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TOPIC: shanghai
Did Climate Change Cause The Fall Of The Ming Dynasty?
In the mid-17th century, the weather in China got colder. The frequency of droughts and floods increased while some regions were wiped out by tragic famines. And the once-unstoppable Ming dynasty began to lose power.
The accounts are chilling. In the summary of his course on modern Chinese history at the Collège de France, Pierre-Etienne Will examined journals held by various individuals, often part of the Chinese administration, during the final years of the Ming dynasty. These autobiographical writings were almost always kept secret, but they allow us to immerse ourselves in the everyday life of the first half of 17th-century China.
In the Jiangnan region, close to Shanghai and generally considered as a land of plenty, the 1640s did not bode well. The decade that had just ended was characterized by an abnormally cold and dry climate and poor harvests. The price of agricultural goods kept rising, pushing social tension to bursting points.
Pierre-Etienne Will writes that in the town of Suzhou, a scholar named Ye Shaoyuan described starving peasants, some of whom climbed the walls of the homes of the wealthy, while others broke in "after smashing their gates with axes". Some wealthy people were murdered before the intervention of the army put an end to the violence.
Breakdown of the natural order
The beginning of the decade then turned into a tragedy. Droughts followed one another in 1641 and 1642, and "for the first time, there is mention of the bodies of people starved to death lying on the sides of the roads" while "the price of rice went through the roof."
In early 1642, some even reported accounts of cannibalism in the region. Not far from there, Songjiang offered the nightmarish sights of "countryside strewn with the corpses of people who died of hunger, people trying to feed themselves with the bark of trees, troops of abandoned children." The starving populations wandered hopelessly and the few soup kitchens arranged were nowhere near sufficient to remedy the ongoing disaster.
The teenage Yao Tinglin described the surroundings of Shanghai where "death was everywhere". Pierre-Etienne Will writes: "Yao mentions refugees who suddenly collapsed in the middle of the street; there was also a sort of canopy in front of his house where starving people came to die every night." Cannibalism, again, is alluded to, including on "young victims", which triggered judiciary sanctions of a boundless brutality, which were cheered by crowds.
"All this shows a complete breakdown of the natural order, which is reflected in the social order by the aberrant crimes mentioned above," the Sinologist writes.
Weather patterns disrupting a regime
In addition to droughts, floods ravaged the country, particularly the Yellow River's basin. Pandemics wiped out a part of the population and unprecedented locust invasions destroyed some harvests. In a China where the emperor was believed to hold his power from a "celestial mandate," the disruption of the world and the unleashing of natural disasters do not only have real-world consequences. They are also heavy with symbolic significance. It seems these elements were an important factor in the fall of the Ming dynasty, which came to power in 1368 and ended in 1644 when its last ruler committed suicide following a military defeat.
All studies agree on one certainty: the final century of the Ming dynasty was characterized by an abnormally cold climate and by a high frequency of extreme weather events. Is this the manifestation of the "little ice age" described in Europe? In northern China, the average temperature dropped by 1.18 °C (33.8 °F) between the 1610s and 1650s, according to Chinese scholars.
Droughts became more intense. Other Chinese scholars believe that, in the period from 1627 to 1642, eastern China "very likely experienced the most persistent drought since 500 A.D." Chongzhen, the last Ming emperor, paid the political price for these disasters. For historian Tim Brook, author of The Troubled Empire, a seminal book on the subject, "no emperor of the Yuan or Ming dynasties faced such abnormal or severe climatic conditions as Chongzhen."
In their study on the "impact of climate change on the fall of the Ming dynasty," Chinese scholars led by Zheng Jingyun combed the climatic and economic data of the era to reach a conclusion. The climate disruptions observed at that time accelerated the collapse of a regime that was already subjected to strong internal and external pressure.
A fiscal crisis
The decline in agricultural production led to famines. Starting in the 1570s, the amount of grain per capita fell from 20% to 50% towards the end of the period.
As the Ming dynasty came to an end, tax collection became more and more crucial.
Above all, the effects induced by this situation were especially politically harmful. One of those effects is fiscal. As weather conditions became increasingly harsh, the system of military farms that provided food for a part of the army quickly deteriorated. While, according to researchers, the military effort accounted for 64% of the central government's spendings between 1548 and 1569, this figure rose to 76% between 1570 and 1589.
These averages only provide a glimpse of a trend that became even more pronounced thereafter. As the Ming dynasty came to an end, tax collection became more and more crucial, particularly in the form of the grain tribute that the provinces had to send to Beijing. Faced with worsening living conditions, the provinces begged for tax relief and were instead met with the increasingly harsh inflexibility of a desperate central government.
Tourists wearing face masks visit the Forbidden City in Beijing after a snowfall
Sheldon Cooper/SOPA Images/ZUMA
Rebellions fueled by grievances
Then there was the appearance of local rebellions, increasingly structured and massive, fighting the Ming army. Such rebellions were dismissed by the doctrine of Communist China as mere conflicts involving starving peasants against landowners.
In fact, they were fueled by multiple grievances, including against the regime. Among the fighters were soldiers furious at being demobilized, but also postal workers who lost their jobs following Emperor Chongzhen's decision to cut this service's funding, or people who suffered from the government's inability to help them when natural disasters struck. Rebel troops appealed to a large number of people who were exasperated by the State's negligence, and they eventually reached a size sufficient to bring down the system.
One of those troops managed to capture Beijing and to end the regime in 1644. Its leader, Li Zicheng, had himself been a postal worker for a time. He advocated for an egalitarian doctrine and promised to distribute land equally between all and to abolish the tax on agricultural production. Victorious in Beijing, Li Zicheng proclaimed himself king and then founder of the short-lived Shun dynasty that would quickly be overturned.
Implosion of a system
Was climate change the cause for the doom of the Ming dynasty? This theory is indeed convincing, but there are some caveats. In all the aforementioned events, natural disasters aggravated trends that were already at work. And the fiscal crisis? Perhaps it did not need the help of the climate to occur in a political system progressively eroded by corruption.
In this worn-out political system, the landowner class had invented mechanisms to evade tax.
As José Frèches explains in his book on the history of China, the decline of Chinese finances accelerated "at a dizzying pace" from 1580 on, and also owed much to "colossal life annuities that the members of the imperial family had arrogated to themselves over the years." He adds: "The State's backbone was not sufficient enough to face the general mayhem and corruption that undermined the country from top down."
In this worn-out political system, the landowner class had invented mechanisms to evade tax. "A large number of simple individuals even sought the protection of the wealthy to avoid paying taxes by selling them their lands more or less fictionally," Pierre-Etienne Will says, describing a "fairly massive" phenomenon. A form of tax avoidance thriving on the breakdown of the State apparatus can therefore be added to the list of factors that led to the implosion of the system.
The Manchu offensive
As for the increasingly unbearable rise in military expenditure, in the end it also owed much to the pressure exerted by the Manchus, the barbarians from the North who defeated Li Zicheng in 1645 and who would rule over China under the name of "Qing" until their doom in 1911 and the advent of the Republic.
As the Ming dynasty sank into internal crisis, the Manchus managed to unite and shape an ambitious imperial project. All at once, the Ming had to fight internal armies and to push back the attacks of these unparalleled fighters who made their first incursions into the national territory as early as 1618 before intensifying their offensive in the 1640s. This increasingly unstoppable offensive relied massively on Chinese fighters who had defected from the Ming army.
The natural disasters that China faced during the final decades of the Ming dynasty thus accelerated the sinking of a ship that was already taking on water. And if the "celestial mandate" eventually seemed to be taken away from Emperor Chongzhen, it is also because the State he was in charge of was too paralyzed by internal clan struggles and the elite's corruption to find the means to fight effectively against the calamities befalling its country.
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China's "Two-Legged Sheep" And The Cost Of COVID Discrimination
As China holds firm in its zero-COVID approach, discrimination against those who have tested positive is rampant. Some even find themselves homeless and jobless. Now, the government is trying to tackle the stigma, but it won't be easy.
On July 9, the story of Afen, a young girl living in the restrooms of Shanghai Hongqiao train station, spread rapidly on Chinese social media. The girl was reported to be jobless and homeless because she had once contracted COVID. In post-lockdown Shanghai, many recruiters refused to give jobs to those who had been infected or who had worked in hospitals. Such demands in Shanghai's labor market were not just seen in companies and firms but also in manual part-time jobs.
And even shelters might not host people who had tested positive for the virus. In Shanghai alone, thousands of workers like Afen were left with no choice but to live on the streets and struggle for their survival.
Another story of a girl who lost her job due to her infection history also caught the attention of millions of netizens. In a video, 24-year-old He Yuxiu recounted fleeing wartime Ukraine, where she had been studying. When she finally found a job teaching Russian in a Chinese school, she was sacked because she tested positive twice on returning to China. Yuxiu says that in China, "Social discrimination is the biggest issue after you've been infected with COVID-19."
Positive means guilty
As He Yuxiu makes clear, such cases are not unique. Discrimination against COVID-positive people has been part of the ongoing pandemic in China, visibly or invisibly. Apart from becoming "unemployable," individuals who have recovered from COVID could be barred from public places, and even refused from staying long-term in hotels.
Discrimination could also come from neighbors and acquaintances. During mass lockdowns, like the one that took place in Shanghai a few months ago, a whole living unit would go through tough restrictions if there was one positive case. So the "positive" person could be seen as "guilty," taking on tremendous blame and stress. There were even cases of making public apologies to neighbors for testing positive.
The new phrases used to refer to those who have tested positive also reflect this discrimination. From "little positive man" to "two-legged sheep" (the word "sheep" yáng has the same pronunciation as "positive" in Mandarin), patients are sometimes just called "male sheep" and "female sheep" or even just a sheep emoji. These are not just simple words, but a step-by-step stigmatization of the disease.
Apart from becoming "unemployable," individuals who have recovered from COVID could be barred from public places
Sam Balye
Life under "zero-Covid"
Observers say that China's Zero-COVID approach is to blame for discriminatory attitudes. The risk of having someone re-testing as positive is too high for companies to take because everyone in the workplace would have to go into isolation.
The same idea applies to living spaces and communities. There is even a joke that "where you will be tomorrow and whether you could go out depends on your neighbor." On the other hand, the mass population are not up-to-date on the latest scientific knowledge about COVID, so the fear from two years ago is still present.
China's COVID technology also creates conditions to identify those testing positive. Under the country's COVID-19 control system, individuals need to carry a health code, which resembles an e-passport that tracks one's travel history, residence and medical records. The code switches colors from green and yellow to red, indicating different levels of COVID exposure risks.
Privacy is easily violated to have total control over the virus
In order to track cases under the zero-COVID policy, one needs to show their health code when entering places and taking public transport. For many job seekers, it is obligatory to show their COVID testing history to recruiters. So a person's infection history is very obvious, leaving people vulnerable to discrimination. When a positive case is identified, the individual has to release information on their whereabouts and recent activities, and such information is widely circulated in group chats and social media.
A call to end discrimination
People are consequently at risk of cyberattacks and privacy leakages. There have been suggestions that the health code should show COVID testing results for the most recent month and have improved privacy protection. But with the ongoing zero-COVID approach, privacy is easily violated to have total control over the virus.
On July 13, at a State Council meeting, China's Premier Li Keqiang called for equal employment rights and announced that discrimination against people recovered from COVID would be punished. Keqiang stressed the importance of stabilizing the labor market, making clear Beijing's wish for economic activities to go back to normal.
But with the zero-COVID approach and regional administrations still enforcing lockdowns and strict quarantine regulations, it is going to prove difficult to see an overnight change. And the millions of Chinese people who have had COVID might still finding themselves trying to live their lives in the face of discrimination and stigma.
100 Days Of Ukraine War, Shanghai Back In Lockdown, "Turkey" No More
👋 မင်္ဂလာပါ!*
Welcome to Friday, where Ukraine marks 100 days since the beginning of the Russian offensive, French arms manufacturers are accused of complicity in Yemen war crimes, and Turkey says call us Türkiye. Meanwhile, German daily Die Welt tunes in with Anatoly Dremov, a Russian soldier whose on-the-ground war videos are going viral — much to the Kremlin's chagrin.
[*Mingalaba - Burmese]
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🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• 100 days of war: Today marks 100 days since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russian forces now occupy 20% of Ukrainian territory since the launch of the war on Feb 24 as troops are progressing in the southeastern Donbas region.
• Iowa church shooting: A man opened fire on the parking lot of the Cornerstone Church in Ames, Iowa, leaving three people dead including the gunman who shot himself. This happened just hours after two people were shot at a cemetery south of Milwaukee.
• Parts of Shanghai sent back to lockdown: Two days after the lift of the two-months COVID-19 restrictions in Shanghai, some neighborhoods of China's hub are again being placed under lockdown as officials announced seven new coronavirus cases in Jing'an and Pudon districts.
• French arms makers accused of Yemen war crimes: Three NGOs have filed a lawsuit against French arms manufacturers including Dassault Aviation and Thales for complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity in Yemen. They accuse the companies of having sold and exported military equipment to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which was later used against civilians in the Yemen conflict.
• Greece's call to free Iran-held oil tankers: Greece called for international help to urge Iran to free the crew of two oil tankers — the Delta Poseidon and the Prudent Warrior — that were seized last week by Iranian forces in the Persian Gulf.
• Turkish inflation hits highest levels since 1998: Turkey's annual inflation soared to 73.5% in May — the highest jump in 24 years — due to the rising prices of energy and food and the war in Ukraine.
• Queen to skip today's Jubilee service due to "discomfort": Buckingham Palace announced that Queen Elizabeth II will not attend St Paul's cathedral's service on Friday after experiencing "some discomfort" at Platinum Jubilee events yesterday.
🗞 FRONT PAGE
Croatian daily Vecernji list marks on its front page the 100th day since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelensky estimated that 20% of his country's territory was now occupied by Moscow's forces.
💬 LEXICON
The United Nations approved Turkey's request to be known as Türkiye internationally. The rebranding campaign began in December 2021, with President Erdogan asking that his country be called by the same name in all foreign languages rather than variations such as "Turkey," "Turkei" or "Turquie."
📰 STORY OF THE DAY
Meet the Russian soldier turned social media star
Anatoly Dremov is a soldier turned social media star. Tens of thousands follow him online where he documents the war — and reveals more about the Russian army than Putin might like, reports Artur Weigandt in German daily Die Welt.
📱 "That damn Ukrainian 'dill' shot up our tank," a young soldier says into his cell phone camera. Dill is Russian slang for "Ukrainian Nazis." The soldier squats in a car. The camera pans to the street. Destroyed apartment buildings pass by. Destroyed tanks. Shattered civilian vehicles. What sounds like a cheap Russian action movie is reality. The reality of soldier Anatoly Dremov, sometimes Artyom Dremov, also known by the pseudonym Snami Bog — "God with us." Dremov is 25 years old and from St. Petersburg and has a Telegram channel with 48,000 subscribers.
🇺🇦 💥 Dremov makes no secret of why he has come to the land of Ukrainians. In a live broadcast in mid-March, he talked about the conflict with Putin supporters. Thousands tune in to his live talks. Dremov, he says, is not about fame or money. He wants his family to live under a "peaceful Russian sky." Dremov believes he would fight for the Russian people against Ukrainian Nazis who live such an uncivilized life that they can be wiped out just like that.
❓ The channel unintentionally shows how bad the condition and morale of the Russian army is. On March 24, he checked in, looking scarred by the war. He seemed to be at the end of his rope. "In the last few days, it's been close. We've lost comrades," he said to the camera. "You will hear less of me, see less of me. I can't reveal our whereabouts." His posts became less frequent. Later, Dremov is seen in a Russian city, far from the Donbas and Ukraine. Nobody knows what happened in between. Was his unit blown up? Did they have to retreat? Was the mission terminated? No answer.
➡ Read more on Worldcrunch.com
📣 VERBATIM
This isn't about taking away anyone's rights. It's about protecting children.
— U.S. President Joe Biden asked lawmakers to implement stricter gun control measures, including bans on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines, and raising the legal age to purchase them from 18 to 21. Similar proposals have failed in the past, as virtually all Republican lawmakers insist on absolute protection for the right to own weapons, even in the face of years of mass shootings.
✍ Newsletter by Lila Paulou, Lisa Berdet, Anne-Sophie Goninet and Bertrand Hauger
Let us know what's happening in your corner of the world!
info@worldcrunch.com
West To Arm Ukraine, Deadly Brazil Rainstorm, Nadal Tears Up
👋 Салам!*
Welcome to Wednesday, where the U.S. and Germany announce new military aid for Ukraine, at least 100 are confirmed dead as floods and landslides hit Brazil, and an iconic movie vehicle gets an ecological update. For Worldcrunch, Anna Akage also writes about the dire situation in Russia's overpopulated detention centers, where Ukrainian "spies and traitors" are locked up without trial.
[*Salam - Kyrgyz]
• Western nations announce new military aid for Ukraine: As Russian forces push further into Severodonetsk, the United States has revealed that it will in fact be sending Ukraine long-range precision missiles as part of an expected $700 million weapons package. This decision reverses yesterday's announcement that the U.S. would not be sending rockets to Ukraine which could reach targets on Russian soil. Germany, whose government has been criticized for being slow to provide support for Ukraine, will also be sending anti-aircraft missiles and radar systems to Kyiv to help Ukrainian forces to fend off Russian aircraft.
• Eritrean forces shell school in northern Ethiopia: After two months of peace in the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea, which had begun in November of 2020, the UN now claims that Eritrean forces have shelled a school in northern Ethiopia. The attack killed a 14-year-old girl and has left 18 people injured.
• Elon Musk tells workers to go back to work or leave: The billionaire CEO of the Tesla e-vehicle company has sent a directive to staff that remote working is "no longer acceptable," and those not complying should leave the company.
• U.S. Supreme Court blocks Texas social media law: In a 5-4 ruling, the United States Supreme Court has blocked a Texas law that would prevent social media companies with more than 50 million users from removing political speech from their platforms.
• Deadly weather across Latin America: At least 100 people were killed, following severe rainstorms that triggered landslides and floods near the city of Recife in northeast Brazil. Around 1,200 rescue personnel were deployed to the area and will continue their search for missing people. This news comes as 11 people are reported dead and at least 20 missing from landslides and flooding from Hurricane Agatha in Oaxaca, Mexico.
• Trudeau government issues secret cabinet orders: The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reports that Canada's current administration has issued 72 secret cabinet orders since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau entered office in 2015, more than twice as many as the previous administration.
• DeLorean is back (to the future): The car made famous by 1985's hit film Back to the Future made its return this week. Images of the new vehicle, called the Alpha5, show that it will feature design elements from the classic DeLorean, like its signature gull-wing doors, while also honoring its legacy as a symbol of the future by entering the market as an electric vehicle.
Today's Shanghai Daily's frontpage celebrates the return to "normal" life in China's financial hub, as most lockdown measures start being lifted this week after two months of strict zero-COVID policy.
Jeu vidéo en nuage
Au revoir "cloud gaming," bonjour "jeu vidéo en nuage." The Academie Française — France's linguistic watchdog — has introduced alternative terms for the gaming industry's reliance on English words. The aim is to preserve the French language against the growing use of anglicisms, denounced by the Academie. This means "eSport" should be called: "jeu vidéo de compétition." Rolls right off the tongue.
Ukrainian "spies and traitors" dumped in Russia's already crowded prison system
Russian jails were already struggling thanks to long investigations and an arrest bias. But the conflict in Ukraine has made a bad situation worse in detention centers around the country, with so-called Ukrainian "spies and traitors" locked up without trial, Anna Akage writes for Worldcrunch.
🇷🇺 From 2006, since the middle of Vladimir Putin's second term in office, the hunt for traitors, spies, and enemies has enveloped the entire Russian Federation. From peaceful protesters to journalists and human rights activists, thousands of people are being held in detention centers where they spend weeks and sometimes months without charge or awaiting trial. The situation has worsened since the beginning of the invasion in Ukraine and now, in almost every region of Russia, the pretrial detention facilities are overcrowded.
⚖ Lawyers and regional ombudsman described the problem as chronic and attributed it to delayed investigative actions and the "arrest bias" of justice when the penitentiary system hesitates to bring charges and delays pre-trial investigations. Igor Vedinyapin, head of the department of execution of sentences and special registration of the Federal Penitentiary Service, pointed out that 44% of all detainees held in pre-detention centers are accused of crimes of small or medium gravity, and only every fourth detainee is sentenced to a penalty not involving actual imprisonment.
🇺🇦 Eva Merkacheva, a member of the Presidential Human Rights Council, believes that Ukrainian citizens who were captured during the hostilities and then became suspects are brought to such facilities. According to Igor Omelchenko, the head of the Rostov Oblast pre-trial detention facility near the Ukrainian border, "Many people are unreasonably detained in pre-trial detention facilities — old people, sick people, young girls, suspects not under any violent and serious articles."
#⃣ BY THE NUMBERS
One single plant covering 77 square miles (200 square kilometers) underwater: That's the discovery made by scientists in Shark Bay, off Australia's western coast. The 4,500-year-old meadow of seagrass — Posidonia australis — is the biggest plant ever discovered on Earth.
✍ Newsletter by Lisa Berdet, Joel Silvestri, Lila Paulou and Bertrand Hauger
Lisa Berdet, Anne-Sophie Goninet, Lila Paulou, Joel Silvestri and Bertrand Hauger.
Key EU Ukraine Summit, Shanghai Reopening, Whale Lost In The Seine
👋 Ahoj!*
Welcome to Monday, where EU leaders try to overcome divisions on Russian sanctions, Shanghai lifts some of its COVID-19 restrictions and a killer whale dies after getting lost in the river Seine. Meanwhile, German Die Welt reports on fears in Georgia that its breakaway territory South Ossetia might be next in the Kremlin's crosshairs.
[*Czech]
• Crucial EU summit on Ukraine amid signs of "crumbling" unity: A crucial two-day summit of European Union leaders is underway to forge a new response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as German Economy Minister Robert Habek expressed fears that the unity of the European Union "is beginning to crumble."
• Shanghai to lift COVID restrictions: Shanghai's authorities have announced that lockdown measures will be eased on the city's businesses from Wednesday to support its hard-hit economy after two months of lockdown. Workers will be allowed to go back to work and resume production in China's financial center.
• Monkeypox presents moderate risk to public health: The World Health Organization reports that monkeypox presents a "moderate" risk to global public health, in a statement released on Sunday. More than 250 cases have now been confirmed in 23 countries, most of them in Europe and North America.
• 31 dead in Nigeria church fair stampede: A stampede at a church charity fair in southern Nigeria killed 31 people, including many children. The annual "Shop for Free" event Saturday was aimed to bring hope to people in poverty, but quickly became overcrowded.
• Uvalde update: The U.S. Department of Justice will investigate the police response to the Uvalde school shooting following reports that officers delayed storming the school by 40 minutes because they thought the "active shooter" situation was over.
• Killer whale found dead in the Seine: The male killer whale who seemed stuck in the River Seine in northern France since May 16 was found dead this Monday morning. Authorities had asked for the animal to be euthanized after a rescue plan failed and specialists concluded it was terminally ill with mucormycosis, a disease never before seen in Europe.
• Cannes Film Festival winners: Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund won his second Palme d'Or for Triangle of Sadness, a satire about wealthy people, during the closing ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday evening. In second position, the Grand Prix was jointly awarded to Claire Denis' Stars at Noon and Lukas Dhont's Close. The best actress award went to Iranian Zar Amir-Ebrahimi while Korean star Song Kang-ho was named best actor.
The front page of Barranquilla-based daily El Heraldo reports on the upcoming "second round" of Colombia's presidential election, after yesterday saw leftist leader and former guerrilla fighter Gustavo Petro take the lead with 40.32% of the votes, as Rodolfo Hernández, dubbed the "Trump of Colombia", trails with 28.15%. Petro will face new challenges in the second round, scheduled for June 19, after third runner up Federico Gutiérrez made his endorsement for Hernández.
2,073 feet
The Bach Long glass-bottomed bridge in northern Vietnam, has been recognized by the Guinness World Record as the longest such structure in the world. With 2,073 ft (632 meters) in length, this new vertigo-inducing bridge has beaten the previous record of 1,726 ft held by Guangdong, China.
In Georgia, fears of being back on Putin's hit list
Vladimir Putin has not forgotten about the breakaway republic of South Ossetia, which wants to decide in July whether to join Russia. People here still remember when the Russian army invaded while the West looked on. And according to Gregor Schwung in this article for German daily Die Welt, there is growing worry that this could soon happen again.
💥 Every time Russian troops exercise in South Ossetia, people in this Georgian border village hear the artillery. The aftershock reverberations are already causing the stones in Lia Khlachidze's house to crumble off the wall. She lives in Ergneti, only about 100 meters as the crow flies from the demarcation line. She rebuilt her house a year after it was destroyed in 2008, when Russia invaded Georgia, and within five days captured the breakaway territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Both territories declared their independence following the war, which was recognized by Russia. Russian "peacekeepers" have been securing the two territories ever since.
🇬🇪 On Friday May 13, the separatist government in South Ossetia announced a referendum on annexation to Russia in July. It is unclear whether the latter will actually take place, but the signal behind the announcement is clear: Putin has not forgotten Georgia. A threat directed at the West – and at Tbilisi. In early March, shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, the Georgian government applied for EU membership, and on May 18 Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili traveled to Brussels to discuss his country's partnership with the defense alliance with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
🤝🇺🇦 In Georgia, solidarity with Ukraine is strong. The blue and yellow flag seems to be more present in Tbilisi than the Georgian flag. But Tbilisi is pursuing a more cautious policy on the matter. To date, Georgia has joined international financial sanctions against Putin's regime, but bilateral trade continues. Russia could easily hurt the country militarily. The capitol is just 50 kilometers from the easternmost tip of South Ossetia.
It was the most petrifying experience I've ever had at a football match.
— BBC's sports journalist Nick Parrott has shared his chaotic experience at the Champion's League Final — Liverpool v. Real Madrid — held in Paris, which was delayed by 35 minutes as thousands of supporters were trying to get inside the stadium, some with fake tickets. The journalist, who was pepper-sprayed in the queue, said locals were "trying to force their way in leading to security closing the gates and keeping out legitimate fans with tickets," also lamenting the general organization of the event. Madrid beat Liverpool 1-0 for its 14th top European title.
✍ Newsletter by Lisa Berdet, Anne-Sophie Goninet, Lila Paulou, Joel Silvestri and Bertrand Hauger.
Lisa Berdet, Lila Paulou, Anne-Sophie Goninet and Bertrand Hauger
More Surrender In Mariupol, Sri Lanka Defaults On Debt, Vincent Van LEGO
👋 Sveiki!*
Welcome to Thursday, where more Ukrainian soldiers surrender in Mariupol, Sri Lanka defaults on its debt,and George W. Bush offers an epic geopolitical gaffe. Meanwhile, Lili Bai in Chinese-language digital media The Initium looks at what's driving the current "expat exodus" at play in Shanghai.
[*Latvian]
• More than 1,000 have surrendered in Mariupol: Russian authorities say that a total of 1,730 soldiers have now surrendered since Monday, after the Russian army took over the last holdout in the strategic port city.
• Shift to a "smaller" war: A new Pentagon report has found that Russia is continuing to reduce the scale of its military actions toward more "small" operations, which is another sign that it has lowered the ambitions of its invasion of Ukraine.
— Read all the latest at War in Ukraine, Day 85 —
• North Korea may have "welcome" Biden with missile tests: According to the White House, North Korea may be preparing for missile and nuclear tests in the next few days, as the U.S. President Joe Biden heads to South Korea and Japan on Friday.
• Sri Lanka defaults on debt for first time: Sri Lanka's worst financial crisis in decades has caused the country to default on its debt for the first time in its history. The country is already in talks with the International Monetary Fund to negotiate a bailout and find common ground with its creditors.
• China warns U.S. over Taiwan support: China's top diplomat Yang Jiechi warned the U.S. over its increased support for Taiwan which could "lead to a dangerous situation."
• Global stock markets in hot water: Global stock markets fell sharply again as investors and traders fear rising inflation and stagflation and move back from riskier investments. On Wednesday, the U.S. Dow Jones set his highest drop since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.
• Vincent Van LEGO: Danish toy maker LEGO has unveiled a new set, inspired by Vincent Van Gogh's 1889 painting The Starry Night. Reproducing the masterpiece will take 2,136 bricks, $169.99, and a lot of patience.
Spanish daily ABC devotes its front page to the brief return of former king of Spain Juan Carlos to the country to visit his family, after spending nearly two years in self-imposed exile in the United Arab Emirates. Carlos had abdicated in favor of his son in 2014 after a series of scandals, including a corruption investigation involving his daughter's husband.
Finns are known to be stoic, hard-working people. They even have a word for it: "sisu" — which has no direct equivalent in English but conveys notions of determination and resilience in the face of adversity. "I think that every Finn has sisu in them," Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin told Italian daily Corriere della Sera in a recent interview, in the context of her country renouncing neutrality and applying to join the NATO military alliance. "No matter the difficulty of the time, we face it to ensure that the next generation has a better future," she added.
In Shanghai, a brewing expat exodus as COVID crackdown shows "real" China
Not only strict rules of freedom of movement as part of Zero-COVID policy but also an increase in censorship has raised many questions for the expat population in the megacity of 26 million that had long enjoyed a kind of special status in China as a place of freedom and openness. Some are planning on leaving the Chinese megacity within the next year, reports Lili Bai in Chinese-language digital media The Initium.
💼 According to China's official statistics in 2021, there are more than 160,000 expats living in Shanghai, most of them working in finance, tech, internet and manufacturing. "(Shanghai is) the most open and tolerant city in China," says Wilson, a Scot who has lived in Shanghai for 17 years. Félix arrived there in 2018, when he was 28. He works in a leading French tech company and has set a goal to stay in Shanghai for at least 10 years. But now, the six-week-long lockdown has shifted the landscape of the city, and expats like Félix and Wilson are thinking of ways to flee this city they once loved so much.
🤐 Wilson has realized recently that the positive sentiments he built up over 17 years for Shanghai could be undermined at any moment: a single concert could catch the attention of the police, a single retweet can get you noticed by public security, and a single policy can make homeless people freeze and ordinary people starve. "It is self-evident to us foreigners that public opinion is constantly being tightened in China. Everyone knows that the cost of communication and the risk is much greater nowadays than when I first came to Shanghai," Wilson said.
✈ In mid-April, "This is Shanghai," a platform owned by HK Focus Media, conducted a survey of 950 foreigners living in Shanghai and found that the number of foreigners in the city may be reduced by half in the coming year, with 48% of respondents said they would leave Shanghai within the next year, if not immediately, while 37% said they would stay until the pandemic was over and see if the situation in Shanghai would improve before deciding whether to stay or go.
A wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq — I mean, of Ukraine ... Anyway.
— Former U.S. President George W. Bush made an epic slip of the tongue during a speech Wednesday night. Speaking about Vladimir Putin, Bush said the systematic disqualification of political opponents resulted in "an absence of checks and balances in Russia, and the decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq." Of course, if that war in 2003 was started by "one man," his name was George W. Bush
✍ Newsletter by Lisa Berdet, Lila Paulou, Anne-Sophie Goninet and Bertrand Hauger
Lili Bai
In Shanghai, A Brewing Expat Exodus As COVID Crackdown Shows "Real" China
Not only strict rules of freedom of movement as part of Zero-COVID policy but also an increase in censorship has raised many questions for the expat population in the megacity of 26 million that had long enjoyed a kind of special status in China as a place of freedom and openness. A recent survey of foreigners in the Chinese megacity found that 48% of respondents said they would leave Shanghai within the next year.
SHANGHAI — On the seventh day of the lockdown, Félix, a French expat who has worked in Shanghai for four years, texted his boss: I want to "run,' mais je sais pas quand (but I don't know when). A minute later, he received a reply: moi aussi (me too).
Félix had recently learned the new Mandarin word 润 (run) from social network postings of his local friends. Because its pinyin "rùn" is the same as the English word "run," Chinese youth had begun to use it to express their wish to escape reality, either to "be freed from mundane life", or to "run toward your future."
For foreigners like Félix, by associating the expression "run" with the feeling of the current lockdown in Shanghai, "everything makes sense." Félix recalled how at the end of March, the government denied rumors of an impending lockdown: "My Chinese colleagues all said, Shanghai is China's top city, there would be no lockdown no matter what."
Soon after, the megacity of 26 million, and China's most Western metropolis, was suddenly slammed shut: "It's not just a matter of going back on your word, it's a reflection of the government having no credibility."
The subsequent spate of medical crises, food shortages and hard lockdown policies made him want to flee, "run," from Shanghai like never before.
Open and tolerant reputation
According to China's official statistics in 2021, there are more than 160,000 expats living in Shanghai, most of them working in finance, tech, internet and manufacturing. "(Shanghai is) the most open and tolerant city in China," says Wilson, a Scot who has lived in Shanghai for 17 years.
Having raised his children here, Wilson refers to Shanghai as "the Chinese city closest to the rest of the world."
"Everyone is extra concerned about the importance of regulations and people here take the law and the system much more seriously than anywhere else in China."
But now, the six-week-long lockdown has shifted the landscape of the city, and expats like Félix and Wilson are thinking of ways to flee this city they once loved so much.
Paris is also a cosmopolitan city, but Shanghai is more advanced.
Félix came to Shanghai in 2018, when he was 28. He works in a leading French tech company, with 40% of French employees in its Shanghai branch, and most of the Chinese employees with prestigious academic profiles and high levels of English and French. When human resources told him that he was going to work in Shanghai, "they said Shanghai is like the Paris of the East."
Félix set a goal to stay in Shanghai for at least 10 years. "Let's put it this way: if you stay in Shanghai for a long time and then go back to Paris, you'll feel like you've gone back to a primitive society," he said. "Paris is also a cosmopolitan city, but Shanghai is more advanced and can do everything much more quickly."
Félix referred to the word "new Shanghainese", which originated from a governmental article in 2001, "New Shanghainese are global citizens, and Shanghai should be an international migrant city with a flexible flow of talents and cosmopolitanism."
Lockdown and censorship
However, the lockdown and its harsh reality had made this city a strange place to both Félix and Wilson. Going through food shortages, they learned to tone down expectations of local authorities, and could only seek help from their Chinese friends and neighbors.
"The Zero-COVID policy is a serious affront to everyone's normal life." Félix claimed, "My foreign colleagues were hopeful that this kind of thing could never happen in Shanghai, but it did." Felix decided to complain on WeChat, the most frequently used Chinese social networking app, posting pictures of neighborhoods and streets being guarded, with text mostly in French. But on April 8, he heard that an American in Shanghai had been "invited to tea" (a euphemism used when government authorities want to question you) for posting too much "negative information" on WeChat.
"I really want to gather all the people who think the lockdown is unreasonable and go to the authorities to ask them for an explanation." Félix thought, but not many like-minded could be found, even among the foreign expats. "My Chinese friends advised me to save it, saying 'you don't understand, it's not going to work'." Most of his foreign friends who had been in Shanghai for more than three years offered him more "practical" advice: "You're not allowed to go out on the streets here [in China]." One Belgian friend advised him to "put up with it" and "when the ban is lifted, we'll go back to Europe together."
Photo in the streets of Shanghai, under lockdown
ditsy_daybyday
A pointless operation
For Wilson and his family, they have experienced countless PCR and antigen tests. "It's a pointless operation," he says. "China's policy is to dynamically zero out infected cases, not save lives. It is more about restricting the freedom of residents, slaughtering pets, separating children from their parents, forcing residents into hospitals."
Wilson recalls being interviewed five years ago about being an expat who has settled into Shanghai, "I think China is a very interesting country and I really like the Chinese, they are reasonable and respectful. Above all, I have a lot of respect for the people of Shanghai and the way they fight to preserve their identity."
But he's realized recently that the positive sentiments built up over 17 years could be undermined at any moment: a single concert could catch the attention of the police, a single retweet can get you noticed by public security, and a single policy can make homeless people freeze and ordinary people starve.
"It is self-evident to us foreigners that public opinion is constantly being tightened in China. I can't give specific examples, but everyone knows that the cost of communication and the risk, is much greater nowadays than when I first came to Shanghai," Wilson said.
Félix agrees: "Most of my Chinese friends are aware of the blind, ineffective and unscientific nature of the Zero-COVID policy, but choose to remain silent. This is closely related to the overall climate of public opinion in China." The decay is also manifesting itself in the recent development in Chinese media, where criticism towards the Western system, culture and ideology had to be present, and the rhetoric has to be "the West will lose."
Leaving Shanghai: there is no way back
In mid-April, "This is Shanghai," a platform owned by HK Focus Media, conducted a survey of 950 foreigners living in Shanghai and found that the number of foreigners in the city may be reduced by half in the coming year, with 48% of respondents said they would leave Shanghai within the next year, if not immediately, while 37% said they would stay until the pandemic was over and see if the situation in Shanghai would improve before deciding whether to stay or go.
According to "This is Shanghai", foreigners in China have a high level of education in general, with 55% of respondents having a postgraduate degree or higher.
You realize it is suspended drama.
Félix intended to "run" as well. Due to its growth in recent years, it is unlikely that his company will exit the Chinese market, but he himself "definitely wants to go." He said he would consider moving to Vietnam, where French is spoken and a society-wide reform is underway.
As the lockdown progressed, he began to reflect on his work and life in Shanghai. "Having a cup of coffee and a chat over literature and art under the sycamore trees in this international city was a common pleasure, but I realize now that it's actually a suspended drama — it looks beautiful, but at any moment it could all collapse and make you fall back into reality as you are met with an iron fist."
For Wilson, who has been here longer, there's no denying that the COVID policy has devastated the vitality of this international metropolis. "China's governors always see Shanghai as a city in the first echelon of global cities," he said. "But if you have to comply with something like the Zero-COVID policy, you see that it comes with costs. And not only is it breaking down the trust of foreign talents, but is also undermining the goodwill of the world towards China."
Lila Paulou, Lisa Berdet, Anne-Sophie Goninet and Bertrand Hauger
Moscow-Washington War Of Words, Kim Jong-un's Nuclear Threat, World's Oldest Person Dies
👋 Kia ora!*
Welcome to Tuesday, where there's an escalation of rhetoric between Russia and Washington, Kim Jong-un issues a nuclear threat and the world's oldest person dies at age 119. Meanwhile, news website Livy Bereg looks at past examples of economic recoveries in countries that were destroyed by war, to see what lessons could be drawn for Ukraine.
[*Maori]
• Russia reacts to U.S. escalation: After U.S. Defense Secretary Llyod Austin said that seeing Russia not just defeated by Ukraine, but "weakened" by the war, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov responded with an explicit warning that U.S. actions could lead to "World War III," with veiled references to possible nuclear attacks.
• UN chief to meet Putin: United Nations Secretary General António Guterres is in Moscow for meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin later today. Before an initial meeting with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Guterres declared that a ceasefire "as soon as possible" was his priority, aiming to minimize human suffering. Guterres has been criticized by Ukraine for not coming to Kyiv first, and there is minimal hope that he will make significant progress in his talks with Putin.
• Kim Jong-un's nuclear threat: During a military parade speech in Pyongyang, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un said he would use nuclear weapons if threatened and announced his intention to step North Korea's nuclear arsenal up.
• One killed in West Bank raid: According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, one Palestinian was shot dead and three others wounded by Israeli forces during a West Bank raid near Jericho. Israeli troops said they conducted an overnight raid on the occupied camp and arrested two Palestinians.
• Osman Kavala sentenced to life in prison: Turkish civil rights activist Osman Kavala has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Turkish court on charges related to anti-government protests in 2013. Amnesty International called the sentence "a travesty of justice of spectacular proportions."
• Texas mother obtains stay of execution: The Texas Court of Criminal Appeal stayed the execution of inmate Melissa Lucio set for Wednesday to consider new evidence. Convicted of murdering her 2-year-old daughter in 2007, Lucio has always claimed her innocence.
• World's oldest person dies at 119: Japanese Kane Tanaka, certified as the World's oldest person, has died at the age of 119. She was born on January 2, 1903 in the southern city of Fukuoka. French nun Lucile Randon, 118, is now reported to be the oldest person alive.
Shanghai Daily reports on the new round of city-wide coronavirus tests launched in Shanghai as China hardens its strict zero-covid strategy. Authorities are also conducting mass testing in the capital city Beijing to contain a growing COVID-19 outbreak.
Twitter's board accepted Elon Musk's offer to purchase the social media for $44 billion. After weeks of negotiations, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO will finally have total control over Twitter and plans to take the company private.
Rebuilding Ukraine: Lessons from nations that rose from the ashes of war
After two months of war, experts in Ukraine are starting to consider what plan could work to restore the local infrastructure and economy, looking at the experience of Germany, Japan and Italy — countries that went down in history for their economic miracles after being destroyed by war, writes Yaroslav Zheleznyak for Ukrainian news website Livy Bereg.
💥🏗 World history has many examples of post-war reconstruction. Since the end of World War II, there have been more than 30 major wars and more than 250 military conflicts in the world, involving at least 60 countries. But even with such a seemingly large sample, successful examples of recovery can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Each is unique and depends on many factors — from the banal availability of natural resources to the coincidence of circumstances in the region.
📈 To develop a plan for Ukraine, it makes perfect sense to analyze the Marshall Plan and the recovery scenarios of West Germany, Italy, and Japan: Each faced enormous destruction and each of them was able not just to recover but to make an economic breakthrough. In general, the Marshall Plan, which was primarily aimed at restoring industry, worked. It prompted 30% growth in the economy of the recipient countries compared to the pre-war period.
✅❎ The recipe for renewal of each country is different, but the common tools for success are economy liberalization, job creation, the export-oriented economy and external financial resources. But even having those, it is important to use them effectively. It determines whether a country succeeds or joins a long list of failures like Afghanistan or Iraq.
I'm the one holding a gun in my hand that everyone was supposed to have taken care of.
— New Santa Fe police footage was released as part of the investigation into the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was killed on the scene of the western movie Rust when U.S. actor Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun. The video shows Baldwin making frantic phone calls in the immediate wake of the accident, and asking investigators, "Am I being charged with something?"
Lisa Berdet, Emma Albright and Anne-Sophie Goninet
Ukraine War, Phase 2: The Battle For Donbas Begins
👋 Moien!*
Welcome to Tuesday, where the battle for Donbas begins, tensions are rising in Gaza after Israel's airstrike and Biden's mask mandate for air travel is struck down. Meanwhile, Ukrainian journalist Anna Akage zeroes in on the strategic significance of the city of Mariupol in this second phase of the Ukraine war.
[*Luxembourgish]
• All eyes on Donbas: "The battle for the Donbas has begun," Ukrainian president Volodymir Zelensky stated in a video Monday. Russia has launched an assault to seize the Eastern Donbas region bombarding cities with rockets and artillery fire to pave the way for a full ground assault.
• No civilian evacuation in Ukraine: For the third day in a row, Ukraine and Russia fail to agree on the establishment of humanitarian corridors to safely evacuate civilians trapped in multiple besieged cities and towns.
• No more masks on airlines: A federal judge in Florida has called the Biden administration's mask mandate for public transportation unlawful. The U.S. transit authority now no longer enforces mask wearing. White House press secretary Jen Psaki noted that the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) still recommends travelers use a mask.
• Israel strikes Gaza: Tensions are rising as Israel warplanes launched an attack on Gaza, targeting a weapons manufacturing site belonging to Hamas. According to sources in Gaza, there are no casualties. This attack comes after a weekend of violence near Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque compound.
• Kabul high school blast: Three explosions in a high school in the Afghan capital, killing six people and injuring 11. The residents living in the neighborhood belong to the Shia Hazara community, an ethnic and religious minority frequently targeted by Sunni terrorist groups. No one has taken responsibility for the attack.
• More COVID-19 casualties in Shanghai: Shanghai has reported another seven deaths due to COVID-19 as well as more than 20,000 news cases. The death toll appears relatively low compared to the number of cases that have risen in the city and by the official count, no one has died until this Sunday.
• Egypt TikTok star gets reduced sentence: In 2021, TikTok influencer Haneen Hossam was convicted of "human trafficking" after telling her followers that women could make money by working with her on social media. She was first sentenced to prison for 10 years but an Egyptian court has reduced her sentence to three years and a $10,000 fine.
Dutch daily De Volkskrant dedicates its front page to the Ukrainian village of Yahidne, between Kyiv in Chernihiv, whose inhabitants had been hiding in the basement of the village school for almost a month. Now that Russian troops are gone, the villagers have started digging to search for missing relatives.
According to Equilar, the 100 highest-paid CEOs in the United States have made 254 times more than the average worker in 2021, up from 238 times in 2020. That represents a 31% pay increase for the top CEOs, who earned a median of $20 million. For comparison, these companies' workers increased their salary by roughly 4% on average.
Why conquering Mariupol is key to Russia's Donbas strategy
Mariupol has become the symbol of that total war approach that will now be carried out in Donbas. The bloody siege of Mariupol is a sign of how Putin intends to carry out his quest for the entire nation. A news analysis by Anna Akage.
💥 On Monday the Russians began dropping multi-ton bombs on of the largest shelters tucked in the basements of a steel plant where 1,000 people are believed to be hiding. The seizing of the Mariupol port is coupled with the start of a major land assault across the territory of Donbas.
🎯 Even though Donbas has significant natural resources, commercial access to ports and is economically attractive for Russia, Vladimir Putin is mainly looking for a victory built on ideology.
There is no better way to understand this than looking at Mariupol: a city resists, so Putin's objective is to annihilate it in its current form.
⏩ There is no reason to think that a man like Putin can accept defeat. He will press Ukraine by all means, and right now that's playing out in Mariupol and the rest of Donbas. The city is nearly dead, the fate of the rest of the region may depend on how and when the death of Mariupol will arrive.
The strategy of the economic blitz has failed.
— While Russian troops are trying to take control of Donbas, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that "The strategy of the economic blitz has failed", minimizing Western sanctions imposed on Russia. He added that these sanctions are mostly deteriorating European economic situation and increasing global unemployment and inflation. It has not led to the end of the war, as expected by Western countries.
✍ Newsletter by Lisa Berdet, Emma Albright and Anne-Sophie Goninet
Dan Wu
Shanghai Stakes: Why COVID In China's "Bourgeois" Capital Is A High-Risk Affair
The port city is China's most international and cosmopolitan, which helps explain the ongoing culture clash between its residents and Chinese authorities aiming to enforce a strict Zero-Covid policy of restrictions on movement and freedom.
Shanghai, a metropolis of 25 million inhabitants with a rich and colorful history, stands apart in China.
The southern port boasts the most international and cosmopolitan population on mainland China, where commercial wealth and relative personal freedom meet. The natives of Shanghai are often chided by other Chinese as the nation's "bourgeois" class.
Through the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, which had first spread around the world from Wuhan — another Chinese mega-city some 500 miles to the west — Shanghai had largely been spared from its effects, with local administrations being praised for "precise epidemic prevention."
All that has changed over the past month. Both its special status and previous success in keeping the virus at bay help explain the crisis engulfing the city over the past month. With the sudden spread of the Omicron variant, a strict lockdown has been in force since March 28. And locals are pushing the limits in what is, despite local attitudes, an authoritarian regime in China.
For most Shanghai residents, the gravity of the current situation has been less about the alarming number of infections (as of Friday, there are a little more than 17,000 confirmed cases and seven deaths), and more focused on the frustration and rising acts of disobedience in the face of the harsh lockdowns of the government's Zero-COVID policy.
"Control your soul's desire for freedom"
In recent days, reports — though not yet confirmed by reliable sources — have circulated, echoing the tension at play in the city's COVID outbreak: On the Weibo social network, a video was posted that shows the light of a drone above a Shanghai neighborhood on April 5, broadcasting a female voice telling residents to "control your soul's desire for freedom."
This came after Shanghai's citywide lockdown prompted residents in the neighborhood to shout from their windows that they were running out of food and basic necessities.
Indeed, the continuing Zero-COVID strategy has caused high levels of anxiety — and worse — for a bourgeois population used to living a comfortable urban life. It has also shown the frightening power of China's bureaucracy and its dreadful consequences: patients of other illnesses that could only be treated if in possession of negative PCR test results, leading to tragic and unnecessary deaths; COVID-positive children separated from their parents in isolation, with officials authorizing parents to accompany their children only if they, too, were infected; pets in COVID-hit households that got beaten to death, etc.
Residents shouted from their windows that they were running out of food and basic necessities.
Discontent and disillusion are growing in Shanghai. The current climate of fear in the metropolis lead a correspondent for The Initium to ask himself: "Will I be separated from my family tomorrow? Will I be able to buy groceries tomorrow? What will happen to my children and pets if I am sent to a COVID-only hospital? It's 2022, what kind of life is this?!"
Volunteers transport vegetable in an agricultural products distribution center in Shanghai
Yang Qing/Xinhua/ZUMA
Shanghai's Dilemma: A Political One
Despite the ongoing issues, China insists that its Zero-COVID strategy is the right approach, although voices of dissidents are growing louder even within the central government. On April 2, a recording of a conversation between a Shanghai citizen and a governmental pandemic control expert was widely circulated on social media. The expert expressed her frustrations that in the course of her work she had devised many contingency plans, recommending home isolation for patients with mild asymptomatic illnesses, but "no one is listening to what the professionals are saying. Now the pandemic has become a political one, and so many resources and money are being spent on a disease like the flu."
The recording was released to the public with the expert's consent, but superior administrations soon declared that "experts were not allowed to express their opinions in inquiries."
Shanghai's dilemma creates a livelihood issue as well as a political issue.
Up to this point, some districts in Shanghai were allowed to lift restrictions once COVID cases dropped, although the Zero-COVID strategy remains as strict as ever. Complaints are shared on the internet — but many also get censored, while authorities still ask people to be "grateful". A special TV gala for those "combating the epidemic" was planned to be aired on April 13, but was canceled after an online call to boycott it.
As Zongcheng, a Shanghai-based writer, puts it, "Being a mixture of socialism, state capitalism and market economy, Shanghai's dilemma creates a livelihood issue as well as a political issue."
Lorraine Olaya, Anne-Sophie Goninet, Lila Paulou and Emma Albright
Russia Vows New Attacks On Kyiv After Moskva Warship Sinks
👋 Сайн уу*
Welcome to Friday, where Russia warns of more strikes on Kyiv as Ukraine claims responsibility for the sinking of the Moskva warship, hundreds are wounded in clashes at Jerusalem's al-Aqsa Mosque, and "Houston, we have a kebab." In German daily Die Welt, Michael Brendler explores the end-of-life ethical question that has gained new attention during the pandemic: When is it better to turn off life-support equipment?
[*Sain uu - Mongolian]
✅ SIGN UP
• Russian warship sinks, Moscow to step up attacks on Kyiv: Ukraine is celebrating what it says was a missile strike that caused Moskva, a Russian Cold War flagship, to sink. Although Russia did not acknowledge the Ukrainian strike, blaming the sinking on an accident on board, Russia's Defense Ministry today vowed to ramp up attacks on Kyiv, notably by targeting a missile-repairing factory in the capital.
• Zelensky's address after 50 days of war: In his nightly address, President Volodymyr Zelensky praised his fellow Ukrainians' resilience, having survived 50 days of war when Russia "gave us a maximum of five."
• Russia on edge of default: Russia may be declared in default after attempting to service its dollar bonds in rubles, according to Moody's credit rating. If declared in default, it would mark Moscow's first major default on foreign bonds in more than a century. The Kremlin blames the West's sanctions for the potential default.
• Jerusalem clashes: Israeli police and Palestinians clashed at the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, resulting in 152 Palestinians and 3 police injured, and some 400 Palestinians detained. The violence comes on the second Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which coincides with the first night of Judaism's week-long Passover holiday, and Good Friday for Christians.
• Shanghai COVID eviction clashes: Shanghai citizens clashed with police after being forced to surrender their homes to be used as quarantine facilities. Residents were dragged out of their homes, some were arrested, and many accuse the police of violence, as residents begged them to stop.
• Guilty verdict of British national in ISIS beheadings: El Shafee Elsheikh, 33, faces possible life in prison after being found guilty in a U.S. court of lethal abduction and conspiracy to commit murder. The London resident was said to have participated in the abduction, torture and killing of several Islamic State (ISIS) hostages in Syria 10 years ago.
• Kebabs are out of this world: A Turkish restaurant sent a plate of Adana kebab to space with a helium balloon. After five hours and a maximum altitude of 38 kilometers, the balloon and its tasty passenger splashed back to Earth in one piece.
Stockholm-based daily Aftonbladet features a photograph of an angry Vladimir Putin as it devotes its Friday front page to the announcement that Russia would reinforce its presence in the Baltic Sea if Finland or Sweden were to join NATO. On Thursday, Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council (and Russian president from 2008 to 2012) said if Finland or Sweden were to join the military alliance, it would jeopardize the "nuclear-free status of the Baltic."
That's the reported value of what U.S. authorities believe to be the biggest ever cryptocurrency heist allegedly pulled off by a group of hackers called "Lazarus," linked to the North Korean government.
The ventilator question: ICU doctors struggle with end-of-life ethics
Instead of ending ICU treatment and allowing relatives to say goodbye peacefully, doctors often keep patients alive for too long. The pandemic has forced us to revisit eternal dilemmas and shown that Intensive Care Units are often unprepared to confront tough ethical questions, reports Michael Brendler in German daily Die Welt.
⚖ The question of who should be connected to life-support devices is one of the most ethically difficult questions in medicine. Because family members understandably want their loved one's life to be saved. They are highly emotional and do not want to lose their father, mother or child. And doctors also want to save lives. But deciding when to end treatment is difficult. If a living will is available, it often does not help. Moreover, the decision involves not only medical factors but also fundamental ethical values.
❓ Politics, society and medicine must finally face up to the long-repressed question, physician Uwe Janssens says: Where do we draw the line? When is it better to turn off the equipment because the patient is facing unnecessary suffering?
⚠ Survival in itself is not a treatment goal, Uwe Janssens says. Neither is doing everything medically possible. "It's about doing what's in the patient's best interest. To envisage a therapeutic goal that they consider desirable in that situation." And sometimes it may "only" be alleviating suffering and pain. A physician who avoids asking these questions risks not only harming their patient because there is no such thing as treatment without side effects. Said doctor also endangers the well-being of other people.
We tried Emmanuel Macron and we didn't like it, and Le Pen in power — we don't even want to try it, it is a repulsive possibility.
— A French student from the prestigious political sciences institute Sciences-Po told AP, as hundreds of university students are blocking buildings on several campuses in Paris to express their anger over the choice they face in France's presidential election. The protesters feel that neither incumbent centrist Emmanuel Macron nor far-right candidate Marine Le Pen would be able to address their concerns over environmental and social issues. "We can't accept five more years of austerity and pollution," the student added.
✍ Newsletter by Lorraine Olaya, Anne-Sophie Goninet, Lila Paulou and Emma Albright
Lorraine Olaya, Lila Paulou, Lisa Berdet and Emma Albright
Mariupol Hangs In Balance, Biden Accuses Putin Of Genocide
👋 Manahuu!*
Welcome to Wednesday, as conflicting reports circulating over the fate of Mariupol, Biden accuses Putin of genocide, while the Russian president says peace talks with Ukraine are at a "dead end." We also zoom in on Donbas, where Putin has shifted his forces in what could be a key moment in the Russia-Ukraine war. Meanwhile, an ugly Hollywood trial has begun in Virginia.
[*Mah-nah-hoo - Northern Paiute]
• Russia claims Ukrainian troop surrender in Mariupol: Conflicting reports are circulating over the fate of the key Donbas port city of Mariupol, with Russia's defense ministry declaring that 1,000 Ukrainian marines had surrendered even as Ukraine claims new victories in the besieged city.
• Biden accuses Putin of "genocide": President Joe Biden accused his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin of carrying out a genocide on Ukraine. Putin earlier had declared that peace talks with Ukraine had reached a "dead end," and called images depicting the massacre in Bucha "fake."
• COVID-19 cases top 500 million worldwide, Shanghai extends lockdown: COVID-19 cases surpass 500 million globally, but many cases are going undetected or unreported due to a decrease in testing. On the other hand, COVID-19 deaths have declined by 23% compared to two weeks ago. On Tuesday, mainland China reported 1,500 new locally-transmitted cases and 26,525 new asymptomatic carriers, while Shanghai extended its lockdown again after a surge in cases, reporting 26,330 confirmed infections on Wednesday.
• NYC subway attacker still at large after 29 injured in Brooklyn shooting: At least 29 people were injured in yesterday's subway attack in Brooklyn. The gunman, wearing a gas mask and construction vest, threw smoke bombs inside of a Manhattan-bound N train car before shooting 33 times. While no arrest has been made, police are hunting for a 62-year-old suspect.
• Johnson and Sunak fined, reject calls to resign: UK Police have fined Prime Minister Boris Johnson, his wife Carrie Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak for breaking lockdown rules with a birthday party for the prime minister back in June 2020. The London Metropolitan Police have issued more than 50 fines, and are continuing to conduct investigations into 12 parties held by the prime minister's staff. Both Johnson and Sunak refuse to step down despite calls for their resignations.
• Philippines tropical storm death toll rises: Tropical storm Agaton has left at least 57 dead, 26 missing and 105 injured according to local authorities. The death toll is expected to climb as search and rescue operations continue.
• Depp v. Heard case opens: Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's trial is underway. The 58-year-old actor has sued his ex-wife Heard for $50 million for publishing an op-ed in the Washington Post in 2018 accusing him of domestic abuse. In response, Heard has sued Depp for $100 million.
Russian daily Kommersant devotes its front page to yesterday's meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Belarus ally Alexander Lukashenko at the Vostochny Cosmodrome space launch facility in Russia. Putin again attempted to justify the Ukraine invasion and denied Russian responsibility for the atrocities in the city of Bucha.
U.S. tech giant Apple is facing the sudden shutdown of factories amid a rise in COVID-19 cases in and around Shanghai. China's financial and manufacturing hub has been on lockdown since the end of March, and the production of an estimated 3 million iPhones has been affected so far.
Why the battle for Donbas could decide the war in Ukraine
Vladimir Putin's desperate need for a victory may lead to Russia's deadliest assault to date in Ukraine, as attention turns to the eastern Donbas region. However, the Ukrainian troops, many of whom have been fighting since 2014, may have tactical advantages, write Anna Akage and Irene Caselli:
🇺🇦 With the deadly attack promised by Putin, many people are fleeing the Donbas region. As shelling continues and intensifies in the region of Luhansk, the residents no longer have power, gas and water.
🧭 This eastward shift comes after Putin's failed blitzkrieg plan and stalled offensive in central Ukraine. But unlike Kyiv, the conflicts in the region of the Donbas have been going on since 2014 in areas controlled by pro-Russian separatists.
👤 Some believe that Putin is interested in the Donbas region due to it being Ukraine's main source of coal and gas but in reality, Putin needs the Donbas purely to show some kind of victory. After failing in other cities in Ukraine, the continuous propaganda card of "liberating" Donbas must be played. If the Russian leader fails again, his whole regime could be put at risk.
Yes, I called it genocide. It has become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of even being — being able to be Ukrainian.
— U.S. President Joe Biden accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of committing genocide in Ukraine. Biden made the remarks during a speech at an ethanol fuel plant in the state of Iowa, where he also blamed rising gas prices on the Russian invasion.
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While I specialize in positive, proactive ethical leadership, I frequently get asked questions about unethical leadership. In particular, readers ask about the damage that toxic leaders do in organizations and what situations and circumstances lead to ethical failures.
While we need to stay focused on the positive, preventive aspects of our leadership, understanding what not to do can also help us stay within the boundaries of positive ethical leadership. Today I'm sharing posts that describe what leadership looks like when it is unethical.
Is Needing To Be Right Unethical?
Is Refusing to Change Unethical?
What Are Signs Of Unethical Leadership and Low Trust?
Is Failing To Honor Boundaries Unethical?
Linda Fisher Thornton, Leading in Context Blog, Can a Toxic Leader Be Ethical? Yes and No.
If you recognize any of these signs of unethical behavior or toxic leadership in your organization, don't wait. Take positive action now.
Help Your Leaders Cut Through Complexity By Learning To See Through The 7 Lenses.
Includes compelling graphics, guiding principles, case examples and questions.


text:
Colonel George Hay, 16th Earl of Erroll (13 May 1767 – 14 June 1798) was a Scottish peer and soldier.

Early life

Erroll was the eldest son of James Hay, 15th Earl of Erroll and his second wife, Isabella Carr, the eldest daughter and co-heiress of William Carr of Etal in Northumberland. His elder sister, Lady Augusta Hay (the first wife George Boyle, 4th Earl of Glasgow), succeeded to the Etal estate in 1806. From his father's first marriage to Rebecca Lockhart, he had one half-sibling, Lady Mary Hay, who married Gen. John Scott of Balcomie. His younger brother was William Hay, who served as the Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland from 1817 to 1819.

His paternal grandparents were William Boyd, 4th Earl of Kilmarnock and Lady Anne Livingston (a daughter of James Livingston, 5th Earl of Linlithgow).

Career
In 1778, he succeeded to the earldom of Erroll following the death of his father. In 1780, he entered the British Army as Cornet, 7th Dragoons. He was made Captain of the 5th Dragoons in 1786 and of the 58th Regiment of Foot in 1792. In 1793, he became a Major of the 78th Regiment of Foot and a Colonel of the 1st Regiment of Foot in 1795.

From 1796 until his death in 1798, he was a Representative Peer for Scotland.

Right to title
Upon the death of his father's aunt, Mary Hay, 14th Countess of Erroll (who died in 1758 without issue), his father James became the 15th Earl of Arroll. Mary's sister Margaret had previously died at Rome in 1723, however she had married James Livingston, 5th Earl of Linlithgow, 4th Earl of Callendar. This regrant was questioned in the House of Lords in 1797. The then Earl of Lauderdale had questioned George, the 16th Earl of Erroll's right to vote at an election of the peers of Scotland. One of the objections made to the title was that the title of Earl of Erroll was claimed through a nomination. It was decided in 1748 in the case of the earldom of Stair that this power of nomination could not be validly exercised after the Union. The House of Lords, after a full inquiry, decided in favour of the 16th Earl of Erroll's right to the title. That the Earl of Erroll holds the honours of his house undoubtedly and without dispute, is clear from the decision of the House of Lords.

Personal life
On 25 January 1790, Lord Erroll was married to Elizabeth Jemima Blake (d. 1831), the sister of Joseph Blake, 1st Baron Wallscourt and a daughter of Joseph Blake of Ardfry (County Galway, Ireland) and Honoria Daly (a daughter of Dermot Daly). Her sister, Joanna Harriet Blake, was the mother of Sir Dominick Daly, the 15th Governor of Prince Edward Island and 7th Governor of South Australia.

Lord Erroll died on 14 June 1798 and was succeeded by his younger brother, William. His widow, the dowager Countess of Erroll, remarried to the Rt.-Hon. John Hookham Frere (a son of John Frere) on 12 September 1816, before her death in 1831.

Ancestors

References

16
1767 births
1798 deaths
Scottish representative peers

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Archive for the 'Jordan Love' Category
Utah State QB Jordan Love's comp isn't Pat Mahomes. It's Daniel Jones.
Posted: April 15, 2020 in Jordan Love, New entries, NFL, NFL Draft
I am not a Daniel Jones fan, but he's outperformed my expectations of him and has been much more high risk/high reward than I thought he'd be.
Strong mechanics – Jones and Love both have very clean footwork, tight throwing motion, have shown they can make anticipation throws. Both Jones and Love go through their progressions when WR1 is covered up.
Small school prospect with small school receivers – Jones and Love both had pretty unspectacular college stats at Duke and Utah State respectively. They play behind a line and with a receiving group that often gets overmatched by their tougher division rivals. Duke played Virginia Tech, Miami, Clemson. Utah State played Boise State, BYU and actual LSU.
Large frame, hands – Jones and Love have more "old-school" QB builds in an era where 6 foot quarterbacks are getting drafted first overall. Jones is 6'5″ with 9 3/4 inch hands. Love is 6'4″ with 10 1/2 inch hands.
High highs, low lows – One area of Jones' tape that I got wrong was his willingness and ability to throw into tight windows. Jones threw 24 passing touchdowns in only 12 starts on a bad Giants team. That's very impressive. He threw 12 interceptions in that time, not too bad for a rookie. He also fumbled the football 18 times in 12 starts. That's highly alarming. Love hasn't necessarily shown the same fumble problem as Jones, but he makes some impressive tight window throws on passes that look impossible to defend. He also throws some bad interceptions or bad misses. Against Boise State, Love tried to throw a quick pass to his wide receiver and the corner jumps the pass and brings it home for a pick six. Love led the nation in interceptions thrown in 2019 (17).
I feel Mahomes is not a great comp for Love because Mahomes had sloppy looking footwork and overall mechanics, but often produced a very impressive result throwing the ball. Love has consistently smoother footwork and cleaner throwing motion. Mahomes performed better than Love in college, though I would argue he had a better play caller in Kliff Kingsbury (current AZ Cardinals head coach) than Love's had for most of his college career. Mahomes is also a much smaller quarterback than Love at 6'2″ with 9 1/4 inch hands (Love is 6'4″ with 10 1/2 inch hands). (This may not seem much smaller but in the world of NFL QB prospects it's a substantial size difference).
My outlook for Jordan Love is very optimistic. I've waffled back and forth on him in the past. I feel that the quarterbacks he's being compared to (Tua Tagovailoa, Joe Burrow) are performing much better, but with much better talent and coaching than Love's had. There are flaws in Love's game, and he is no sure thing. He still hits his ceiling in moments in 2019 when he's down 30+ points, even without Matt Wells running the offense. Burrow and Tua have never been part of a bad team, and the psychological impact of going from (one of) the best team(s) in college football to (one of) the worst team(s) in the NFL can derail a player's career (see Johnny Manziel). Burrow himself has been vocal about wanting to be on a team that wins, and how he's never been a part of a losing team. Love has been part of a winning culture in 2018, and a struggling one in 2019 with blowout losses to LSU and Boise State. Through all that process, he still kept his composure and positivity. Also, while I certainly agree that throwing interceptions is a bad thing, I'll take that over checkdowns that go for 3 yards on 3rd and 15. Love found himself in dire circumstances repeatedly outmatched in 2019, he had to make risky throws to give his team a chance at success. If a quarterback is willing to risk harming his own stat sheet in order to give his team even the slightest chance at success, that's someone you can work with.
The song of the blog is Halsey's "Colors" (Stripped)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


What about Google? What about Artificial Intelligence? Will there still be books in future? Who goes to a library when the world of knowledge is available to him on a screen with one click?
"One thing that makes me really happy about the current state of libraries – and unfortunately this could be related to the current difficult global situation – is that over the last couple of years I've seen people get over these kinds of questions", said Nate Hill of the Metropolitan New York Library Council in an interview with the Goethe-Institut. He maintained that people are much less interested in dealing with the question of the next technological toy that could supplant libraries than in topics such as information distribution, equal rights in research and the like.
In fact, in recent years it has again been discussed whether libraries could be socially beneficial not only in teaching reading competency but also in treating related topics such as inclusion, diversity or climate change. More and more in these contexts, people are relying on the accumulated knowledge of libraries. They have developed into places where not only an awareness of these problems can be created, but also a solution to them can be found together.
"The library of the future will be a platform and organizer for linking, sharing and developing knowledge. In addition, libraries will play a special role in the increasingly multi-ethnic immigration society" said, for example, the Next Library Conference, which took place in Berlin in September 2018 and contributed inspiring thoughts to our series on the future of libraries.
There are virtually no limits to the questions of how to do this: in addition to traditional work with books and other media, libraries impart knowledge in various languages, offer access to the digital world and social media, information on fake news and much more. Last but not least, libraries are among the few non-commercial public places. On this year's "Black Friday", the traditional ringing in of the holiday retail shopping season, many American libraries advertised tongue-in-cheek that they offer extreme discounts all year round, with free access to books, media and more. "For some, libraries are places of retreat; for others, they make participation in cultural and public life possible in the first place – regardless of income", wrote Leonard Novy, journalist and political scientist, in the opening text of our series.
However, creating the greatest possible intersection is relevant not only in the design of the buildings but also in the selection of library staff. "It's unfair to expect anyone to be an off-the-cuff expert in digitization, integration and inclusion", says Nate Hill. This is why libraries need many different types of librarians and good networks to track down the experts.
Spectacular architecture and impressive networks of experts are likely to remain limited mainly to big cities. Elsewhere, libraries will probably continue to have to bear up under budget cuts and staff shortages over the coming years. But the view that libraries are indispensable in these politically and socially turbulent times will more and more boost the whole sector in the next few years. "If libraries did not exist, they would have to be invented", writes Leonard Novy. And, fortunately, today they are more than willing to reinvent themselves.


Some establishment figures have changed course, with Rob Portman last week becoming the first sitting GOP senator to endorse gay marriage, after learning that his son is gay. Some establishment figures have changed course, with Rob Portman last week becoming the first sitting GOP senator to endorse gay marriage, after learning that his son is gay. Senator Rob Portman pointed the way by evolving on gay marriage last week. Decoder Hillary Clinton backs gay marriage. The disconnect between inside-and-outside-the-Beltway attitudes comes at a thorny time, especially for Republicans. Get the Monitor Stories you care about delivered to your inbox.
Rand Paul, the tea party Republican and possible presidential candidate.
A car loan is typically the first payment people make because a vehicle is critical to getting to work, and someone can live in a car if all else fails. Get unlimited Monitor journalism. The disconnect between inside-and-outside-the-Beltway attitudes comes at a thorny time, especially for Republicans. I learned a lot from being a pilot in the Navy. But many lawmakers are changing their legislative tactics and toning down their public rhetoric — rather than undergoing a sea change in their stances.
The two men may represent different poles of the Democratic Party, but in part thanks to name ID, a lot of voters like both of them. Share this article Copy link Link copied. A watershed moment has arrived in the civil rights movement to go beyond civil unions. Get unlimited Monitor journalism. President Hannity has voiced his displeasure with the new Congressional compromise. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter.