A new study details the disastrous consequences that would result for marine life across the world’s oceans if current levels of fossil fuel emissions are maintained, with up to 90% of ocean species facing extinction.
Daniel Boyce, a research scientist at Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Nova Scotia, Canada, led the study examining 35,000 species of marine flora and fauna as well as bacteria and protozoans, devising a new analytical tool called the Climate Risk Index for Biodiversity (CRIB).
Under the current level of emissions, which the United Nations said in 2019 were on track to raise global temperature by 3-5° Celsius, nearly 90% of marine species would be at high-to-critical risk of being wiped out and 85% of those species’ native habitats would be affected, on average.
“It is the worst case scenario,” Boyce told ABC News. “And when we evaluated that scenario, we found that there was a very grim picture for the climate risk for marine species.”
Boyce wrote at Carbon Brief Monday that major predator species including sharks and tuna were found to have “a significantly higher risk than species further down the food chain, such as forage fishes and invertebrates.”
“As these apex species can exert a disproportionate influence on ecosystems, it further suggests that ecosystem structure and functioning will be affected,” wrote Boyce, whose research was published in Nature Climate Change.
The study also shows how the climate crisis is exacerbating global inequality, with people in the Global South expected to face major direct impacts of the widespread extinction of marine species.
“Climate risk is largest in coastal ecosystems that support the highest fishery catches and in many subtropical and tropical ecosystems that tend to be biodiversity hotspots,” said Boyce, identifying coastal areas in South America, Central America, and South Asia as some of the places that will see the sharpest declines in marine life under the status quo.
“This then represents yet another example of climate inequality,” he added. “While low-income countries have made the smallest contribution to climate change, they are likely to bear the brunt of the impacts while being the least well positioned to adapt.”
About 10% of the world’s ocean ecosystems are at high risk of experiencing the worst effects described in the study, with ecosystems featuring species that are only found in one geographic area most at risk.
The study was published days after U.S. President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which contains investments in renewable energy that some researchers say could reduce U.S. emissions by roughly 40% compared to 2005 levels by 2030. Others believe those estimates are too generous.
The independent analytical report Climate Action Tracker said this month that the signing of the IRA “marks a radical shift in U.S. climate action” and could send a powerful message to other countries that are behind in meeting the emissions targets set by the Paris climate agreement, but noted that under the law, the U.S. will still be at “a distance from its 2030 target of 50-52% below 2005 levels” and rated the country’s climate action “on the border between ‘Insufficient’ and ‘Almost sufficient.'”
Climate campaigners have applauded the passage of the IRA while calling on lawmakers to pass more far-reaching legislation requiring emissions reductions from companies and restricting new fossil fuel development.
At Carbon Brief, Boyce emphasized that his team’s study predicts “a potentially bleak future for many marine species,” but “also measures how much our oceans and the life within them stand to benefit from both climate change mitigation and adaptation.”
Reducing emissions enough to meet the Paris agreement’s goal of keeping global heating below 2° Celsius “would cut the risk [of extinction] for about 98.2% of the analyzed species.”
“Sticking to the goals of the Paris agreement would have substantial benefits for marine life, with the disproportionate climate risk for ecosystem structure, biodiversity hotspots, fisheries, and low-income nations being greatly reduced or eliminated,” said Boyce.
Originally published by CommonDreams.org
Politics in Pakistan is again creating turmoil.
Media reports said:
Former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s close aide and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader, Shahbaz Gill’s room at Parliament Lodges was raided by police contingents in the presence of Gill who was brought to the location amid strict security measures.
The police team led by the senior superintendent of police (SSP) found arms in his room and the team also confiscated different cards and other items, according to ARY News.
However, Shahbaz Gill stated that it was not his weapon and claimed that someone else entered his room in his absence.
The condition of his room was changed when he was brought back to the Parliament Lodges, Gill said, expressing suspicion that someone else had placed the pistol in his room after his arrest.
Earlier in the day, an Islamabad court handed PTI leader Shahbaz Gill to Islamabad police for two-day physical remand after he was shifted from PIMS. The court after listening to the arguments reserved its verdict and later directed the police to present Gill before the court on August 24, ARY News reported.
Gill was arrested on charges of colluding with a private Pakistani TV news channel in carrying out propaganda against the state.
Imran Granted Pre-arrest Bail In Anti-terror Case
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has granted pre-arrest bail to Imran Khan till August 25 after he was booked under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) for threatening an additional sessions judge and senior police officers of the Islamabad Police at a rally in the federal capital’s F-9 Park.
During the hearing, the Islamabad High Court ordered Imran Khan to appear before the concerned anti-terrorism court on August 25. Until then, the court said, police must not arrest him.
This comes as PTI legal team on Monday filed a pre-arrest bail plea for Imran Khan after a first information report (FIR) was registered against him in Islamabad High Court.
Imran’s lawyers, Babar Awan and Faisal Chaudhry, filed a petition seeking pre-arrest bail on his behalf in a terrorism case registered for ‘threatening’ a female judge and senior police officers in a public rally.
As per the petition, Imran Khan was being targeted by the ruling Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) for being blunt against corruption and corrupt politicians.
The petition also added that the most recent FIR against the PTI chairman was “politically motivated” and it added that Imran had been “falsely” involved with “mala fide intention and ulterior motives to humiliate” him.
Another point which was highlighted in the plea was the assurance that if granted protective bail there will be “no likelihood” of Imran absconding or tampering with prosecution evidence.
Imran Claims Government’s YouTube Block Aimed To Censor Him
Imran Khan accused the government of temporarily blocking YouTube to deny live access to his speech, at a political rally.
Khan has been making fiery speeches to gatherings across the South Asian nation, as he pushes for new elections after being ousted from power in April through a parliamentary vote.
The Youtube-blocking accusation came after a ban on Saturday by the electronic media regulator on the live broadcast of Khan’s speeches, citing what it called his “hate speech” against state institutions.
“Imported government blocked YouTube midway through my speech,” Khan said on Twitter.
A spokesman for internet regulator Pakistan Telecommunication Authority did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Reuters could not immediately reach Khan to seek comment.
‘Provocative Statements’
Khan’s speeches were “prejudicial to the maintenance of law and order, and likely to disturb public peace and tranquility”, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) said, in a statement on Saturday.
It accused Khan of “continuously … leveling baseless allegations and spreading hate speech through his provocative statements against state institutions”.
It prohibited live broadcasts of his speeches by news channels, with immediate effect, but made an exception for recorded speech.
Pakistan’s government, police and its powerful army have been among the targets of Khan’s remarks.
Soon after Saturday’s television ban, Khan’s party vowed to go live on “500+ YouTube and Facebook channels”.
However, many Pakistani users of social media reported problems in accessing YouTube on Sunday, just as Khan was about to address a gathering in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.
In those comments, Khan said he was being censored for not accepting the current coalition government, which had voted him out of power.
The television ban came a day after Khan’s threats to Islamabad’s police chief and a female judge over what he called the arrest and alleged torture of a close aide who faces sedition charges, for urging the military’s lower ranks to defy the orders of the superiors.
Imran Booked Under Anti-terrorism Act
Earlier reports said:
Imran Khan has been booked under the Anti-Terrorism Act for threatening police, judiciary and other state institutions at his Islamabad rally a day ago, it emerged on Sunday.
The case surfaced hours after Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on Sunday said that the government was mulling to file a case against 69-year-old Khan over his provocative speech delivered on Saturday night in the F-9 Park of the national capital.
According to the copy of the first information report, which has been seen by PTI, the case was registered at the Margalla Police Station of Islamabad at 10pm on Saturday under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (punishment for acts of terrorism).
The FIR reads that Khan in his speech had “terrorized and threatened top police officials and a respected female additional sessions judge” with the aim to stop them from performing their functions and abstain from pursuing any action against any individual related to his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf party
It says that Khan’s speech had spread fear and uncertainty among the police, judges and the nation.
In his address, Khan had threatened to file cases against top police officials, a woman magistrate, Election Commission of Pakistan and political opponents over the treatment meted out to his aide Shahbaz Gill, who was arrested last week on charges of sedition.
He had also taken exception to Additional District and Sessions Judge Zeba Chaudhry, who had approved Gill’s two-day physical remand at the request of the capital police, and said she should “prepare herself as action would be taken against her”.
Earlier at a Press conference, Interior Minister Sanaullah said that the government was holding legal consultations before launching any case against Khan. He alleged that Khan’s speech was a continuation of a trend to target the army and other institutions.
“This is all happening in continuation — from a campaign after the Lasbela incident when six army officers were killed followed by Gill’s attempt to incite army ranks to go against their top command and then Imran threatening a woman judge and police officials for performing their duties as per the law,” the minister said.
His remarks came after Pakistan’s electronic media watchdog banned satellite television channels from broadcasting live speeches of Khan following his provocative address on Saturday night.
The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) in a communiqué issued on Saturday said that TV channels despite repeated warnings had failed to implement a time-delay mechanism to stop the broadcast of material against “state institutions”.
“It has been observed that Mr Imran Khan, Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, in his speeches/statements is continuously alleging state institutions by leveling baseless allegations and spreading hate speech through his provocative statements against state institutions and officers which is prejudicial to the maintenance of law and order and is likely to disturb public peace and tranquility,” it said.
According to the statement, after analyzing the content of Khan’s speech, it has been observed that the content was aired live by the licensees without an effective time delay mechanism.
“The competent authority i.e. Chairman PEMRA in view of the above-mentioned background and reasons hereby prohibits broadcast of live speech of Khan on all satellite TV channels with immediate effect,” it added.
Reacting sharply to the ban imposed on the PTI chairman, his party said the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has a fascist regime.
“Imported fascists are trying to ban Imran Khan’s speeches on TV. They have lost the battle completely and now using fascism; they will fail! #HelpPakistan by raising our voices against fascists!,” Khan’s party tweeted.
Saturday’s rally was organized by PTI to express solidarity with Gill and stage a protest against what Khan claimed was “blatant fascism” prevalent under the “imported regime” of Prime Minister Sharif.
During the rally, Khan didn’t spare powerful Army, calling it “neutrals”, and urged his supporters to stand with the nation rather than the “gang of thieves”, in a veiled reference to the coalition government.
He also lashed out at the judiciary, terming them as “biased”.
While the army has not responded to his barb, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Pakistan Peoples Party, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl and Mutahida Quami Movement Pakistan in a statement asked the judiciary to take legal action against Khan and his aides for threatening a female judge and intimidating police officers.
Since he was ousted from power in April, the cricketer-turned politician has repeatedly claimed that the no-trust motion against him was the result of a “foreign conspiracy”.
Khan has also emphasised that his party would not deal with or accept the “imported government” headed by Prime Minister Sharif.
Meanwhile, a defiant Khan addressed a rally at Rawalpindi’s Liaquat Bagh ground on Sunday night.
“Now PEMRA is also in the game. What has Imran Khan done? His only crime is that he is not accepting this imported government,” Khan said responding to the PEMRA banning of his live speeches.
He also talked about the deteriorating economic situation and inflation, saying the country’s army chief had to go to countries like Saudi Arabia to get loans.
“The only way to bring the country out of the current situation is to hold fair and free elections,” he said.
Pakistan’s Imran Khan Is Now the Target of Forces He Once Wielded
A New York Times report said on Aug. 23, 2022:
Former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s allies have been arrested. Media outlets and public figures considered sympathetic to him have been intimidated or silenced. He has been hit with charges under Pakistan’s antiterrorism act and faces the prospect of arrest.
For weeks, Pakistan has been gripped by a political showdown between the ruling establishment and Mr. Khan, the former cricket star turned populist politician who was ousted from the prime minister post this year. The drama has laid bare the perilous state of Pakistani politics — a winner-take-all game in which the security forces and the justice system are wielded as weapons to sideline those who have fallen out of favor with the country’s powerful military establishment or political elite.
That playbook has been decades in the making, and it has turned the country’s political sphere into a brutal playground in which only a few elite leaders dare play. It has also rendered the Pakistani public deeply disillusioned with the political system and the handful of family dynasties that have been at the top of it for decades.
The report said:
Mr. Khan’s own meteoric rise from the fringes of politics to the prime minister’s office in 2018 was a showcase for how hard-bitten Pakistan’s politics have become: His competitors were winnowed from the electoral field by criminal charges, and by threat and intimidation from the security forces. Once in office, he and his supporters employed those same tools to harass and silence journalists and political opponents who criticized him.
Even after falling out with military leaders and being removed from office earlier this year in a no-confidence vote, the charismatic politician has been able to keep himself and his party at the center of Pakistani politics. It is a demonstration of his ability to tap into the public’s deep-seated frustration with the political system and wield the kind of populist power once relegated to Pakistani religious leaders.
That popularity has alarmed the new government, led by Shehbaz Sharif, and the military establishment, which began picking off his supporters and have now turned the justice system on Mr. Khan himself. But the well-worn playbook seems to be doing little to keep him in check, at least so far, and some analysts fear the showdown could erupt into violence.
“The former prime minister has been accused of threatening government officials — they are serious allegations bringing the confrontation between him and the federal government to a head,” said Zahid Hussain, an Islamabad-based political analyst and a columnist for Dawn, the country’s leading daily. “Any move to arrest him could ignite an already volatile political situation.”
The New York Times report added:
Since Pakistan’s founding 75 years ago, the nuclear-armed nation has been plagued by political volatility and military coups. Even in the calmest of times, the country’s military establishment has been the invisible hand guiding electoral politics, ushering its allies into positions of power and pushing away rivals.
The last prime minister to be driven from office before Mr. Khan, Nawaz Sharif — the older brother of the current prime minister — was disqualified from holding office in 2017 over corruption charges in a controversial verdict by the Supreme Court. The elder Sharif sought refuge in London, joining a long line of political figures effectively exiled from Pakistan under the threat of criminal charges.
In an echo of that political script, on Sunday Mr. Khan was charged under Pakistan’s antiterrorism act after giving a speech to thousands of supporters in the capital, Islamabad, in which he threatened legal action against senior police officers and a judge involved in the recent arrest of one of his top aides.
The charges intensified the showdown between the government and Mr. Khan, and added to a wave of reports of harassment, arrest and intimidation aimed at journalists and allies of Mr. Khan in recent weeks that many view as a coordinated effort by the authorities to dampen his political prospects.
But the crackdown appears to have heightened Mr. Khan’s popularity, analysts say, bolstering his claims that the military establishment conspired to topple his government in April.
“What differentiates this moment from previous moments is the amount of sheer street power Khan has,” said Madiha Afzal, a fellow at the Brookings Institution. “And street power makes a difference in Pakistan even when it does not translate into electoral votes.”
The New York Times report said:
In recent months, Mr. Khan has regularly drawn tens of thousands of supporters onto the streets, where he has lashed out at the current government and the military. The overwhelming public support has buoyed his hopes for a political comeback, and he has demanded new elections, refusing political dialogue with his rivals.
The crackdown on Mr. Khan and his supporters has intensified frustrations among young, social-media-savvy Pakistanis and the older generation alike over the entrenched corruption and all-powerful hand of the military in the country’s political system.
It said:
In the past two months, Mr. Khan has managed to parlay his widespread support into electoral prowess. His party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, won sweeping victories in local elections in Punjab — a province that has often served as a bellwether for national politics — and in the port city of Karachi.
And however out of favor he may be with the military’s top brass, Mr. Khan has retained sympathizers within the ranks.
A cohort of retired military officials have attended pro-Khan demonstrations in recent months. And his chief of staff, Shahbaz Gill, went so far as to urge officers to refuse to obey their leaders during a live TV appearance, leading to his arrest and accusations that he has been trying to incite rebellion within the military.
Mr. Khan says that Mr. Gill has been tortured and sexually abused while in custody, though senior government ministers and Islamabad police officials deny that claim.
Many fear that if Mr. Khan is ultimately arrested, it will worsen the political turmoil that has embroiled the country in recent weeks.
Mr. Khan’s supporters have warned that Mr. Khan’s arrest would be a “red line,” and as news of the charges spread on Sunday night, hundreds of them gathered outside his palatial hillside residence on the outskirts of Islamabad and vowed to resist.
“If this red line is crossed, we will be forced to shut down the country,” said Sayed Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari, a close aide of Mr. Khan’s. “Arresting him will result in a nationwide revolt.”
Pakistan’s Generals Want To Muzzle Imran Khan. It May Backfire
A Time report said on Aug 22, 2022:
Khan took to mass, highly-produced rallies for his centrist Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party to rail against political opponents, whom he accused of hatching a U.S.-backed coup to unseat him. These demonstrations have only grown larger and more vitriolic in recent weeks as the cricketing icon turned his ire on the military establishment that aided his political rise before deserting him.
So far, Khan remains free and his supporters have threatened to stage mass demonstrations should he be taken into custody. “If Khan is actually arrested, all bets would be off and the country could see heightened risks of political violence in major cities,” says Michael Kugelman, the deputy director of the Asia Program at the Woodrow Wilson Center. “Khan enjoys backing from a rabid support base that would not sit quietly.”
The report said:
Gill was charged with sedition — a crime which carries the death penalty—and claims he was tortured under interrogation. (One senior PTI figure provided photos of bruises Gill allegedly suffered during detention, though TIME was unable to independently verify the contents.)
Khan came to the defense of his friend by criticizing the inspector-general of Pakistan’s police force and the judge deemed responsible for Gill’s arrest. “You also get ready for it, we will also take action against you,” Khan reportedly said. “All of you must be ashamed.”
Pakistan’s judiciary subsequently deemed those comments — and threats to sue the police and the judge — an explicit threat and filed charges against him. However, the Islamabad High Court granted Khan “protective bail” until Thursday, which blocks his potential arrest for now.
Khan has over 17 million followers on Twitter, which is higher than the ratings of many top nightly news shows in Pakistan.
Certainly, Khan’s predicament is only the latest salvo as nuclear-armed Pakistan lurches from crisis to crisis, with potentially grave implications for regional and global security. On top of a hyper-polarized political environment, the nation of 230 million people is blighted by runaway inflation that reached 24.9% in July and a government that has been unable to improve the economy and heavy-handed with opponents. On Aug. 29, the IMF is due to meet to negotiate yet another bailout. But the specter of political unrest risks wobbling an already precarious economic tightrope. “No matter how you slice it, it’s a very uneasy and volatile moment for Pakistan,” says Kugelman.
The report added:
Despite an often tetchy relationship, Pakistan is an invaluable security partner for the U.S. regarding neighboring Afghanistan, where the Taliban have been back in power for a year.
Instability gripping Pakistan — including rumors of splits between pro- and anti-Khan factions in the military — undermines this invaluable security apparatus. On Aug. 10, the Pakistani Taliban claimed it had regained control of a part of Swat district in the country’s far north. It’s a precarious time for Pakistan’s military to be divided and distracted.
For Samina Yasmeen, director of the Centre for Muslim States and Societies at the University of Western Australia, the new government of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif of the center-right PML-N party — brother of Khan’s longtime nemesis Nawaz Sharif — has made the mistake of allowing Khan to “whip up hysteria” but now faces “even more instability” by clumsily cracking down. “It’s not simply the fact that Pakistan is a nuclear state,” she says. “It’s that this state has a lot of people in it. If there are clashes, then you really don’t know where it’s going to go.”
Tellingly, Khan has toned down his anti-U.S. broadsides in recent weeks, presumably leaving the door open to mend relations with Washington should he engineer a miraculous return to power. Instead, he’s dialed up attacks against the military, which he sardonically dubbed “neutrals” in response to statements from brass hats insisting they don’t meddle in politics. Even the figures in the ruling PML-N have now adopted the quip, hammering home the fact that the generals who have ruled Pakistan for half its 75-year history remain kingmakers today.
The charges against Khan have in particular galvanized his supporters’ enmity against Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, who they believe was a big driver of the 69-year-old Khan’s ouster. “Bajwa’s transformation in the eyes of Khan’s supporters from revered to reviled … is one of the most striking takeaways from this ongoing saga,” says Kugelman.
The reality is, of course, that Khan’s path to power was possible because the military backed him and then he lost power when they withdrew their support. Overall, the reputation of the generals has taken a hit across the political spectrum. When six senior army officers including a top general died in a helicopter crash in early August, the overwhelming reaction on social media was far from sympathetic, with many mockingly expressing condolences for the aircraft rather than the lives lost.
Pakistani society has rarely been so polarized, with half the country treating Khan as a savior and half as the devil incarnate. “Effectively, what he’s done is divided the country,” says Yasmeen. “It’s very much like Trump [in the U.S.]. And if the United States hasn’t fully recovered yet, how can a country like Pakistan recover?”
The question is whether the generals will sit back if widespread protests erupt amid a brewing economic catastrophe. Pakistan’s military has willingly seized power when they thought things were spiraling out of control, most recently in 1999. But the generals worked out that they preferred to pull the strings from the shadows. The question is whether this view has changed. “I can’t see the military taking over,” says Yasmeen, “But then part of me thinks, it’s gone so bad, could there be some [in the army] who think it would be the right thing?”
Ayman al-Zawahiri is dead – or so we are told. Al-Qaida’s chief and successor to the slain Osama bin Laden, he was deemed the chief ideologue and mastermind behind the audacious September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. On July 31, he was supposedly killed in a drone strike in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, while standing on his balcony.
Terrorism and security pundits, whose views are best considered from afar with stern scrutiny, are predictably speculating that the killing will have some effect on al-Qaida but are incapable of showing how. Vanda Felbab-Brown at Brookings is convinced that “his death with have a negative strategic and demoralizing impact on al-Qaida” though gives no inkling of how this might be so. Even by her own admission, Zawahiri was not “involved in daily tactical al-Qaida planning”.
The lack of US counter-terrorism capabilities, not to mention officially stationed personnel in Afghanistan, is no problem for Felbab-Brown. She admires the US forces for still getting the job done, if it can be put as crudely as that. This killing was an “impressive show of the effectiveness and persistence of US counterterrorism efforts”. Scorn is also reserved for the Taliban, who seemed to be playing host and continuing old habits of supping from the same bowl.
President Joe Biden also took pride in noting that such killings could be executed at a distance, and without the need for an ongoing US garrison. “When I ended our military mission in Afghanistan almost a year ago, I made the decision that after 20 years of war, the United States no longer needed thousands of boots on the ground in Afghanistan to protect America from terrorists who seek to do us harm.”
In November 2020, another commentator from the Brookings stable, Daniel Byman, wrote something almost identical in flavour to that of Felbab-Brown. Zawahiri had, on that occasion, had another one of his death flourishes, reportedly expiring in Afghanistan from “natural causes”.
Byman was keen to speculate. “If Zawahri is dead, where will al-Qaida go next and what kind of movement will Zawahri’s successor inherit?” With classroom authority, Byman opined that, “Leaders matter tremendously for terrorist groups, especially jihadi ones, which often rise and fall based on the fortunes of their emir.”
As things transpired, the leader in question was very much alive and kicking and reports of his death had been embarrassingly exaggerated. He appeared in a video message celebrating the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, released on September 11, 2021.
The al-Qaida leader certainly has form. In August 2008, Zawahiri’s fate was of such interest to CBS News as to prompt a bold pronouncement. He was said to be in “severe pain” and in need of urgent treatment for injuries sustained in a strike. Lara Logan, the CBS News chief foreign affairs correspondent, had supposedly secured a letter written by local Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud making that point. The injuries were said to be so critical that the leader was “possibly dead”. Logan acknowledged that there had been “false death rumours” floating around previously about the al-Qaida figure, but no denials had been issued from Pakistan, the US or al-Qaida websites. Not exactly formidably deductive.
Zawahiri has encountered death yet again, this time at the end of a drone strike on a safe house in Kabul. But things were far from clear. Former head of the National Directorate of Security in Afghanistan, Rahmatullah Nabil, claimed it was “an American strike on IS-K” (Islamic State-Khorasan Province) that took place on July 31. Not so, according to Amrullah Saleh, former Afghan vice-president, who attributed responsibility to the Pakistani Airforce.
The Taliban followed up, with spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirming that the strike had, in fact, been the work of a US drone. “Such actions are a repetition of the failed experiences of the past 20 years and are against the interests of the US, Afghanistan and the region,” Mujahid added.
US President Joe Biden duly issued his video-briefing corroborating the attack. Not that this necessarily clarified matters regarding Zawahiri. John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, admitted that no DNA evidence had been obtained. Cockily, he asserted that, “based on multiple sources and methods that we’ve gathered information from, we don’t need it.”
The pattern of killings and assassinations gloried in, only to be revised or disproved later, is very much part of the counterterrorist manual. US officials have indulged in this before, notably in the context of Osama bin Laden. At a certain point in time, it became irrelevant whether he lived or otherwise. The figure had died on so many occasions as to become a simulacrum, existing in an absurdist drama known as terrorism studies and “counter-terrorist operations”. At best, the obsession with capturing and killing him provided the personal touch, an individual whose targeting gave reassurance that wrongs could somehow be righted by disposing of him in extrajudicial fashion.
Bin Laden’s slaying by the Navy Seals in May 2011 had a cinematic element and, in a rather fitting way, reconciled his dead-yet-not-dead existence to celluloid. The White House Situation Room showed President Barack Obama and his officials glued to the screen as the events in Abbottabad, Pakistan unfolded. Ghoulish reality television unfolded before an audience grimly transfixed, horrified and entertained.
Like his predecessor felled by US bullets, Zawahiri’s demise hardly changes the dynamic of the terrorist franchise he led. Killing such a man is not quite the equivalent of doing away with the manager of a banking branch, but the principle has a similarity to it. Such entities will continue to thrive, fed by the very forces that often claim to suppress them. Adherents will always be found; the hangman will never be disappointed.
Dr. Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He currently lectures at RMIT University. Email: bkampmark@gmail.com
A new, freely downloadable, book
I would like to announce the publication of a new book, entitled “Lives in Molecular Biology”. The pdf file of the book may be downloaded and circulated free of charge from the following link:
https://eacpe.org/content/uploads/2022/08/Lives-in-Molecular-Biology-by-John-Scales-Avery.pdf
It is part of my series of books on cultural history.
Human history as cultural history
We need to reform our teaching of history so that the emphasis will be placed on the gradual growth of human culture and knowledge, a growth to which all nations and ethnic groups have contributed.
“Lives in Molecular Biology” is part of a series on cultural history. Here is a list of the other books in the series that have, until now, been completed:
LIVES IN PREHISTORY
https://eacpe.org/content/uploads/2022/04/Lives-in-Prehistory-by-John-Scales-Avery.pdf
LIVES IN THE MIDDLE AGES
https://eacpe.org/content/uploads/2022/03/Lives-in-the-Middle-Ages-by-John-Scales-Avery.pdf
LIVES IN THE RENAISSANCE
https://eacpe.org/content/uploads/2022/02/Lives-in-the-Renaissance-by-John-Scales-Avery.pdf
LIVES IN THE 17TH CENTURY
https://eacpe.org/content/uploads/2021/12/Lives-in-the-17th-Century-by-John-Scales-Avery.pdf
LIVES IN THE ANCIENT WORLD
https://eacpe.org/content/uploads/2021/11/Lives-in-the-Ancient-World-by-John-Scales-Avery.pdf
LIVES IN THE 18TH CENTURY
https://eacpe.org/content/uploads/2021/10/Lives-in-the-18th-Century-by-John-Scales-Avery.pdf
LIVES IN THE 19TH CENTURY
https://eacpe.org//content/uploads/2021/09/Lives-in-the-19th-Century-by-John-Scales-Avery.pdf
LIVES IN THE 20TH CENTURY
https://eacpe.org/content/uploads/2022/01/Lives-in-the-20th-Century-by-John-Scales-Avery.pdf
LIVES IN BIOLOGY
https://eacpe.org/content/uploads/2021/09/Lives-in-Biology-John-Scales-Avery.pdf
LIVES OF SOME GREAT DRAMATISTS
https://eacpe.org/content/uploads/2022/06/Lives-of-Some-Great-Dramatists-by-John-Scales-Avery.pdf
LIVES OF SOME GREAT NOVELISTS
https://eacpe.org/app/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Lives-of-Some-Great-Novelists-John-Scales-Avery.pdf
LIVES IN MATHEMATICS
http://eacpe.org/app/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Lives-in-Mathematics-John-Scales-Avery.pdf
LIVES IN EXPLORATION
http://eacpe.org/app/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Lives-in-Exploration-John-Scales-Avery.pdf
LIVES IN EDUCATION
http://eacpe.org/app/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Lives-in-Education-by-John-Scales-Avery.pdf
LIVES IN POETRY
http://eacpe.org/app/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Lives-in-Poetry-by-John-Scales-Avery.pdf
LIVES IN PAINTING
http://eacpe.org/app/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Lives-in-Painting-by-John-Scales-Avery.pdf
LIVES IN ENGINEERING
http://eacpe.org/app/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Lives-in-Egineering-by-John-Scales-Avery.pdf
LIVES IN ASTRONOMY
http://eacpe.org/app/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Lives-in-Astronomy-by-John-Scales-Avery.pdf
LIVES IN CHEMISTRY
http://eacpe.org/app/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Lives-in-Chemistry-by-John-Scales-Avery.pdf
LIVES IN MEDICINE
http://eacpe.org/app/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Lives-in-Medicine-John-Scales-Avery.pdf
LIVES IN ECOLOGY
http://eacpe.org/app/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Lives-in-Ecology-by-John-Scales-Avery.pdf
LIVES IN PHYSICS
http://eacpe.org/app/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Lives-in-Physics-by-John-Scales-Avery.pdf
LIVES IN ECONOMICS
http://eacpe.org/app/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Lives-in-economics-by-John-Scales-Avery.pdf
LIVES IN THE PEACE MOVEMENT
http://eacpe.org/app/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Lives-in-the-peace-movement-by-John-Scales-Avery.pdf
THE ROAD NOT TAKEN
http://eacpe.org/app/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/The-Road-Not-Taken-by-John-Scales-Avery.pdf
Many other freely downloadable books, for example, books dealing with serious global problems, can be found at the following web address:
John Scales Avery is a theoretical chemist at the University of Copenhagen. He is noted for his books and research publications in quantum chemistry, thermodynamics, evolution, and history of science. His 2003 book Information Theory and Evolution set forth the view that the phenomenon of life, including its origin, evolution, as well as human cultural evolution, has its background situated in the fields of thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, and information theory. Since 1990 he has been the Chairman of the Danish National Group of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs. Between 2004 and 2015 he also served as Chairman of the Danish Peace Academy. He founded the Journal of Bioenergetics and Biomembranes, and was for many years its Managing Editor. He also served as Technical Advisor to the World Health Organization, Regional Office for Europe (19881997).
http://www.fredsakademiet.dk/ordbog/aord/a220.htm. He can be reached at avery.john.s@gmail.com. To know more about his works visit this link. https://www.johnavery.info/
The latest news on Ambani’s expanding empire might leave most readers slightly puzzled.The Supreme Court has dismissed a petition by wild life activists to cancel the government’s permission to Mukesh Ambani to open and manage a zoo covering an area of 168 acres.He has been collecting animals from different quarters including Black panthers from Assam and elephants courtesy forest department of Assam in a manner that has raised eyebrows.
The Supreme Court has found no merit in the complainants’ plea that Ambani does not have the experience and expertise to run such an institution.After all,the complainants’ might further argue that until recently Ambani had shown no such great interest in conservation of wild life.
Though somewhat arcane the subject merits more than the passing glance it has been getting from media.
Has Ambani shown or recently acquired a deep interest in zoology,wild life and nature,like say the American president Theodore Roosevelt, who showed such a passion and had been the first advocate and founder of national parks for conservation of wild life?That does not appear to be the case.Then?
It is nothing else but investment.His fast accumulation of capital drives him to search for ever new fields for investments and profit.Such a field happens to be the current blend of entertainment and information,infotainment in short.
A most profitable variety of such fields is natural history,seen at its most spectacular in the Disneyworld and the Sea World of America. Though these breath-taking shows are run with expert advice and maintained with the help of scientists and vets,nobody will claim that scientific knowledge is their primary concern.Ambani’s zoo will also not lack services of zoologists and vets,but most probably only to the extent that they help rake in money.
Zoos and museums are these days degenerating into something like public circuses maintained by the government. Politicians of our time and country might well wonder why on earth they should go on holding such shows at government expense.Forest department officials too perhaps think such things an unnecessary burden on their shoulders.Their main business today,to gather from the track record of forest departments of Northeastern states,is inventing ways of eluding inconvenient laws and fudging records for the benefit of the agents of development/investment.The lack of interest is glaringly evident in skinny,mangy and lackadaisical animals with moping philosophical rather than natural habits leaving half-eaten unripe bananas,indigestible pulses,or stale rotting hunks of meat served them every day.All that has followed from epochal displacement of science from public life and knowledge.
Actually zoological gardens(of which word ‘zoo’ is an abbreviation) like botanical gardens have been in origin and basic character serious institutions for scientific study of fauna and flora.Animals are kept there for scientific observation of their life,physiognomy,habits and instinctive behaviour at close range.That is why the current tendency is to get them out of cages and put them in natural scenes resembling their original habitats.
The London Zoo,or for that matter Whipsnade at a little distance,was founded in 1826 by serious scientific students of wild life and animal behaviour,by a scientific society including illustrious scientists of that time like Sir Humphrey Davy and professional zoologists like Joseph Sabine,member of Linnaean Society.Though a subsidiary aim of that society had been to excite the curiosity and enthusiasm of common people,the main aim had been pursuit and popularization of science.Science in those days was regarded as more beneficial and enlightening than any traditional wisdom,however sacred.
The situation today is quite different.Science is regarded as an obscure and extremely complex miracle-working profession best reserved for professionals and removed from life of the people.NASA is a word whispered with reverent accent like the name of some awesome Godman.Like sages of yore who mastered space ships and test tube babies and plastic surgery.
Hence zoos are not places that draw University professors and researchers.There are exceptions like the experiments in captive breeding of threatened animals or your Rhino breeding project at Kaziranga and Project Tiger of Manas and Ranthambhor.But these are isolated projects and leading politicians have little interest in them.Few seem to be aware that such experiments are designed to preserve from collapse the web of life in which all species are held,except their originators and some amateur enthusiasts.Nor is there much thought on what is to be done if the experiments are so successful as to cause overpopulation of such species.
Hence Ambani’s project may well be the precursor to large-scale private investments in zoos and wholesale transfer of state zoos to private ownership.The considerable area of land covered by any state zoos is also an allurement few big investors are likely to resist.And yet one more instance of science serving the holy project of acquisition of property and profit with stellar success will have come to light.But to that extent the public will also be deprived of any consciousness that science is actually meant to enlighten and empower them.
Hiren Gohain is a political commentator
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