Belarusian opposition calls national strike for October 26

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Written by northsouth

Category: Europe

Published: 26 October 2020

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MINSK -- Belarusian opposition candidate Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya has said a national strike will begin on October 26 after Alyaksandr Lukashenka's government responded with stun grenades and rubber bullets to protests against him earlier in the day.

Tsikhanouskaya had previously set a "People's Ultimatum" for Lukashenka to resign by the evening of October 25, warning she would call a national strike if he did not.

More than 100,000 people protested in Minsk on October 25 despite a massive police and military presence.

The rallies for the 11th Sunday in a row came despite a warning by the Interior Ministry that people should not attend demonstrations for which no permit had been issued.

Stun grenades were used against protesters as tens of thousands of people headed toward Independence Palace in Minsk, carrying the red-and-white flags of the Belarusian opposition movement.

Protesters scattered as loud bangs and flashes lit up the city's streets after nightfall, videos showed. At least one person was wounded as the result of the use of stun grenades.

Rubber bullets were also used to disperse the column, and one person was wounded by a shot in the stomach.

More than 120 people were detained, the Vyasna human rights group reported.

Police confirmed that riot-control weapons had been used and detentions had taken place, the TASS and RIA Novosti news agencies reported.

"The regime once again showed Belarusians that force is the only thing it is capable of," Tsikhanouskaya said in a statement. "That's why tomorrow, October 26, a national strike will begin."

Tsikhanouskaya earlier urged people to take part in a general strike on October 26 or simply to stay at home.

Ahead of the protests, mobile Internet was disrupted and 12 subway stations were closed in the capital due to "security reasons," until early afternoon, when all of them reopened.

"More than 100 thousand people gathered today in Minsk," the Telegram channel Nexta reported.

Such measures have been reported during past protests in what appeared to be an attempt to disrupt the free flow of information.

Eyewitnesses also reported a heavy presence of security forces in the city. Smaller anti-government demonstrations were also held in several other cities.

Unlike previous Sunday protests, the largest number detentions were not in the Belarusian capital, but in the regions, Vyasna said.

Rights campaigners said arrests were made in several cities, including Minsk, Hrodna, Homel, Brest, Lida, and Mahilyou. In Lida, security forces used tear gas against protesters.

Belarus has been rocked by protests since Lukashenka, in power since 1994, was declared the winner of the August 9 presidential election amid allegations of widespread vote rigging.

On October 24, several hundred women marched across the capital, Minsk, in heavy rain to demand the resignation of Lukashenka.

Many women attending the march said they would support the strike called by Tsikhanouskaya.

The opposition says the results of the August vote were fraudulent, and that Tsikhanouskaya was in fact the legitimate winner. She left Belarus for Lithuania shortly after the election amid threats to her and her family.

The democracy movement is also calling for an end to police violence, the release of all political prisoners, and a new election.

Lukashenka sought to immediately squash the protest movement as he had in the past with harassment, arrests, and police brutality.

More than 12,000 Belarusians have been detained and hundreds tortured during protests over the ensuing weeks.

The EU and United States have refused to recognize Lukashenka, who held an abrupt inauguration ceremony last month, as the legitimate ruler of Belarus.

Australian elite forces slaughter helpless Afghans

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Written by northsouth

Category: Australia & Pacific

Published: 20 November 2020

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MELBOURNE - The findings of a four-year military inquiry paint a brutal picture of an Australian special forces culture of rewarding the killing of innocents and prisoners and methodically covering it up, according to the New York Times.

They were the elite of the elite among Australian soldiers, with a record of daring raids in Afghanistan. But a twisted and extreme warrior culture was being instilled, driving the commandos to glorify atrocity as they waged a methodical campaign to kill helpless Afghans and cover it up.

Commanders ordered junior soldiers to execute prisoners so they could record their first “kill.” Adolescents, farmers and other noncombatants were shot dead in circumstances clearly outside the heat of battle. Superior officers created such a godlike aura around themselves that troops dared not question them, even as 39 Afghans were unlawfully killed.

These are among the findings of battlefield misconduct, released on Thursday in a public accounting by the Australian military — a rare admission of abuses that often remain hidden during war.

The four-year examination by the inspector general of the Australian Defense Force is groundbreaking in its scope. It is the first time that a member of the American-led coalition in Afghanistan has so publicly, and at such a large scale, accused its troops of wrongdoing.

The inspector general’s inquiry, which examined the period from 2005 to 2016, stopped short of calling the killings war crimes. But the highly redacted report singles out “possibly the most disgraceful episode in Australia’s military history,” and calls for the criminal investigation of 19 soldiers.

The country’s military chief, Gen. Angus Campbell, said he accepted the findings and would eliminate an elite unit at the center of the investigation. The report also recommends that the Australian government pay compensation to the families of the Afghan victims.

Australia’s military reckoning presents a stark contrast to how the United States has examined its own actions in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Mr. Trump recently pardoned three service members for war crimes and other unlawful acts. His administration has tried to block the work of an international investigator examining allegations of war crimes. And while there has been no small number of accusations of battlefield atrocities by U.S. service members, few have resulted in formal investigations, with American military officials portraying any such misconduct as rare.

U.S. investigations, when they have occurred, have generally centered not on entire units, but on individuals like Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, who pleaded guilty to killing 16 civilians and is serving life in prison without parole. The focus on individuals has allowed special operations groups like the one at the center of the Australian report to avoid broader scrutiny.

The Australian defense ministry, by contrast, went so far as to terminate the 2nd Squadron of the Army’s Special Air Service Regiment, a decision akin to disbanding a component of an elite American commando unit such as SEAL Team 6 or Delta Force.

Australia, a military ally of the United States for over a century, first joined American troops in Afghanistan shortly after they arrived in late 2001. Over the years that followed, more than 26,000 Australians have served in the country, including 3,000 special operations forces. The last combat troops left in late 2013, though several hundred support personnel remained.

Public awareness of potential abuses first emerged in 2017, when the Australian Broadcasting Corporation published allegations of unlawful killings of unarmed Afghan men and children after receiving hundreds of leaked Defense Force documents. This later prompted a raid on the office of the national broadcaster by the federal police and a failed attempt to prosecute the journalist who wrote the article.

The report released on Thursday documents a wide range of misconduct that the country’s defense chief called the product of a “distorted culture” in which “much of the good order and discipline of military life fell away.”

Lewis Hamilton hailed ‘greatest British sportsman’ ever

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Written by northsouth

Category: Sport

Published: 16 November 2020

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Lewis Hamilton has been hailed as the greatest British sportsman in history after he emulated Michael Schumacher by winning his seventh world championship.

Hamilton delivered the drive of drives to wrap up his sixth title in seven years with a brilliant victory at Sunday's rain-hit Turkish Grand Prix.

The 35-year-old Englishman will now end his career as the most decorated driver in Formula One history, having already registered a greater number of victories, pole positions and podiums than anyone who has gone before him.

"I just watched Lewis Hamilton drive to his seventh world title crown," tweeted former England and Manchester United captain Rio Ferdinand.

"[He is] the greatest sportsman this country has ever produced – no doubts. And he still has more chapters to come."

The case will now be made for Hamilton to be knighted in the New Year Honours list.

As revealed by the PA news agency last month, former Labour cabinet minister Lord Hain, who serves as Chair for the All-Party Parliamentary F1 Group, will now write to Prime Minister Boris Johnson urging that Hamilton follow in the footsteps of Andy Murray, Mo Farah and Alastair Cook as Britain's next sporting Sir.

Hamilton was awarded an MBE after his maiden championship triumph in 2008.

"When I think about that honour of being knighted, I think about people like my grandad who served in the war," said Hamilton on the potential accolade.

"Captain Tom waited 100 years for that great honour, and then you have these doctors and nurses, who are saving lives during this hardest time ever.

"I think about those unsung heroes and I don't look at myself as an unsung hero. I haven't saved anybody. It is an incredible honour that a small number of people have bestowed on them.

"I hear the national anthem and I am a very proud Brit. It is a special moment to be up there representing a nation and having the flag over your head."

Hamilton's £40million-a-year Mercedes deal expires next month but a renewal is set to be completed in the coming weeks once the dust has settled on his triumph.

"I feel like I am only just getting started," added Hamilton, who said he would celebrate his landmark achievement by watching a re-run of Sunday's race with Minestrone soup at his Monaco apartment.

"I feel physically in great shape. This year has been the hardest year for millions of people. I know things always look great on the big stage but it is no different for us athletes. It has been a challenge.

"I didn't know how to get through it but with the help of great team around me I have managed to keep my head above water and stay focused.

"I am really hopeful for a better year and I would love to stay. We have only just begun in our work to hold ourselves accountable as a sport, to realise that we cannot ignore the human rights issues with the countries we go to. I want to help Formula One. I want to help Mercedes in that journey."