industry Exhibition (IFEX 2022), Sadati-Nejad said the country's first fishery park was put into operation in which every year 1,000 tons of shrimp will be produced.

According to the official, the volume of shrimp production in this park will increase to 2,000 tons by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2023).

Sadati-Nejad stressed his ministry’s support for the companies active in the fishery sector. He said, “The Ministry of Agriculture and Iran Fisheries Organization (IFO) support investors active in the field of fisheries and seafood production, which in addition to improving the economy, increasing exports and foreign revenues, it also brings job creation.”

The minister also announced the growth of the export of aquatic and fishery products, including caviar, in the current year.

Iran’s 6th International Fisheries Industry Exhibition was opened at the Tehran Permanent International Fairgrounds on Sunday.

The exhibition aims at providing a platform for exchanging ideas and developing technical and economic cooperation, marketing and promoting trade and production facilities in the domestic and international arena, promoting the exports of fishery products, introducing domestic and foreign developments in the fisheries industry, strengthening and improving the distribution system and facilitating trade relations, upgrading technical knowledge in production, processing, and marketing, introducing new potentials for creating more employment opportunities in the country's fisheries industry and also promoting seafood consumption.

The event covers a variety of areas including fishing equipment, processing of fishery products, ornamental fish farming, and aquarium equipment, machinery for transporting aquatic and fishery products, aquaculture, and storage equipment, export-oriented fishery products, refrigeration facilities, aquaculture, and fish farming in cages, downstream marine industries, aquatic feed and supplements, sturgeon breeding, equipment and tools for water treatment, packaging industry, veterinary and pharmaceutical services, algae and leech breeders, electronic marketing for aquatic goods, weighing systems, as well as banks, credit institutions, and insurance companies.

 

Israeli government and fate of Palestinians

It was not a big surprise to wake up on the morning of November 02, 2022 to find out that the Israeli government and Knesset would now be run by a dominant majority of nationalistic religious Jews, Zionists and hard-line politicians who have previously advocated official ethnic-cleansing and shoot-to-kill policies against Palestinians.

One of them is likely to become public security minister, and others will hold key positions in government. Israel has been lurching further rightwards for the past two decades, and this coalition has nearly won previous elections, so it is not that shocking that they are now in power. And yet, one should ask, how different will Israel be after these elections?

With a clear majority in the Knesset and a firm hold on the executive branch, these old-new political elites will continue to do everything that previous governments have done over the past 74 years - but with more zeal, determination and disregard for international condemnation.

It will likely begin by expanding the Judaisation of the occupied West Bank and Greater Jerusalem, and by expanding military activity in what is already on track to be an exceptionally deadly year for Palestinians. Since the start of 2022, Israeli forces and settlers have killed more than 130 Palestinians, including more than 30 children, across the occupied West Bank. 

The new government will surely intensify the provocative visits of Jewish politicians to al-Aqsa Mosque complex. One can also expect further escalation in house demolitions, arrests without trial and a free hand being given to settler vigilantes to wreak destruction at will. 

It is not clear how far these new elites will go in its policy towards the Gaza Strip. Since 2008, Israel’s policy in Gaza has been so callous and inhumane that one finds it difficult to imagine what could be worse than a siege, blockade and occasional brutal air bombardments on a civil society. 

Similarly, it is difficult to predict the new government’s policies towards Palestinians inside Israel. Under the 2018 nation-state law, Israel formalized its status as an apartheid state. One suspects that, as in the occupied West Bank, much of the same and worse can be expected. One will probably see a continued disregard for the rise of criminal activity, along with stricter policies on house expansions in Palestinian rural areas.

One can also expect a continued suppression of any Palestinian collective attempts to express the minority’s national identity - whether through waving Palestinian flags on campuses, commemorating the Nakba, or in other ways expressing the rich cultural heritage of this community. 

In short, any remaining charade of democracy will disappear under this new regime.

Yet, despite the massive shift in global perceptions towards Israel in recent years - manifested in its depiction as an apartheid state by major international human rights groups, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, and the willingness of the International Court of Justice to discuss the decolonization of the occupied West Bank - there seems to be a general reluctance to acknowledge the possibility that there is Jewish racism, as much as there is Christian, Muslim or Buddhist racism.

Suddenly, UN General Assembly Resolution 3379 (passed in 1975 and later revoked), which equates Zionism with racism, no longer seems to be a declaration detached from the realities and complexities in Israel and Palestine. The African and Arab member states that pushed the resolution showed foresight in pinpointing racism as the main danger that Zionism as a state ideology carries with it - not only for Palestinians, but for the region as a whole. 

The disappearance in this election of the Zionist left can also be easily understood if one appreciates the depth and breadth of racism within Israeli society, particularly among youth. As a son of German Jews who escaped German racism in the early 1930s, and now studying it as an adult, I am deeply disturbed at this picture of a society mesmerized by racism and bequeathing it to the next generation.

Will Jewish communities recognize this reality or continue to ignore it? Will governments in the West, and particularly the American administration, acknowledge or disregard this trend? Will the Arab world, which has embarked on a process of normalization with Israel, treat this as irrelevant, as it does not undermine their regimes’ fundamental interests?

One has no answers to these questions. It is actually not necessary to answer these questions, but rather to do everything possible so that one day, they will be answered in a way that saves both Palestinians and Jews from a disastrous fate - and stops Israel from leading all towards a precipice whose edge is now more visible than ever.