text:
\section{\label{sec:intro}Introduction}

Self-organisation in turbulent flows is the spontaneous creation of large-scale coherent structures out of a sea of homogeneous turbulence \cite{biskamp03}. In magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) theory, relaxation processes have been recognized to explain the evolution of electrically conducting fluids towards special states of self-organisation as a consequence of multiple conservation laws
\cite{matthaeusetal12}. For homogeneous, incompressible, ideal
MHD with zero mean magnetic field, there are three known quadratic conserved quantities:
the total energy      $E   \equiv E_u + E_b = \frac{1}{2} \avg{|\bm u|^2 + |\bm b|^2}_{_V}$,
the magnetic helicity $H_b \equiv                         \avg{ \bm a \cdot \bm b   }_{_V}$ and
the cross helicity    $H_c \equiv                         \avg{ \bm u \cdot \bm b   }_{_V}$.
Here, $\bm u$ is the velocity field, $\bm b \equiv \bm \nabla \times \bm a$ is the magnetic field where $\bm a$ is the solenoidal magnetic potential,
and $\avg{\cdot}_{_V}$ stands for spacial averages over the volume $V$.

The dissipative relaxation processes in decaying MHD turbulence are the Taylor relaxation \cite{chandrasekharwoltjer58,woltjer58,taylorJB74}
and the dynamic alignment \cite{moffatt78,parker79}. These states could be derived analytically by minimizing an energy integral subject to
some constraints \cite{biskamp03}. In detail, Taylor relaxation is associated with the decay of turbulence towards a minimum energy state
under the constraint of finite $H_b$. The solution to this variational problem is a \textit{force-free} field, where $\bm u = 0$ and
$\bm \nabla \times \bm b = \lambda' \bm b$ with the Lagrange multiplier $\lambda' \equiv \int \bm b^2_{min} \, dV / H_b$.
On the other hand, the slow decay of $H_c$ in comparison to $E$ can lead to a minimum energy state while cross-helicity is conserved,
where self-organisation occurs due to dynamic alignment between the velocity and the magnetic field, i.e. $\bm u = \pm \bm b$.
This relaxed state is called \textit{Alfv\'enic state}. These relaxation processes can be seen as a \textit{selective decay}
\cite{matthaeusmontgomery80} between the conserved quantities due to their very different rates of dissipation in turbulent flows.

The relaxation to the force-free state was offered as an explanation in reversed-field pinch plasma devices \cite{taylorJB74,taylorJB86} and it has also been used to estimate the energy release in coronal structures in connection to the problem of coronal heating \cite{parker83,heyvaertspriest84}.
Moreover, the Alfv\'enic states have been frequently observed in solar wind turbulence
\cite{belcherdavis71,brunocarbone05}.
The growth of correlation between $\bm u$ and $\bm b$ in solar wind was conjectured to emerge dynamically from MHD turbulence \cite{dobrowolnyetal80} and this was verified in direct numerical simulations (DNS) of undriven turbulent flows \cite{pouquetetal86}. Moreover, Stribling and Matthaeus \cite{striblingmatthaeus91} have shown numerically that in a truncated model of three-dimensional decaying MHD turbulence the final states depend on the initial values of $H_b$ and $H_c$. In particular, they showed that the final state for strongly helical initial conditions is the force-free field, whereas for sufficient large initial alignment between $\bm u$ and $\bm b$ is the Alfv\'enic state.

In this paper, we show that self-organization due to force-free, Alfv\'enic and Beltrami (i.e. $\bm \nabla \times \bm u \propto \bm u$) states can occur in driven MHD turbulent flows from initial conditions and external forces of zero helicity. We also demonstrate that these states depend on the correlation time scale of the external forces. Our results brings up important implications for plasma fusion devices such as the tokamaks, the spheromaks and the reversed field pinch experiments, where the suppression of non-linearities is one of the most important objectives in the production of fusion energy. This work is also important to understand the self-organization of the solar wind but also the way MHD turbulent flows should be forced in numerical simulations.

The paper is structured as follows. All the necessary details on our DNS of driven MHD turbulent flows are provided in Sec. \ref{sec:dns}. Section \ref{sec:states} analyses the non-linear dynamics of the self-organized states. In particular, we focus on the dependence of the MHD flows on the forcing correlation time scale and its effect on the growth of helicities and the fate of the magnetic helical condensates. Individual statistics of the velocity and the magnetic field are presented in sec. \ref{sec:stats}. The diverse behaviour between the two fields dominates the statistics, where different dynamics are obeyed at different instances. Finally, in sec. \ref{sec:conclusion} we conclude by summarizing our findings and we discuss the implications of our work on the understanding of the self-organized processes that are observed in fusion plasma devices and in astrophysical observations.

\section{\label{sec:dns}Numerical methods}
Our study is based on numerical simulations of the MHD equations
\begin{align}
 (\partial_t - \nu \bm\Delta) \bm u &= (\bm u \times \bm \omega) + (\bm j \times \bm b) - \bm \nabla P + \bm f_u,
 \label{eq:ns} \\
 (\partial_t - \mu \bm\Delta) \bm b &=  \bm \nabla \times (\bm u \times \bm b) + \bm f_b,
 \label{eq:induction}
\end{align}
where the vorticity $\bm \omega \equiv \bm \nabla \times \bm u$, the current density $\bm j \equiv \bm \nabla \times \bm b$, $P$ is the pressure, $\nu$ is the kinematic viscosity, $\mu$ is the magnetic diffusivity, $\bm f_u$ is the mechanical and $\bm f_b$ the electromagnetic external forces. Using the pseudo-spectral method, we numerically solve Eqs. \eqref{eq:ns} and \eqref{eq:induction} in a three-dimensional periodic box of size $2\pi$, satisfying $\bm \nabla \cdot \bm u = \bm \nabla \cdot \bm b = 0$. Aliasing errors are removed using the $2/3$ dealiasing rule, i.e. wavenumbers $k_{min}=1$ and $k_{max}=N/3$, where $N$ is the number of grid points in each Cartesian coordinate. For more details on the numerical code see \cite{mpicode05a,hybridcode11}.

In our simulations, the velocity and the magnetic field are forced at wavenumbers $k = 1$ and 2 with random phases.
The random external forces $\bm f_u$ and $\bm f_b$ are normalised such that the forcing amplitude $|\bm f_u| = |\bm f_b| = |\bm f| = 1$ for all runs.
The forces have zero helicities, i.e. $\avg{\bm f_{u,b} \cdot \bm \nabla \times \bm f_{u,b}}_{_V} = \avg{\bm f_u \cdot \bm f_b }_{_V} = 0$
and their random phases change every time interval $\tau_c$ (where $\tau_c = \infty$ implies constant phases in time). The forcing correlation time scale $\tau_c$ is our parameter in this problem and is compared with $\tau_f \equiv (k_{min}|\bm f|)^{-1/2}$.
The energies of the initial conditions are chosen to be in equipartition (viz. $E_u = E_b = 0.5$) unlike in studies of relaxation processes
\cite{tingetal86,striblingmatthaeus91}, where the initial conditions were chosen to have a tendency towards a particular relaxation state
(i.e. force-free or Alfv\'enic). All the necessary parameters of our DNS are tabulated in Table \ref{tbl:dnsparam}. The magnetic Prandtl
number is unity (i.e. $\nu = \mu$) for all the runs.

\begin{table}[!ht]
  \caption{Numerical parameters of the DNS. Note that $T_{tot}$ is the total run time.}
  \label{tbl:dnsparam}
   \begin{ruledtabular}
  \centering
    \begin{tabular}{*{4}{c}}
     \textbf{N} & $\bm \tau_c/\bm \tau_f$ & $\bm \nu = \bm \mu$ & $\bm T_{tot}/\bm \tau_f$ \\
     \hline
        64 & $\infty$ &  $1 \times 10^{-2}$ & 1550 \\
       128 &      0.5 &  $5 \times 10^{-3}$ & 1000 \\
       128 &      1.0 &  $5 \times 10^{-3}$ &  950 \\
       128 &      2.0 &  $5 \times 10^{-3}$ & 1000 \\
       128 &      4.0 &  $5 \times 10^{-3}$ & 1000 \\
       128 &      8.0 &  $5 \times 10^{-3}$ & 1000 \\
       128 & $\infty$ &  $5 \times 10^{-3}$ &  250 \\
       256 & $\infty$ &  $2 \times 10^{-3}$ &  105 \\
       512 & $\infty$ &  $9 \times 10^{-4}$ &   40 \\
    \end{tabular}
  \end{ruledtabular}
\end{table}

\section{\label{sec:states}Force-free, Alfv\'enic and Beltrami asymptotic states}

To start with, we consider the temporal evolution of our flows with different forcing correlation time scales.
Remarkably, as $\tau_c/\tau_f$ increases we observe the amplitude of all space averaged quadratic quantities to increase substantially. This is depicted indicatively by the time-series of the total energy in Fig. \ref{fig:timeseries} plotted on a logarithmic scale.
The inset shows the mean value of total energy $\avg{E}_t$ with respect to $\tau_c/\tau_f$.
Here, the angle brackets $\avg{\cdot}_t$ denote temporal averages.
 \begin{figure}[!ht]
  \includegraphics[width=8.5cm]{Plots/Et_vs_time_tauc.eps}
  \caption{Time-series of total energy with different forcing correlation time scales. The inset shows the value of the time average total kinetic energy with respect to $\tau_c/\tau_f$.}
  \label{fig:timeseries}
 \end{figure}
As the forcing correlation time scale increases from $\tau_c/\tau_f = 0.5$ to 8,
the mean value of total energy $\avg{E}_t$ increases by almost two orders of magnitude
and strongly fluctuates varying by an order of magnitude. Note that the time-series are characterized by dynamical time scales much greater than $\tau_c$, $\tau_f$ and the non-linear time scale $\tau_{_{NL}} \equiv 1/(k_{min}\avg{|\bm u|^2}_{_V}^{1/2})$.
This behaviour indicates self-organisation in our MHD turbulent flows, which will become more obvious later on in our analysis. Due to these long dynamical time scales and the large variations we are compelled to integrate very far in time to obtain converged statistics and consequently deal with moderate resolutions (see Table \ref{tbl:dnsparam}).

In Fig. \ref{fig:pdfs} we present the Probability Density Functions (PDFs) of the time series of the normalised cross, magnetic and kinetic helicities
\begin{align}
 \rho_c &\equiv H_c/(\avg{|\bm u|^2}_{_V}^{1/2}\avg{|\bm b|^2}_{_V}^{1/2}), \\
 \rho_b &\equiv k_{min}H_b/\avg{|\bm b|^2}_{_V}^{1/2}, \\
 \rho_u &\equiv H_u/(\avg{|\bm u|^2}_{_V}^{1/2}\avg{|\bm \omega|^2}_{_V}^{1/2}),
\end{align}
respectively.
 \begin{figure}[!ht]
 \begin{subfigure}{4.25cm}
   \includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{Plots/pdf_rhom.eps}
   \caption{}
   \label{fig:pdfHm}
 \end{subfigure}
 \begin{subfigure}{4.25cm}
   \includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{Plots/pdf_rhoc.eps}
   \caption{}
   \label{fig:pdfHc}
 \end{subfigure}
 \begin{subfigure}{4.25cm}
   \includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{Plots/pdf_rhok.eps}
   \caption{}
   \label{fig:pdfHk}
 \end{subfigure}
  \caption{Probability Density Functions of the absolute value of the normalised
           (a) magnetic helicity  $|\rho_b|$,
           (b) cross    helicity  $|\rho_c|$ and
           (c) kinetic  helicity  $|\rho_u|$.}
  \label{fig:pdfs}
 \end{figure}
For low values of $\tau_c/\tau_f$ the PDFs of the normalized helicities are
peaked around 0 as it is expected (see Fig. \ref{fig:pdfs}).
However, for higher values of $\tau_c/\tau_f$ the PDFs becomes broader and shallower. For $\tau_c/\tau_f \geq 4$ the PDF of magnetic helicity in Fig. \ref{fig:pdfHm} peaks at 1 indicating the reach of a force-free state $\bm j \propto \bm b$ and thus $\bm j \times \bm b = 0$. The PDF of the normalized cross helicity in Fig. \ref{fig:pdfHc} also peaks at 1 for $\tau_c/\tau_f=8$ indicating
full Alfv\'enisation of the flow (i.e. $\bm u = \pm \bm b$).
In the case of the normalized kinetic helicity, the PDFs with low $\tau_c/\tau_f$ values are peaked at 0 and they increase significantly for
higher $\tau_c/\tau_f$ values without reaching full Beltramisation (i.e. $|\rho_u| = 1$ or $\bm u = \pm \bm \omega$) even for $\tau_c/\tau_f = 8$ (see Fig. \ref{fig:pdfHk}).
The preference for these highly helical states, where non-linearities (and the cascade to small scales) are quenched, are related to the excess of energy that was observed in Fig. \ref{fig:timeseries}.

Now we examine the evolution of our flows in a three-dimensional phase space composed by the three normalized helicities. Figure \ref{fig:attractors} demonstrates the time evolution of the solutions of our flows and their dependence on the forcing correlation time scale $\tau_c/\tau_f$,
which varies from 0.5 to $\infty$ (see Table \ref{tbl:dnsparam}). In particular, Fig. \ref{fig:HmHc} shows the phase sub-space of the normalized magnetic and cross
helicities, where we observe that the flows with $\tau_c/\tau_f = 0.5$ and 1 mainly oscillate around the 0 origin with some excursions away from 0.
 \begin{figure}[!ht]
 \begin{subfigure}{4.25cm}
   \includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{Plots/rhom_vs_rhoc.eps}
   \caption{}
   \label{fig:HmHc}
 \end{subfigure}
 \begin{subfigure}{4.25cm}
   \includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{Plots/rhom_vs_rhok_v2.eps}
   \caption{}
   \label{fig:HmHk}
 \end{subfigure}
 \begin{subfigure}{4.25cm}
   \includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{Plots/rhok_vs_rhoc.eps}
   \caption{}
   \label{fig:HkHc}
 \end{subfigure}
 \begin{subfigure}{4.25cm}
   \includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{Plots/rhom_vs_rhok_res.eps}
   \caption{}
   \label{fig:HmHcinf}
 \end{subfigure}
  \caption{Phase sub-space of (a) $\rho_b$ and $\rho_c$, (b) $\rho_b$ and $\rho_u$, (c) $\rho_u$ and $\rho_c$ for flows with different $\tau_c/\tau_f$. (d) Phase sup-space of $\rho_b$ and $\rho_u$ for flows with different resolutions and $\tau_c/\tau_f = \infty$.}
  \label{fig:attractors}
 \end{figure}
As the forcing correlation time scale increases from $\tau_c/\tau_f = 2$ to $\infty$, we notice that these excursions are trapped into two attracting solutions
$\rho_b \simeq \pm 1$, oscillating between $-1 \leq \rho_c \leq 1$ for long times (i.e. $T_{tot}/\tau_f \simeq 1000$). In other words, the solution is trapped
into force-free states (i.e. $\bm j \propto \bm b$) while it oscillates between the two Alfv\'enic states (i.e. $\bm u = \pm \bm b$).
For the runs with long correlation times $\tau_c$,  we do not observe noise driven escape from one basin of attraction to the other.
We expect the probability to exit from one metastable potential well to the other
to be vanishingly small due to the fact that the noise in the system is not enough to escape
the solution from either basin of attraction due to the suppression of the non-linearities. On the other hand, we observe noise driven
escape of the system between the two attractors of the Alfv\'enic states (i.e. $\rho_c = \pm 1$). It is of interest to mention here that the choice between the two asymptotic fully magnetically helical states depends sensitively on the initial conditions. A small
perturbation in magnetic helicity can lead the system to be trapped either in the $\rho_b=1$ or $\rho_b=-1$ state, much like a small variation in the initial conditions of a coin-toss experiment can alter the final results from head to tails \cite{keller86}.

The phase sub-space of the normalized magnetic and kinetic helicity (see Fig. \ref{fig:HmHk})
reveals two states with positive and negative $H_u$ for high enough values of $\tau_c/\tau_f$.
Note that kinetic helicity grows only when $|\rho_b| > 0.5$ and always has the same sign with magnetic helicity. This implies that as the magnetic field becomes strong it forces the flow to become Alfv\'enized (i.e. $\bm u \propto \bm b$) fluctuating between positive and negative $H_c$ but always keeping the same sign for $H_u$ and $H_b$ (see Fig. \ref{fig:attractors}) because kinetic and magnetic helicities are invariant under $\bm u \to -\bm u$ and $\bm b \to -\bm b$ transformations, respectively. For completeness of the three-dimensional phase space of normalized helicities, the phase sub-space of kinetic and cross-helicity is presented in Fig. \ref{fig:HkHc}. Here, the two attractors of positive and negative $H_u$ are also evident, with the flows of high forcing correlation time scales to oscillate for long times between the $\bm u = \pm \bm b$ solutions, whereas the flows with low $\tau_c/\tau_f$ to oscillate around $\rho_u = 0$.

The same conclusions are more clearly depicted in Fig. \ref{fig:HmHcinf} where $\rho_u$ and $\rho_b$ is shown for all the resolutions considered in this study (i.e. $64^3$ to $512^3$) with $\tau_c/\tau_f = \infty$. Therefore, we expect this behaviour to persist for any Reynolds number flow with high enough time-correlated external forces. Note that the particular case of fully time-correlated external forces (i.e. $\tau_c/\tau_f = \infty$) reaches higher values of normalized kinetic helicity than the rest of the flows. In this case, one could hypothesize that if this flow will be integrated very far in time it will reach a fully Beltrami asymptotic state (i.e. $\bm u = \pm \bm \omega$). However, even for the $64^3$ run, which was integrated for longer time scales (i.e. $T_{tot}/\tau_f \simeq 1550$), the flow did not reach full Beltramisation. So, it is not clear if a fully kinetic helical state will ever be reached for $\tau_c/\tau_f = \infty$ and $T_{tot}/\tau_f \gg 1$.

At this point, we should identify the fate of these helical condensates at $T_{tot}/\tau_f \gg 1$ for fully time-correlated forces in our simulations of driven MHD turbulence. This is clearly illustrated by plotting the time series of the total energy $E$ for the different resolutions that we have considered with $\tau_c/\tau_f = \infty$ (see Fig. \ref{fig:et}).
 \begin{figure}[!ht]
  \includegraphics[width=8.5cm]{Plots/Et_vs_time_res_v3.eps}
  \caption{Time-series of the total energy for flows with different resolutions and fully time-correlated external forces, i.e. $\tau_c/\tau_f = \infty$.}
  \label{fig:et}
 \end{figure}
For early times, all the runs seem to asymptote towards a steady state solution (i.e. $t/\tau_f \simeq 10$). However, when we integrate further in time the solutions deviate abruptly
from this temporary steady state towards their fully helical states, which eventually asymptote to the laminar attractor, i.e. the flows reach their viscous limit. Note that the reach of the viscous asymptotic limit becomes prohibitive as resolution increases, because the time-step becomes vanishingly small, based on a CFL criterion, in order to capture the required dynamics.

The question that now arises is why these helical states manifest. This manifestation seems to be intimately connected with the inverse cascade of magnetic helicity \cite{frischetal75}. The presence of the electromagnetic force $\bm f_b$ induces the condensation of $E_b$ into a large scale helical magnetic field (magnetic condensate), which is a consequence of the inverse cascade of $H_b$. These magnetic condensates can be shown to be unconditionally stable for any Reynolds number (see section \ref{sec:appendix}) in contrast to Beltrami states in 3D helical hydrodynamic turbulence, which are unstable and energy is cascaded forward.
So, for $\tau_c/\tau_f \rightarrow \infty$ the flow will be attracted to the laminar stable states for any Reynolds number as Fig. \ref{fig:et} also indicates. For finite but large enough $\tau_c/\tau_f$ these states will be also approached, while for small $\tau_c/\tau_f$ the external forces change before the system has time to reach a self-organised state.
We remark that self-organisation is induced in MHD turbulence as soon as an electromagnetic force $\bm f_b$ is involved in the equations, with either $|\bm f_b| \sim |\bm f_u|$ or $|\bm f_b| \gg |\bm f_u|$. Otherwise, when $\bm f_b = 0$ (i.e. dynamo) or $|\bm f_b| \ll |\bm f_u|$, helicities do not grow even for fully time-correlated forces, reaching a statistically steady state with helicities' fluctuations around zero, as it is expected.

\section{\label{sec:stats}Statistics of self-organised states}
In contrast to the relaxation processes in selective decay, we are able to have statistics of the asymptotic force-free, Alfv\'enic and Beltrami states. Figure \ref{fig:spectra} presents the magnetic and kinetic energy spectra averaged in time for the flows with different $\tau_c/\tau_f$.
 \begin{figure}[!ht]
 \begin{subfigure}{8.5cm}
   \includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{Plots/Eb_vs_k_tm.eps}
   \caption{}
   \label{fig:Eb}
 \end{subfigure}
 \begin{subfigure}{8.5cm}
   \includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{Plots/Eu_vs_k_tm.eps}
   \caption{}
   \label{fig:Eu}
 \end{subfigure}
  \caption{Time averaged (a) magnetic and (b) kinetic energy spectra for different values of $\tau_c/\tau_f$.}
  \label{fig:spectra}
 \end{figure}
It is obvious that both the magnetic and kinetic energy increases significantly at low wavenumbers as $\tau_c/\tau_f$ increases,
implying the creation of helical condensates at large scales.
Comparing the magnetic and the kinetic energy spectra we observe that the magnetic helical condensates dominate the large scales
of the flow with $\avg{E_b}_t > \avg{E_u}_t$ at low wavenumbers. As the external forces become more correlated in time, the ratio
$\avg{E_b}_t / \avg{E_u}_t$ presents also a considerable increase at large scales.
The slope of the energy spectrum appears to be very steep, particularly for high $\tau_c/\tau_f$ values, and much steeper than typical turbulence theory exponents $-5/3$ and $-3/2$. Note that large fluctuations on the spectral exponent were observed throughout the run, with steep exponents during the condensate phases and more turbulent-like exponents within intermediate times. Therefore, the presence of the helicity condensates can clearly affect the time averaged energy spectrum even when their duration is short (e.g. $\tau_c/\tau_f = 2$ in our flows). Due to the relatively small resolution of these simulations the statements about the spectral exponents are only qualitative.

Alternatively, to show the existence of the large fluctuations that could affect the energy spectrum we analyse the dynamics of the large and small scales. So, we compute the corresponding integral scales of the velocity and the magnetic field individually
\begin{equation}
 L_{u,b} \equiv \frac{3\pi}{4} \frac{\int k^{-1}E_{u,b}(k)dk}{\int E_{u,b}(k)dk}
\end{equation}
and Taylor micro-scales
\begin{equation}
 \lambda_{u,b} \equiv \lrbig{\frac{5 \int E_{u,b}(k)dk}{\int k^2E_{u,b}(k)dk}}^{1/2}.
\end{equation}
In Fig. \ref{fig:scales} we illustrate the time-series of the ratios of the integral length scale to Taylor micro-scale of the magnetic field and the velocity field.
When energy is concentrated on the largest scale of the system $k = 1$ the ratio $L_{u,b}/\lambda_{u,b} = \frac{3\pi}{4\sqrt{5}} \simeq 1.05$ and thus the flow exhibits laminar behaviour while when $L_{u,b}/\lambda_{u,b} \gg 1$ a turbulent scaling is expected and dissipation is dominated by small scales.
 \begin{figure}[!ht]
 \begin{subfigure}{8.5cm}
   \includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{Plots/Lb-lamdab_vs_time.eps}
   \caption{}
   \label{fig:Lb}
 \end{subfigure}
 \begin{subfigure}{8.5cm}
   \includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{Plots/Lu-lamdau_vs_time.eps}
   \caption{}
   \label{fig:Lu}
 \end{subfigure}
  \caption{Time-series of the ratio of the integral length scale to the Taylor micro-scale of (a) the magnetic field and (b) the velocity field for different forcing correlation time scales from $\tau_c/\tau_f = 0.5$ to $\infty$. The curves follow the same labelling with Fig. \ref{fig:spectra}.}
  \label{fig:scales}
 \end{figure}
The difference in the dynamics of the velocity and the magnetic field is striking as the forcing correlation time scale varies.
On one hand, the magnetic field reaches different asymptotic states for different values of $\tau_c/\tau_f$ (see Fig. \ref{fig:Lb}) and it moves toward the laminar attractor, i.e. $L_b/\lambda_b \rightarrow 1$, as $\tau_c/\tau_f$ becomes high enough. The time-series of $L_b/\lambda_b$ is characterized by very rare and extreme events away from the laminar attractor for high values of $\tau_c/\tau_f$.
On the other hand, even though the amplitude of the fluctuations of $L_u/\lambda_u$ increases significantly with respect to the increase of the forcing correlation time scale, the mean value of $L_u/\lambda_u$ remains almost at the same level except for the run with $\tau_c/\tau_f = \infty$ (see Fig. \ref{fig:Lu}).
This diverse behaviour between the velocity and the magnetic field dominates the statistics and this was also depicted in the time-averaged energy spectra in Fig. \ref{fig:spectra}. The large amplitude and rare fluctuations in the time-series of $L_b/\lambda_b$ and $L_u/\lambda_u$ imply that different spectra are obtained in different instances with this becoming more pronounced for the high values of the forcing correlation time scale. This behaviour is expected for any Reynolds number for high enough time-correlated external forces.

\section{\label{sec:conclusion}Discussion and Conclusions}
In this work, we consider MHD turbulent flows driven by kinetic and electromagnetic external forces. By increasing the time-correlation of the external forces
we demonstrate that MHD turbulent flows create large-scale condensates out of a sea of homogeneous turbulence. This self-organization is connected with the
presence of an electromagnetic external force, which induces the condensation of magnetic energy into the large scale helical coherent structures as a consequence
of the inverse cascade of magnetic helicity even though the forcing itself is not helical.
The magnetic energy at the large scales of the flow is always greater than the kinetic energy and the ratio of magnetic
to kinetic energy grows as the forcing correlation time scale increases.

From our phase space analysis, we conclude that helicities increase as the forcing correlation time scale increases and drive the MHD flows toward a laminar attractor at large integration times. Flows with high enough value of $\tau_c/\tau_f$ reach different asymptotic states of
different levels of helicities. The evolutions of these flows are governed by the force-free, Alfv\'enic and Beltrami states (i.e. $\bm u \propto \bm b \propto \bm \omega \propto \bm j$), which appear to be attracting solutions of the MHD equations when $\tau_c/\tau_f \rightarrow \infty$ for any
Reynolds number. The existence of these attractors is intimately connected to the unconditional stability of the magnetic helical condensates for any Reynolds number. So, a predictive theory for self-organisation in electromagnetically driven MHD turbulent flows is plausible based on the fact that asymptotic laminar attractors govern the dynamics of such flows with long enough forcing correlation time scales.

Moreover, the dynamics of the velocity and the magnetic field present very diverse dynamics, which dominate the statistics. In other words, at different instances in time rare events provide very disparate energy spectra during the evolution of the MHD flows for high enough correlation time scales of the external forces. These results raise the issue of how a DNS of MHD turbulent flows should be forced in order to avoid any lack of universal results to be caused by the
self-organisation of the flow. In particular the current study excludes the use of time-independent magnetic forcing for the study of steady state MHD turbulence in periodic boxes as in this case the flow will be attracted to the self-organised states.

Our study has perhaps important practical implications for many electromagnetically forced devices such as electromagnetic pumps in nuclear stations, fusion plasma
devices such as the tokamaks, spheromaks and reversed field pinch experiments. Note that the self-organized states can persist for all time, if permitted by boundary
conditions, as they lead to the cancellation of the non-linearities and the system toward the laminar attractor. The presence of coherent structures inside
turbulence greatly affect the plasma diffusion process. Therefore, further study of the self-organization processes is vital in order to control the transport processes in fusion plasmas and hence to improve the plasma confinement. Moreover, an increased knowledge of these phenomena in MHD turbulence can shed light on the understanding of some basic phenomena in solar corona, such as flares and coronal heating, which occur in a region where observations cannot be performed.

\section{\label{sec:appendix}Appendix}
Here we show that magnetic helical condensates at the largest scale of MHD flows are unconditionally stable for any Reynolds number. We consider an arbitrary velocity field $\bm u'$ and a magnetic field with a large scale fully helical component $\bm B_0$ and a small scale component $\bm b'$, i.e. $\bm b = \bm B_0 + \bm b'$. The large scale magnetic field is such that
\begin{equation}
\bm \nabla \times \bm B_0 = \pm k_0 \bm B_0=\bm J_0,
\end{equation}
where $k_0$ is the smallest wavenumber in the domain. The small scale component $\bm b'$ is composed of all the Fourier modes such that $|\bm k| \ne k_0$ (i.e. all the Fourier modes except the ones for which belong to $B_0$).

Then, the Eqs. \eqref{eq:ns} and \eqref{eq:induction} for the small scale fields become
\begin{align}
 \partial_t \bm u' &= (\bm J_0 \times \bm b') + (\bm j' \times \bm B_0) + (\bm j' \times \bm b') + \nu \bm\Delta \bm u' \nonumber \\
              &+ (\bm u' \times \bm \omega') - \bm \nabla P
 \label{eq:ns2}
\end{align}
and
\begin{align}
 \partial_t \bm b' &=\bm \nabla \times (\bm u' \times \bm b') + \bm \nabla \times (\bm u' \times \bm B_0) - \mu \bm \nabla \times \bm j'.
 \label{eq:induction2}
\end{align}
To derive the equations for the averaged kinetic and magnetic energy, we multiply Eq. \eqref{eq:ns2} by $\bm u'$ and Eq. \eqref{eq:induction2} by $\bm b'$ and we integrate over the volume $V$ to obtain
\begin{align}
 \partial_t \avg{|\bm u'|^2} &= \avg{\bm u' (\bm J_0 \times \bm b')} + \avg{\bm u' (\bm j' \times \bm B_0)} + \avg{\bm u' (\bm j' \times \bm b')} \nonumber \\
                &+ \nu \avg{|\bm \nabla \bm u'|^2}
 \label{eq:eu}
\end{align}
and
\begin{align}
 \partial_t \avg{|\bm b'|^2} &= \avg{\bm j' (\bm u' \times \bm b')} + \avg{j' (\bm u' \times \bm B_0)} - \mu \avg{|\bm j'|^2}.
 \label{eq:eb}
\end{align}
where $\avg{.} \equiv \int_V \mathrm{d}^3 x$.
By summing Eqs. \eqref{eq:eu} and \eqref{eq:eb}, we obtain
\begin{align}
 \partial_t (\avg{|\bm u'|^2} + \avg{|\bm b'|^2}) &= \avg{\bm u' (\bm J_0 \times \bm b')} - \nu \avg{|\bm \nabla \bm u'|^2} - \mu \avg{|\bm j'|^2} \nonumber \\
         &= k_0\avg{\bm u' (\bm B_0 \times \bm b')} - \nu \avg{|\bm \nabla \bm u'|^2} - \mu \avg{|\bm j'|^2}.
 \label{eq:et}
\end{align}

Let $\bm a \equiv \bm A_0 + \bm a'$ (where $\bm \nabla \times \bm A_0 = \bm B_0$ and $\bm \nabla \times \bm a' = \bm b'$),
be the vector potential.
Multiplying Eq. \eqref{eq:induction2} with $\bm a'$  and integrate over the volume $V$ we obtain
\begin{align}
 \partial_t \avg{\bm a' \cdot \bm b'} &=  \avg{\bm b' (\bm u' \times \bm B_0)} - \mu \avg{\bm j' \cdot \bm b'}.
 \label{eq:hb}
\end{align}
where $\avg{\bm a' \cdot \bm b'}$ is the magnetic helicity of the perturbation field.
Multiplying Eq. \eqref{eq:hb} by $k_0$ and then subtracting from Eq. \eqref{eq:et} leads to
\begin{equation}
\partial_t \mathcal{M} = - \nu \avg{|\bm \nabla \bm u'|^2} - \mu \avg{|\bm j'|^2} + k_0 \mu \avg{\bm j' \cdot \bm b'}
\label{eq:M}
\end{equation}
where $\mathcal{M} \equiv \avg{|\bm u'|^2} + \avg{|\bm b'|^2} - k_0\avg{\bm a' \cdot \bm b'}$.
We now show that $\mathcal{M}$ is a non-negative functional as follows
\begin{align}
\mathcal{M} &=   \avg{|\bm u'|^2} + \avg{|\bm b'|^2} - k_0 \avg{\bm a' \cdot \bm b'} \\
             &\ge \avg{|\bm b'|^2} - k_0\avg{\bm a' \cdot \bm b'} \\
             &\ge \avg{|\bm b'|^2} - k_0\avg{|\bm b'|^2}^{1/2} \avg{|\bm a'|^2}^{1/2} \\
             &\ge 0
\end{align}
where the last inequality comes from noting that
\begin{align}
 \avg{|\bm a'|^2} &=   \sum_{|\bm k|>k_0} k^{-2}|\hat{\bm b}'_k|^2 \\
              &\le \sum_{|\bm k|>k_0} k_0^{-2} |\hat{\bm b}'_k|^2 \\
              &=    k_0^{-2}\avg{|\bm b'|^2}.
\end{align}
The equal sign holds only for $\bm u' = \bm b' = 0$. Following the same steps we can show that
\begin{equation}
 -\nu \avg{|\bm \nabla \bm u'|^2} -\mu \avg{|\bm j'|^2} + k_0 \avg{\bm j' \cdot \bm b'} \le 0
\end{equation}
with the equality again holding only when $\bm u' = \bm b' = 0$. Thus, based on Eq. \eqref{eq:M} the quantity $\mathcal{M}$ will always decay until the state $\bm u' = \bm b' = 0$ is reached, which is the only case for which $\partial_t \mathcal{M}=\mathcal{M}=0$.
Therefore, all perturbations to the basic state $\bm B_0$ will decay to zero independently of the value of $\nu,\,\mu > 0$.

\begin{acknowledgements}
The authors acknowledge interesting and useful discussions
with Stephan Fauve. V.D. acknowledges the financial support from EU-funded Marie Curie Actions--Intra-European Fellowships (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF, MHDTURB, Project No. 299973). The computations were performed using the HPC resources from GENCI-TGCC-CURIE (Project No. x2014056421).
\end{acknowledgements}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


"Some herders called Bororo stormed the farmstead and shot these innocent people," one resident said. "They came around 1am and were there till dawn. Our farmers are all afraid to go their farmsteads. They all rushed to the palace of Oba Ebenezer Agboola Ogungbemi, the Olu of Iyemero Ekiti, to take refuge."


Wanda Pena is currently the Chief Administration Officer (CAO) of A Helping Rock, Inc. She is the mother of Isaias and Kiana as well as a grandmother of three wonderful grandchildren.
Wanda has also lived through her ups and downs with a terrible experience via an attempt to commit suicide which resulted in a state of comma for over 2 weeks. She was able to turn her life around after surrendering her life to Christ and now has over 20 years of clinical and administrative experience in the medical field.
Eddy Reyes has lived through up and down moments of which include both his 3 month old daughter, and former wife passing away at the 29 years of age. This has allowed to understand both suffering and hardship; thus, empathizing and embracing others in times of trouble. His alma-mater is Grand Canyon University out of Phoenix Arizona where he received his bachelor's in business administration and emphasis on health. He is currently the Director of A Helping Rock, Inc and is on schedule to graduate in November of this year with his Master in Public Administration with emphasis on health.
It is our ultimate goal to create an atmosphere of faith, hope, and love along with the structure necessary that will allow residents to succeed.  Our Servant Leadership Philosophy makes this possible. We put this into action by making the resident needs our priority and impressing a yoke of service first before self.  A desire to see others grow and that we strive for resident wellbeing just as we would ourselves.  The entire body of staff and leaders enjoy helping residents find there direction, encouraging a better decision making process, and establishing permanent life changes that give our residents a strong foundation.   The strong foundation provides for a healthy and productive person as they re-enter society.


text:
Q: ReservedIPs for Azure VMs in a single VNet/subnet I've 8 VMs (linux based) running a single VNet on Azure. If I've two VMs running a service on the same port which shows me machine status or shows some common details which is specific to the VM. Say for example
VM-1 runs a service on 8080 port and same same service has been deployed on VM-2 which runs on the same port 8080.  To access to a service running on port 8080 I am opening a port on VM-1 through end points. I am able to access 8080 from web browser through VM-1 using servicename.webapp.net:8080. But If I want to check the status of VM-2, I am not able to open the port 8080 on the VM-2.  Probably because the port is opened at the service level and not the VM level. Is there a way I can open the port at the VM level and use VM-x:port?
Another approach I thought which could be useful is : Assign the staticIP/ReservedIP to each of the VM and open the port on individual machines should be possible, instead of open the port at the VNet/service level.  Is it possible to assign static/reserved IP to all 8 of the machines once they have been started and operational? And we also need to make sure that, after restart all the eight machines retain the same IPs.
I tried following blog https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/virtual-networks-reserved-public-ip/ and tried following command :
$image = Get-AzureVMImage|?{$_.ImageName -like "*AMI-20150919-849187*"}
New-AzureVMConfig -Name StaticIPVMCOnfig -InstanceSize Small -ImageName $image.ImageName
-CurrentStorageAccountName "myStorageACName"
| Add-AzureProvisioningConfig -Linux -LinuxUser root -Password MyP@ssword!
| New-AzureVM -ServiceName myCloudServiceName -ReservedIPName MyReservedIP
-Location "West Europe"

I still see the new VM is getting launched with same same VIP as the other VMs in the VNet. I am not sure if I am missing something.
Attaching the screenshots one is created without static/reservedIP CMDlets. Another is created from PowerShell. Both share the same VIP.

Could someone please help with this?
PS: Intentionally I am keeping the public VIPs to show that they are same. (I've closed and not using this service anymore).
Thanks,
JE

A: Yes you can assign static IP to to the VMs using powershell command-
get-azurevm -servicename "testservice" -name "testvm" | Set-AzureStaticVNetIP -IPAddress "10.87.96.41" | Update-AzureVM

Next thing is you want to make sure you don't lose the IP when instance goes to stopped state. For this what you can do is define explicit parameter StayProvisioned with the stop azure vm command in powershell-
stop-azurevm -ServiceName "testservice" -Name "testvm" -StayProvisioned

StayProvisioned doesn't allow IP to be freed even if VM is stopped.
If you are looking for public IP of VM-
"Every Virtual Machine is automatically assigned a free public Virtual IP (VIP) address"
In order to find out the public ip goto- Azure portal and then your VM dashboard. Here at the right side you see a quick glance tab under which you will be able to see the public IP. Snapshot for your reference-

You can use this public ip to directly connect to vm using RDP. Using powershell you can use below command for the same.
Get-AzureVM -ServiceName "testservice" -Name "testvm" | select PublicIPAddress

NOTE - Public IP will be null if instance is in stopped state. To know more on public IP you can read this-
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/documentation/articles/virtual-networks-instance-level-public-ip/
[Edited]

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Falcons decline fifth-year option on Takkarist McKinley
Published: Apr 29, 2020 at 06:51 AM
Takkarist McKinley could be entering his final season in Atlanta.
The Falcons declined to pick up McKinley's fifth-year option Wednesday, the team announced.
"We have decided to not move forward with a fifth-year option for Takk and at this time are taking a wait-and-see approach in terms of future contracts," the team said in a statement. "Takk has shown the ability to produce at a high level and we look forward to his production in 2020."
McKinley tweeted earlier Wednesday about the team's decision on his option and tacked on the praying hands emoji, which could be interpreted in a couple of different ways.
McKinley's career appeared poised to take off in 2019 after two seasons of at least six sacks, but he took a step back statistically, finishing with 3.5 sacks in 2019. Sacks are an incomplete stat used for evaluation, but the Next Gen Stats back up McKinley's struggles to make a difference. The defensive end finished with a disruption rate of 11.2 percent, which ranks among notable NFL havoc-wreakers Cameron Jordan and Kenny Clark, but there's a key detail missing: Jordan's 11.2 percent came on exactly twice as many pass-rushing downs in 2019. Clark wasn't far behind, posting an 11.1 disruption rate on 467 pass-rushing downs, as opposed to McKinley's 259 pass-rushing snaps.
Another metric, quarterback pressure rate, might help us here. At just 8.5 percent, McKinley's is very much average, ranking among defenders like Kamalei Correa and Carl Nassib. Then again, Bud Dupree just earned the franchise tag after posting a QB pressure rate of 8.6, although he did get home more often as evidenced by his 11.5 sacks.
Most of this is not worth the financial bump associated with a fifth-year option. Atlanta is instead waiting for McKinley to prove himself.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
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Democratic Backsliding in the Visegrad Four: Examining the Illiberal Turn
Pirzada Junaid
The initial years of the post-communist era reflected a promising beginning of the consolidation of democracy in the Visegrad Four countries. Slovakia, the only exception to this regional trend of democratic consolidation under Mečiarism, also showed signs of successful transition with the revival of democracy after the 1998 elections. However, in the last few years, with the rise of eurosceptics, ultra-nationalists and populists, the democratic model has been facing grave challenges in these countries. Besides attacking the opposition, students' organisations and NGOs, the conservative leadership in these countries, have also passed regressive reforms in media, constitution, as well as the judiciary. These attacks and reforms are aimed at strengthening the power of eurosceptic populist leaders, and thereby reducing any chances of Eurocentric opposition in the future. But why, despite initial years of promising success, democratic consolidation failed in the V4 countries? This essay argues that the challenges to the democratic consolidation in these post-communist countries have been a result of myriad local, national and international factors at economic, political and social levels.
Primarily, the membership in the EU, which was a major foreign policy objective of the new political elite post-1989, had raised numerous expectations among the citizens in these countries. But after the EU membership in May 2004, when those expectations still seemed a distant dream for the citizens in these countries, the disappointment with the EU membership's promises rose throughout the region. This disappointment soon became a fertile ground on which the conservative section of the political elite mobilised their support, which became evident with the victory of nationalistic and eurosceptic parties throughout the region.
This discontentment with the Western European model was made further worse by the economic crises of 2008-9 and the subsequent Euro debt crisis of 2011. Contrary to expectations that the EU membership will be a guarantor of economic prosperity and improved standards of living, the V4 countries had to suffer immensely as a result of these crises which primarily resulted because of the loopholes in other countries. Furthermore, the subsequent burden of reforms with adoption of EU's austerity policies aimed at stabilising the European économies post-crises, also proved costly for these countries, and hence furthered their apathy towards the integrationist model of Brussels.
Post 2015, the Refugee Crisis, resulting due to the massive influx of illegal migrants into Europe from politically unstable areas of the Middle East, North Africa and Asia, further fuelled the simmering anti-EU attitudes among the V4 countries. Though only Hungary was directly affected by the wave of these migrants, all V4 countries reflected a response which was reminiscent of classical xenophobia and exclusive nationalism. Despite these countries officially voting against Brussels' proposal of obligatory refugee quotas, and opposing the financial aid given to Turkey following EU-Turkey deal to stop refugees from entering the EU, the conservative media and politicians in these countries left no stone unturned to show a face of refugees that immediately mobilised the people to vote populist demagogues to power at the cost of ruling out the Eurocentric federalists.
Finally, another important, and often overlooked reason for the failed democratic consolidation in the V4 countries has been their lack of historical experience with democracy. As a result of this lacked democratic experience, people in these countries failed to develop a democratic culture in a few decades post-1989, and instead found it easy to turn back to their familiar models.
However, despite all the gloomy prospects of democratic consolidation in the V4 countries, the region is not the only aberration. The rise of Euroscepticism, nationalism, and populism has been on the rise throughout the continent, which became evident with Brexit and the rise of conservative parties, like National Front and Alternative for Germany, among others. Therefore, it is imperative for the EU that these occasional setbacks in few countries must not hinder its vision of greater European integration. Because, any void created by declining role of Brussels in the Visegrad region will immediately be filled by Russia, which is craving to regain its influence in its 'near-abroad.'
Moreover, the recent experiences from Afghanistan, Libya, Algeria and elsewhere, also made it clear that the quick imposition of the democratic model is not the universal solution for discrete problems across the world. The fact that the evolution of democracy took centuries of deliberate transformations, and occasional violent conflicts, in England, France, USA and elsewhere, must be kept in mind while assessing the democratic consolidation in any part of the world. Expecting successful transition and consolidation of democracy in the V4 countries, without keeping in mind that it has been only a few decades since these countries embarked on this painful transition, is in itself problematic.
Nonetheless, the post-1989 transition has also successfully contributed to transforming a considerable section of the population in these countries, who now show major disliking towards any non-democratic model. Therefore, even if the current situation of the V4is not a pleasant one, the big picture coming post-1989 is a reflection of a successful break with the 'Other' past.
Related Topics:DemocracyEuropean Union
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Pirzada Junaid Ahmad is a ResearchScholar at the Centre for European Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He holds a Master's degree in Conflict Analysis and Peace-building from Nelson Mandela Centre for Conflict Analysis and Peace-building, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. His areas of interest include Symbolism, Nationalism, Democratic Transition and Geopolitics.
What Social Movements Mean for African Politics
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The projection of Turkish power in the Eastern Mediterranean
Gagliano Giuseppe
The recent military conflict between Greece and Turkey over potential gas fields located in disputed waters is linked to a complex historical and political conflict between the two nations, so geographically close, but also culturally and politically distant. The superpowers have problems and alliances linked to the two countries, thus globalizing the conflict. Furthermore, all the countries concerned need the cooperation of Greece and Turkey in various fields such as the refugee crisis.
It is symptomatic of the changing nature of geopolitics, geoeconomics and the aftermath of Covid-19. The frictions reflect Turkey's strategic rebalancing. The conflict in the eastern Mediterranean is mainly the result of a dispute between Turkey and Greece. Two aspects in particular of this balance of power form an explosive mixture in the Eastern Mediterranean, firstly the conflict stems from the fact that there are no agreed maritime borders between Turkey and Greece. The two countries contest their mutual claims on maritime territories and thus contest their respective rights to search for underwater energy resources in the eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea.
Secondly, Turkish policy in the Middle East has helped lure other powers into maritime conflict.
The rift between Turkey and its eastern Mediterranean neighbors mainly affects Cyprus. While the Republic of Cyprus is internationally recognized as a sovereign state, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus has only been recognized by Ankara since its establishment in 1974. And above all, it sees the southern part of the island as secessionist. Turkey has longstanding objections to exploration licenses Cyprus offers to international energy companies, including ENI and Total. These licenses are mainly concentrated in the south and southwest of the island. These zones are included in the exclusive economic zone claimed by Cyprus but which, according to Ankara, violates its continental shelf as well as the territorial waters belonging to.
International law currently offers few possibilities for resolving maritime complaints. The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea states that coastal nations are entitled to a 200 mile exclusive economic zone where they can claim the rights to fishing, mining and drilling. But shorter distances in the eastern Mediterranean force states to settle on a negotiated dividing line. Turkey's position adds further complexity to these issues: Turkey is in fact not a signatory to the UN convention and defends a different interpretation of maritime rights, arguing that the waters adjacent to the Greek Cypriot administration remain an integral part of the continental shelf of Turkey.
The agreement of 27 November 2019 signed between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj defined a maritime border between the two signatories. The agreement was the most important signal of Turkey's ambitions. The text delineates a 35-kilometer line that will form a maritime border from the southwestern coast of Turkey to the north of Libya, and crosses the areas claimed by Greece and Cyprus. It tilts the balance of power in the eastern Mediterranean in favor of Turkey. This disrupts the planned route of the 1,900-kilometer Eastern Mediterranean gas pipeline that would carry gas from Israel through Cyprus and Greece to southern Europe. Greece called on the United Nations Security Council and NATO to condemn Turkey's maritime agreement and for this expelled the Libyan ambassador to Greece. Apparently, as a countermeasure to Turkey's tactics, Israel, Cyprus and Greece have teamed up to carry out the Eastern Mediterranean pipeline.
It must be said that Ankara has the ambition to be an energy hub for Europe. The Turkish state wishes both to guarantee the Turkish Cypriots a share of future gas revenues and to free Turkey from its dependence on Russian gas supplies. Erdogan had sent his own drilling vessels into disputed waters north-east and west of Cyprus, as well as south of Kastellórizo.
Turkey fears it will be cut off from most of the Aegean Sea and therefore from major sea routes if Greece unilaterally expands its territorial waters and creates new areas of maritime jurisdiction. Erdogan responded by adopting a more assertive line with more aggressive rhetoric. The Turkish government says that as long as talks on maritime disputes are pending and Greece and the Republic of Cyprus continue to do research or drilling, Ankara will too. For their part i Greek officials say Turkey's new policy is what has reignited the dispute and strained Ankara's relations with its neighbors. Greeks are increasingly concerned about the safety of hundreds of islands that are very close to Turkey.
Whether it is Turkey or Greece, the two countries are using the migration issue to exert pressure. The situation on the Greek-Turkish borders in fact remains tense and very unstable; the current status quo in the region has all the hallmarks of a hybrid battle. Turkish officials and security forces push migrants to the neighboring country, often even helping them with illegitimate means. Meanwhile, the press and social media are fully used to shape public opinion in favor of interested parties. Propaganda in this context plays a vital role in this conflict. In addition, Ankara also uses its strategic position with the Bosphorus Strait and threatens to close the US Incirlik base to serve its interests.
Turkey has pursued an aggressive and expansive policy in its region for the past decade. This Turkish government approach is steeped in neo-Ottomanism and pan-Islamism. We find in this approach the ramifications of a much older school of Ottoman imperialist thought. The wave of bellicose maneuvers by the Turkish government can be attributed to the 2016 coup attempt, which gave the Erdogan government carte blanche to implement its long-sought power projection policy.
The government's strategy to create a sense of successful foreign policy in the country, and thereby destroy most of the opposition parties, involves a discourse that emphasizes national interest. This vague but extremely useful term has had a paralyzing effect on the various opposition factions in the country, as they are unable to formulate a counter-narrative without risking being accused of lack of patrioticism. Very often the analysis of modern Turkey's foreign policy as neo-Ottoman politics ends with the assertion that Erdogan and his party are nostalgic for the restoration of Ankara's influence in the ancient regions of the Ottoman Empire.
If we take the example of Libya, one of Turkey's goals in Libya is to completely control the country's market and establish economic dependence on Turkey. It should be added that Turkey has signed two memoranda with LNG, one on military support and the other on demarcation at sea. Under the maritime border demarcation agreement, LNG has supported Turkey's demands on part of the waters of Greece and Cyprus. Furthermore, Ankara intends to exploit any gas reserves on the Libyan coast. Indeed, in exchange for military support, Ankara imposed a treaty on Tripoli to take control of a significant portion of the country's oil and gas wealth and forced LNG chief Fayez Sarraj to support its territorial claims in neighboring countries. This is a classic example of Turkish imperialist politics.
As a result, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's Turkey has engaged in the past two years in a remarkable series of geopolitical foreign interventions from Syria to Libya via Cyprus and more recently alongside Azerbaijan. Some have called it Erdogan's "New Ottoman Empire" strategy. Yet a collapsing lira and a collapsing national economy threaten to unexpectedly put an end to its great geopolitical ambitions. To date, in 2020, the lira has fallen 34% against the US dollar and 70% over the past five years. While some believe it would increase Turkey's exports of goods, what it does is expose the entire Turkish banking system and economy to a colossal debt explosion. It can also be noted that at this point Erdogan's interventions met with unserious sanctions or opposition from the EU. One obvious reason is the high exposure of EU banks to Turkish lending. Spanish, French, British and German banks have invested more than $ 100 billion in Turkey. Spain is the most exposed with 62 billion, followed by France with 29 billion. This means that the EU is walking on eggshells, unwilling to pour more money into Turkey but hesitant to precipitate a collapse on economic sanctions.
The eastern Mediterranean has become a hot spot for the natural gas industry. The discoveries have generated growing interest among several international oil companies and countries. It all started with Noble Energy (based in Texas) which announced the discovery of the Tamar field off the coast of Israel in 2009, with an estimated capacity of 280 billion cubic meters. In the space of two years, Noble Energy announced two further discoveries: the Leviathan field, also off the coast of Israel, in 2010 and the Aphrodite field, in Cypriot waters, in 2011. This has reinforced regional ambitions to make the Eastern Mediterranean a gas exporting region. . These ambitions were also based on two assessments made by the US Geological Survey (USGS) in 2010, which estimated the presence of nearly 9.8 trillion cubic meters of undiscovered technically recoverable gas and over 3.4 billion barrels of petroleum resources in the area. However, the real turning point (for regional energy ambitions) came in 2015 when the Italian Eni announced the discovery of the gigantic Zohr gas field off the coast of Egypt. With its 850 billion cubic meters of estimated average gross resources, the Egyptian offshore field is the largest ever discovered in the Mediterranean Sea. It should be added that these fields have another feature: geographical proximity. Thus was born a regional alliance with a pipeline project that excludes Turkey from the energy dynamic. The presence of natural gas has become an axis of cooperation and rivalry in the region. It can be said that gas is the main motivation behind Erdogan's maneuvers. Indeed, Turkey's unique geopolitical situation stems from the fact that it is poor in hydrocarbon reserves while its neighborhood has abundant resources. It is therefore imperative for Ankara to maintain stable energy ties with neighboring energy-rich countries or regions. In line with Turkey's growing domestic demand, efforts to focus on energy security have become an integral part of the country's foreign policy over the past two decades. The search for hydrocarbons, in particular natural gas, has become a fundamental geopolitical and geo-economic objective for the country.
The rationale for Turkish natural gas policies can be described by three aspects:
1. Being a country dependent on imports, Turkey's main objective is to guarantee its access to natural gas supplies to satisfy its internal demand.
2. aims to diversify its current supply structure and counterbalance Russia's dominant role in its energy portfolio.
3. Turkey aims to strengthen / increase its integration into the regional energy security architecture by promoting its role as an energy transit country and a potential hub for supplying Europe.
At the moment, the Eastern Mediterranean region does not supply gas to Turkey, with the exception of market agreements with Egypt. However, it emerges as a critical point on the Turkish foreign policy agenda, as the region is viewed by Ankara not only through the prism of energy security, but also through the prism of its protracted conflict with Cyprus and in the broader context of competition for regional power in the eastern Mediterranean.
In line with the above, it is possible to identify at least five key factors that explain Turkey's greater involvement in the Eastern Mediterranean:
1. Turkey looks for potential gas reserves in its waters that could bring economic benefits to the country.
2. Turkey does not want to be excluded from developing a new regional energy agenda and is ready to protect its interests.
3. Turkey intends to be an energy transit country that could strengthen its role as an energy hub and undermine rival projects such as the EastMed pipeline.
4. Turkey intends to involve other countries in the region to support its objectives, as seen in the case of the maritime border agreement with the government of national agreement based in Tripoli in Libya, to promote its position by preventing it from doing so. way for others to gain influence;
5. Turkey intends to demonstrate its capabilities as a military power in the eastern Mediterranean.
The Greek-Turkish crisis is likely to influence the shift in the balance of power in the Eastern Mediterranean region. It is possible that over time the United States will relocate its military base from Incirlik to one of the military installations in Greece. Athens wishes to modernize and strengthen the army and navy to contain Ankara. Greece, Cyprus, France but also regional actors such as Egypt and Israel do not agree with the Libyan-Turkish synergy. Analyzing the differences in this balance of power, it is clear that Erdogan appears to be in a position of strength. But from this analysis it also emerges that Ankara does not have sufficient capacity to realize its imperialist ambitions .
Nora Wolf
The first address of the European Commission since the pandemic was one highly anticipated by all the citizens of the EU block. On September 16, President Ursula van der Leyden took it upon herself to reveal the EU's roadmap for a post-Covid world following the approval of the recovery funds last July which constituted a breakthrough and sent a welcome signal in terms of cohesion and solidarity on the part of the 27 members.
Aside from paying tribute to our frontline workforce and praise the courage and human spirit showed by all in the face of virus spread, van der Leyen set out what she called NexGenerationEU; a movement to breathe new life into the EU but also and most importantly to adapt and lead the way into shaping tomorrow's world. Through her speech, the president highlighted roughly 8 key themes which will be at the centre of this new European era's agenda for the next 12 months, in accordance with the cardinal principles of trust, tolerance and agility. In other words, the 750 billion recovery funds raised extra-ordinarily will be directed towards the following areas:
1° Economy: the Union members must all breed economies that offer protection, stability and opportunities in the face of the continuous health crisis with a specific wish expressed for a stronger Health union – and thereby an extension of the Union's competencies on the matter – but also the advent of European minimum wages.
2° Green Revolution: the Union will adopt more radical attitudes towards mitigating climate-change and safeguarding our planet, starting with the ambitious aim of becoming the first climate-neutral continent by 2050 through the EU's Green Deal. So called 'lighthouse' high-impact and hydrogen-based projects will become an additional focus.
3° Technology: Europe has to step up its game and become a digital leader through securing industrial data and using it to support innovation. Delineating the use of AI by regulating the field, creating a secure EU e-identity and ensuring connectivity deployment so as to fully cover rural areas are also high on the list.
4° Vaccine management: The Union praises the open approach followed up until now in facing the virus whilst many others have opted for withdrawal and undercutting of cooperation. Having served as an example regarding vaccines research and funding, the EU must uphold its policy all the way to the finish line and ensure its accessibility for every citizen around the world.
5° Multilateralism: the current international order system needs some rethinking and international institutions need reform in order to de-paralyze crucial decision-making in urgent situations. This starts with the EU taking faster univocal positions on global issues (Honk-Kong, Moscow, Minsk, and Ankara) and systematically and unconditionally calling out any HR abuses whilst building on existing partnerships with EU's like-minded allies.
6° Trade: Europe will be made out as a figure of fair-trade by pushing for broker agreements on protected areas and putting digital and environmental ethics at the forefront of its negotiations. Global trade will develop in a manner that is just, sustainable, and digitized.
7° Migration: A New Pact on Migration will be put forward imminently as to act on and move forward on this critical issue that has dragged for long enough; in that regard every member state is expecting to share responsibility and involvement including making the necessary compromises to implement adequate and dignifying management. Europe is taking a stand: legal and moral duties arising from Migrants' precarious situations are not optional.
8° Against hate-inspired behaviours and discriminations: A zero-tolerance policy is reaffirmed by the Union by extending its crime list to all forms of hate crime or speech based on any of the sensitive criteria and dedicating budget to address de facto discriminations in sensitive areas of society. It is high time to reach equal, universal and mutual recognition of family relations within the EU zone.
Granted, the European 'priorities forecast' feels on point and leaves us nearly sighing in relief for it had been somewhat longed for. The themes are spot on, catch words are present and the phrasing of each section is nothing short of motivational with the most likely intended effect that the troops will be boosted and spirits lifted subsequently. When looking closer to the tools enunciated for every topical objective, there seems however to be nearly only abstract and remote strategies to get there.
This is because a great number of the decisive steps that the Union wishes to see be taken depend on the participation of various instruments and actors. Not only does it rely for most on the converging interests, capabilities and willingness of nation States (inside and outside the euro zone), but it is also contingent on the many complex layers and bodies of the Union itself. And when a tremendous amount of the proposed initiatives for European reconstruction is reliant on such a far-reaching chain of events, it simply calls into question the likelihood for the said measures and objectives to be attained – or at the very least in which timeframe.
One might then rightfully wonder whether good and strong willpower coupled with comprehensive projections can be enough. And perhaps in the same vein, whether we can afford to wait and let it play out in order to find out? In his recent writing Giles Merritt, founder of the platform 'friends of Europe' tends to suggest we most certainly do not have the luxury of waiting it out and not pushing the forward thinking even further. Indeed, according to him, Europe could and should do more. More than a call for action and change that might end up echoing and fading in the depths of the EU's bureaucracy, the Union would be expected to back up its ambitious intentions with the setting up of an independent planning agency to 'ensure revolutionary ideas and projects are speedily implemented', to borrow Merritt's words.
Whilst van der Leyen's announcement was promising and efficient in that it sent an important message – the EU is wanting to get in the driver's seat – only the follow-up with radical motions such as the creation of a readily available tool to implement fast and impactful changes can lend support to a claim that Europe is in a position to resolve current internal and external EU challenges, and more generally to bounce back from conceded decline suffered in the most recent decades.
As a matter of fact, Diplomat Ali Goutali and Professor Anis Bajrektarevic were the firsts to make an analysis in that sense as they articulated their proposal for the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) earlier this year. Faced with similar challenges and need for sharper thinking and tools in order to be at the forefront of the economic and technologic challenges ahead, the OIC had relied heavily on its Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation and agenda reform to reinforce its cooperation and innovation capabilities as a global player.
Nevertheless, Goutali and Bajrektarevic already felt months ago that additional steps ought to be taken for the OIC to be able to respond swiftly and reaffirm further its mandate of facilitating common political actions. To that end, it was suggested that a mechanism for policy coordination in critical times – the Rapid Reaction Capacitation – in charge of, primarily, vaccines management and AI applications should be introduced. Furthermore, the stakes behind the urgent need of strengthening our international order through cohesive endeavours are evidently the same for both the EU and the Arab World. That is to permanently leave behind a pseudo-competitive nation-based attitude that is nothing but a relic from the past and has achieved little in the context of the Covid outbreak.
Hence, if such an independent body was to be established, all three authors agree that it could gather the indispensable political power and resources to carry out the desired reforms on multilateralism, cyber and digital infrastructures, Covid recovery measures or geopolitical partnerships. Necessarily streamlined in order to avoid undue blockades, these new regional bodies could be composed of energetic forward thinkers across the private and public sectors empowered to map out and act on adequate strategies for a post-Covid world. This is because we all share the same goal: achieving solidarity not only on paper or as a conceptual motto but in real life and in real time. And after all, didn't von der Leyen herself concur with that line of thinking as she enjoined Member states to move towards qualified majority voting to avert slow and cumbersome decision-making processes?
It seems pretty clear to me that such discussions in relation to the aggressiveness in actions and potential bureaucratic barriers might raise an old-as-the-world yet still very important questions: Should we, Europe, be ready to risk losing some of the legitimacy or democratic aspects of our political bodies in order to gain in speed and efficiency in times of crisis? And if not, considering the embracement of some of our supra-national entity's actions is already on shaky grounds, how can we ensure that such bold measures may still be reconciled with maximal legitimacy given our equally urging need for unity?
Deciphering EU's new investment deal with China
Bejoy Sebastian
The perceived economic gains of the Comprehensive Agreement on Investments (CAI), which the 27-nation European Union recently struck with the People's Republic of China, come at the cost of disregarding human rights, which the Western bloc is known for, amid clear and irreconcilable systemic differences.
The closing days of 2020 saw the European Union and China striking a deal known as the Comprehensive Agreement on Investments (CAI), thereby concluding seven long years of negotiations, as per the year-end deadline. China is also the EU's biggest trading partner after the United States, but a strategic and systemic rival too.
The European Commission, Brussels-based executive arm of the EU, primarily led the negotiations on behalf of the bloc. Germany, being the holder the EU Council Presidency and led by Chancellor Angela Merkel's continued push, combined with Beijing's last-minute concessions, proved instrumental in expediting the process of finalising the CAI before the end of 2020.
However, the deal will still have to wait for a formal ratification by both sides and an approval by the Strasbourg-based EU Parliament, a tougher task, before finally setting it on course to be effective in a couple of years' time, if not by early 2022.
Better rules, level-playing field for European businesses
The EU, by this deal, aims to widen the access for European companies to lucrative Chinese markets, with billion-plus consumers, on a wide range of sectors, particularly in services such as healthcare, finance, cloud-computing and air travel, among others, that has always been restrictive to foreign players in the past.
The deal could bring in a level playing field in the conduct of European businesses in China wherein Chinese state-owned enterprises will no longer be given preferential treatment through subsidies, thereby promoting fair competition and ensuring transparency in technology transfers. Newer possibilities for the expansion European businesses in China will be opened.
The CAI also promise better rules, investment protection, and an investment dispute settlement mechanism within two years of signing, which will replace all the separate bilateral investment treaties currently signed between China and EU member states. The EU maintains that the main purpose of this new deal is to address the economic imbalance in its relations with China.
However, the most striking aspect of the CAI is that, for the first time, China commits to follow accepted standards on climate and labour aspects, even though in a vague form. And for the EU, the timing of this deal with China is significant as a way of signalling its reengagement with the world in the aftermath of a post-Brexit scenario.
At the same time, the CAI reaffirmed reciprocal access for Chinese companies into European markets, which they always had. So, the deal matters to Europe, more than it matters to China. So, the real question is the extent of compromises which European negotiators had to make to strike the deal with the Asian superpower.
The issue of forced labour in China
Many EU member countries and the US had been apprehensive about the human rights situation in the northern Xinjiang province of China where there have been evidences and investigations on the use of forced labour from the media and elsewhere, which has not been duly factored in while concluding the investment deal.
It has been alleged that in the past several years, the Chinese government has forced over a million Uighur minorities in Xinjiang to perform seasonal labour against their will and are often underpaid. But, the Chinese government has repeatedly denied such allegations.
Many European lawmakers believe that China is not interested in fully complying with international agreements after signing it and is not a responsible and trustable partner. The presence of mass detention camps in this province, as verified by satellite imagery and other documents, is also a human rights concern which the EU was not supposed to ignore, considering its historical commitments to human rights.
US concerns and strategic rivalry
The incoming Biden administration has also raised concerns about the CAI, stating that it would "welcome early consultations" with its European partners on shared concerns surrounding China's unfair economic practices, hinting at the issue of forced labour and the deal's lacking on the question of enforcement of human rights.
Being a security and strategic partner of the US and part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), any such deal which EU and its member countries sign with its strategic rival, China, could effectively undermine American-led efforts to counter the strategic and geopolitical threat posed by Beijing's aggressive and expansionist policies around the world.
It also flies in the face of an incoming Biden administration which is openly committed to mend relations with allies in Europe that had been worsened under Donald Trump. Many experts in the US have felt the EU should've waited for a few more weeks until the Biden administration takes charge to form a co-ordinated approach, as it related to their common systemic and strategic rival, China.
Moreover, the deal comes at a time when individual EU members such as Germany and the Netherlands have recently released their own outlook on the Indo-Pacific strategy, which is perceivably aimed at containing China's rise and to ensure balance of power in the region. Meanwhile, France's outlook is in existence for two years now.
Way ahead for implementation
The deal has now been reached at the technical level, paving way for a final ratification. But, getting the deal through the European Parliament, which attaches far more significance to human rights concerns than the Commission and the Council, is going to be a tough task, as many European legislators are increasingly sceptical of Chinese intentions and commitments to any deal.
The coming months are going to be crucial with regard to how the European legislators will debate and take forward the deal to the next level.
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text:
Хеттікамканамге Перера (,  19 сентября 1978) — шрі-ланкійський футбольний арбітр, арбітр ФІФА з 2004 року.

Біографія
У 2015 році відправився до Австралії, обслуговуючи матчі Кубка Азії 2015 року.

Обслуговував матчі азійського відбору на чемпіонат світу 2018 року, а також постійно обслуговує матчі Ліги чемпіонів АФК.

На початку 2018 року був одним з арбітрів Молодіжного чемпіонату Азії.

Був одним з арбітрів Кубка Азії 2019 року.

Примітки

Народились 1978
Ланкійські футбольні арбітри

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Newham Recorder > News > Health
Number of times Barts Health broke mixed-sex ward rules revealed
Harriet Clugston And Luke Acton
Published: 7:00 AM October 17, 2019 Updated: 10:21 AM October 13, 2020
Barts Health's Newham University Hospital. Picture: Sandra Rowse - Credit: Archant
The hospital trust for Newham and Tower Hamlets has faced fines of up to £62,500 in the 12 months to August 2019 for breaking rules that ban mixed-sex wards.
In that time, Barts Health NHS Trust recorded 250 breaches of the mixed-sex accommodation rules, according to NHS figures. That's a 17 per cent increase from the previous 12 months, which only saw 213 instances recorded.
NHS England guidance says trusts are expected to have a "zero-tolerance" approach towards mixed sex accommodation, which it says is essential for ensuring safety, privacy and dignity for patients.
It did, however, add that enforcement of the fines is left to individual clinical commissioning groups, which plan and buy healthcare from trusts, who could potentially decide to waive them.
NHS trusts are supposed to be fined £250 per patient each time they break the rules.
This would mean the Barts Health NHS Trust faced fines of £62,500 over the course of the year.
The figures do not include instances where mixed accommodation is considered justified, such as in intensive care.
A Barts Health spokeswoman said: "Breaches in the same-sex accommodation rule occur when patients in our critical care areas are fit to be moved to a specialist ward but no beds are available on a ward for their sex.
"Patient safety is a top priority for the trust and there will be times when we need to ensure patients are placed in the most appropriate clinical setting, rather than in same-sex accommodation.
"Patients are always asked and kept fully informed of the situation and we ensure their dignity is maintained. We take the principles set out in the national guidance very seriously and are working hard on patient flow initiatives to reduce these occurrences."
Across England, more than 19,900 breaches were recorded over the same 12-month period, a 4.5 per cent increase on the previous year.
Lucy Watson, chair of the Patient's Association charity, said failing to follow the same-sex rules could cause additional anxiety for people already worried about being in hospital.
But the Nuffield Trust's Dr Sarah Scobie said an NHS stretched to capacity means often the alternative to mixed-sex wards is being left on a trolley or having treatment delayed.


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