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O desastrado processo da nomeação do chefe do Estado-Maior da Armada

 


José Pacheco Pereira

Professor

Ontem

https://www.sabado.pt/opiniao/cronistas/pacheco-pereira/detalhe/alguma-coisa-de-estranho-no-almirante-das-vacinas?fbclid=IwAR2cW5BzvKaC7t9S05oPeE7dSCifjARaR7hJ7623fV2fFfEeOG4DrNK0_WI

 

Alguma coisa de estranho no “Almirante das vacinas”

 

Dois ou três anos de restrições intermitentes, regras moderadas e quase sempre violadas, parecem atirar com toda a gente para a Psiquiatria. Estou a falar de uma parte da burguesia, pequena e média, urbana, fechada num egoísmo individual.

 

Como toda a gente congratulei-me pela boa gestão do processo das vacinas pelo vice-almirante Gouveia e Melo. Nunca foi pela farda, que pelos comentários, uns populistas outros irresponsáveis vindos de quem vêm, reforça o perigoso sentimento dos militares eficientes versus os políticos incompetentes. Manifestei essas reservas aqui mesmo. Por outro lado, elogiei-o pela atitude de confrontar uns negacionistas que lhe apareceram à frente em vez de fazer de conta que eles não existiam ou fugir pela porta do fundo.

 

Mas, depois de terminar essa missão, e transformado no "homem do ano", com o nosso habitual embasbacamento e ligeireza sebastianista, veio ao de cima uma espécie de vaidade e ambição pura que, essa sim, me preocupa. Não porque entenda que qualquer cidadão não tenha o direito de ter opiniões políticas e actuar em função delas, incluindo fazer um partido ou movimento e concorrer às eleições. Mas estamos perante um militar que foi nomeado para chefe da Armada, por razões estritamente políticas e que, nem que seja por esse cargo, devia moderar a tentação de, criticando os que se lhe seguiram, se engrandecer a si próprio. Se quer criar um movimento cívico, se quer explicar como se situa entre a esquerda e a direita (comparando percebe-se que está mais à direita do que à esquerda), se quer vir a ser candidato presidencial, tudo muito bem. Mas nesse caso não aceite as funções de chefe do Estado-Maior da Armada.(…)

 


OPINIÃO

O desastrado processo da nomeação do chefe do Estado-Maior da Armada

 

Tudo isto é muito doloroso de escrever, mas seria vantajoso que deste enorme erro se tirassem lições para o futuro. Será deste modo que os principais responsáveis deste processo (ministro da Defesa e chefe do Estado-Maior General das Forças Armadas) querem dirigir as FA? E julgam que são respeitados?

 

José Eduardo Garcia Leandro

30 de Dezembro de 2021, 18:50

https://www.publico.pt/2021/12/30/opiniao/opiniao/desastrado-processo-nomeacao-chefe-estadomaior-armada-1990182

 

Já com 81 anos e depois de 1976, nunca assisti a um processo tão desastrado como o que ocorreu com a novela que o atual Governo protagonizou com a nomeação do novo chefe do Estado-Maior da Armada, embora muitos incidentes desnecessários tenham acontecido noutras ocasiões. Ninguém que eu conheça ou que tenha ouvido sabe bem o que se passou e as pessoas dividem-se em dois grupos: os que nada perceberam; e os que pensam ter percebido e que são profundamente contra.

 

Os almirantes Mendes Calado e Gouveia e Melo, se bem que centrais e importantes neste processo, não são o foco do problema. A competência e a carreira de qualquer um deles não estão em causa. As Forças Armadas não se regem pelo comportamento dos partidos políticos, nem se gerem do mesmo modo; não se chega a general ou almirante com a mesma facilidade com que se é nomeado ministro ou se é eleito deputado, pois o mérito, o sentido da responsabilidade de comando desde muito novo, a avaliação permanente, o sentido de Estado e a experiência ganha ao longo de muitos anos fazem a diferença. É claro que também há exceções a esta norma habitual. E nunca houve o circo mediático que agora surgiu!

 

O que está aqui verdadeiramente em causa é o facto de alguns políticos com enormes responsabilidades não perceberem as diferenças (ou não as quererem perceber) e permanentemente desvalorizarem e menorizarem as suas Forças Armadas. Não se substitui um chefe militar como acontece nos ministérios e nos partidos políticos.

 

Não se chega a general ou almirante com a mesma facilidade com que se é nomeado ministro ou se é eleito deputado (...). . Não se substitui um chefe militar como acontece nos ministérios e nos partidos políticos

 

Neste caso concreto, o almirante Gouveia e Melo fez um trabalho excecional como coordenador de todo o sistema da vacinação anticovid-19 e a população ficou deslumbrada, porque até aí tudo estava a correr mal, o Governo estava perdido e depois passou a correr com grande eficiência. Mas depois ele foi arrastado para a armadilha das entrevistas e homenagens repetidas e abriu-se demais sobre assuntos que não lhe competiam e em que devia ter mais prudência.

 

O almirante Mendes Calado cumpria com discrição e eficiência a sua missão de CEMA tendo (parece) admitido sair mais cedo da sua função (situação que só se poria no 3.º trimestre de 2022). Em setembro deste ano, o senhor ministro da Defesa Nacional resolveu propor a sua substituição, o que não o ocorreu por oposição do nosso Presidente, mas em dezembro aquilo que fora recusado três meses antes passou a ser válido e Mendes Calado foi simplesmente despedido. Tem isto algum sentido? Nem sequer se punha a questão do limite de idade de Gouveia e Melo que só acontece em novembro de 2022. E não há alta condecoração, ainda que justa, que resolva esta ofensa contra o Estado de Direito e à dignidade da pessoa e das Forças Armadas. Todos somos o Almirante Calado!

 

O general Ramalho Eanes (sempre uma referência ética e a quem o país muito deve) lembrou no seu discurso de 7 de outubro no IUM (Instituto Universitário Militar) as dificuldades que houve para se ultrapassar o PREC e defendeu que não deveríamos, com uma renovada LOBOFA (Lei Orgânica de Bases da Organização das Forças Armadas) - muito mal preparada - deixar cair num processo semelhante. Os resultados estão à vista.

 

Não há alta condecoração, ainda que justa, que resolva esta ofensa contra o Estado de Direito e à dignidade da pessoa e das Forças Armadas. Todos somos o Almirante Calado!

 

Ainda recentemente o senhor primeiro-ministro declarou que agora a população compreende muito melhor as Forças Armadas pela sua importância nas missões externas, na proteção civil e na vacinação anticovid. Pergunta: foi a população ou foi ele que as descobriu e compreendeu melhor? Mas continua a dar cobertura a decisões que as desvalorizam.

 

Agora o novo CEMA vai encontrar uma Marinha dividida, quando precisaria de unidade.

 

E se, com a sua forte personalidade, verificar que tudo o que pretende fazer na Marinha, que envolverá meios e pessoal, não vai acontecer? Ainda pode bater com a porta e dedicar-se a outras atividades. Vamos esperar para ver, até porque, se houver mais meios para a Marinha, tal tem também de acontecer com o Exército e com a Força Aérea.

 

E porquê toda esta urgência do nosso primeiro-ministro em propor esta nomeação apenas um mês antes das eleições legislativas, o que aparentemente não tem explicação. Será que tem receio de perder as eleições e que depois as suas promessas a Gouveia e Melo não se concretizem?

 

Será de lembrar que o ciclo das Forças Armadas nada tem a ver com os ciclos políticos; estas são apartidárias e cumprem sempre a sua missão independentemente do Governo em funções. Gostaria de lembrar que, com a V República Francesa, e em sequência dos Presidentes De Gaulle, Pompidou e Giscard d’Estaing, correspondentes a uma linha política republicana conservadora, foi eleito Miterrand, socialista e muito crítico do primeiro, que não substituiu ninguém da estrutura superior das Forças armadas; só saiu o almirante Phillipe de Gaulle, filho do primeiro e a seu pedido.

 

Porquê toda a urgência do nosso primeiro-ministro em propor esta nomeação apenas um mês antes das eleições legislativas?

 

Tudo isto é muito doloroso de escrever, mas seria vantajoso que deste enorme erro se tirassem lições para o futuro. Será deste modo que os principais responsáveis deste processo (ministro da Defesa Nacional e chefe do Estado-Maior General das Forças Armadas) querem dirigir as FA? E julgam que são respeitados?

 

Seria bom não esquecer que as pessoas vão passando, mas os seus erros ficam. O tempo é sempre o Grande Juiz! Vamos esperar, mas os primeiros resultados estão à vista; em pouco menos de um ano, seria impossível fazer pior.

 

Tenente-general na reserva. Antigo vice-chefe do Estado-Maior do Exército. Governador de Macau (1974-79). Antigo director do Instituto de Altos Estudos Militares e do Instituto da Defesa Nacional

Mark Rutte’s fourth cabinet: what we know and has been leaked so far

 


Mark Rutte’s fourth cabinet: what we know and has been leaked so far

Politics December 31, 2021 Paleis Noordeinde. Photo: Txllxt TxllxT via Wikimedia Commons

https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2021/12/mark-ruttes-fourth-cabinet-what-we-know-and-has-been-leaked-so-far/

 

 More names of both potential and confirmed ministers in Mark Rutte’s fourth cabinet have been emerging and there are some surprises among them. D66 leader Sigrid Kaag will not only be the Netherlands’ first female finance minister, but has brought in academic Robbert Dijkgraaf, known for his popular science lectures on television, as education, welfare and culture minister. Ernst Kuipers, head of the Erasmus medical centre and the acute hospital care association, is set to replace Hugo de Jonge as health minister, also on behalf of D66. Kuipers has become a familiar face on television during the coronavirus pandemic. Questions have also been asked about the appointment of Dilan Yesilgöz to the heavyweight job of justice minister. Yesilgöz joined the cabinet several months ago as junior economic affairs minister and has no experience in the legal field – making her the first justice minister without a degree in law. ADVERTISING As yet it is unclear which job – either foreign affairs or home affairs – will go to CDA leader and outgoing finance minister Wopke Hoekstra. Both positions are for the Christian Democrats. Rutte will start his meetings with individual ministers next week and the new cabinet will pose with the king on the steps of the Noordeinde palace in the heart of The Hague on Monday, January 10. What we know so far: *not confirmed ** new post Prime minister Mark Rutte (VVD) will lead his fourth cabinet, made up of himself plus 19 ministers and nine junior ministers. Finance Minister of Finance: Sigrid Kaag (D66) Junior minister for tax (CDA) Junior minister for benefits and customs: Aukje de Vries (VVD)** Foreign affairs Minister of foreign affairs (CDA) Minister for foreign trade and development aid: Liesje Schreinemachter (VVD) Justice and security Minister of justice and security: Dilan Yesilgöz (VVD) Minister for legal protection (D66) Junior minister for asylum and immigration: Eric van der Burg (VVD) Home affairs Minister of home and kingdom affairs (CDA) Minister for housing: Hugo de Jonge (CDA)* ** Junior minister for kingdom affairs and digitalization (D66)* Education, culture and science Minister of education, culture and science: Robbert Dijkgraaf (D66)* Minister for schools: Dennis Wiersma (VVD) Junior minister of culture and media issues (D66) Defence Minister of defence: Kajsa Ollongren (D66)* Junior minister of defence: Christophe van der Maat (VVD) Infrastructure and waterways Minister of infrastructure and waterways: Mark Harbers (VVD) Junior minister of infrastructure and waterways (CDA) Economic affairs and climate Minister of economic affairs and climate: Micky Adriaansens (VVD) Minister for climate and energy: Rob Jetten (D66) ** Junior minister of mines (the Groningen gas problem): Hans Vijlbrief (D66) ** Agriculture and nature Minister of agriculture, nature and food quality: Henk Staghouwer (CU) Minister for nature and nitrogen issues: Christianne van der Wal (VVD)** Social affairs and employment Minister of social affairs and employment (CDA) Minister for poverty strategy, participation and pensions: Carola Schouten (CU)** Health, welfare and sport Minister of health, welfare and sport: Ernst Kuipers (D66)* Minister for long term care and sport: Conny Helder (VVD) Junior minister for youth and prevention: Maarten van Ooijen (CU) Ministers of something control a budget and effectively run the department while ministers for something are charged with a particular project and are part of the cabinet. Junior ministers (staatsecretarissen) are not members of the cabinet. This list will be updated as more positions are confirmed.

 

Read more at DutchNews.nl:

THE END OF NATURE by Bill McKibben'

THE END OF NATURE

http://billmckibben.com/end-of-nature.html

 

Reissued on the tenth anniversary of its publication, this classic work on our environmental crisis features a new introduction by the author, reviewing both the progress and ground lost in the fight to save the earth.

 

This impassioned plea for radical and life-renewing change is today still considered a groundbreaking work in environmental studies. McKibben's argument that the survival of the globe is dependent on a fundamental, philosophical shift in the way we relate to nature is more relevant than ever. McKibben writes of our earth's environmental cataclysm, addressing such core issues as the greenhouse effect, acid rain, and the depletion of the ozone layer. His new introduction addresses some of the latest environmental issues that have risen during the 1990s. The book also includes an invaluable new appendix of facts and figures that surveys the progress of the environmental movement.

 

More than simply a handbook for survival or a doomsday catalog of scientific prediction, this classic, soulful lament on Nature is required reading for nature enthusiasts, activists, and concerned citizens alike.

 

Joe Manchin Has Wrecked the Biden Presidency—Perhaps He’ll Also Liberate It

 


Joe Manchin Has Wrecked the Biden Presidency—Perhaps He’ll Also Liberate It

 

The need to appease the West Virginia senator is gone now, and not just on the climate.

 

By Bill McKibben

December 20, 2021

https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/joe-manchin-has-wrecked-the-biden-presidency-perhaps-hell-also-liberate-it

 

 Manchin didn’t just derail Joe Biden’s legislative agenda; he also kept the President from using another suite of powers that belong to the executive alone.

“I’ve tried everything humanly possible. I can’t get there,” Joe Manchin said. “This is a no on this legislation. I have tried everything I know to do.” And with that pathetic brushoff—he sounded like a feckless TV bachelor explaining why he couldn’t hand his rose to a hopeful contestant—the West Virginia senator put the kibosh on the Build Back Better bill, and with it pretty much all the legislative priorities of the White House.

 

There will be endless analyses of this breakup because it’s so devastating: what Manchin really did was kill momentum for a different kind of country, which began to build with Bernie Sanders’s 2016 run for the Presidency. That campaign and its 2020 successors (including Elizabeth Warren’s Presidential bid) uncovered a deep progressive streak in what was supposed to be a center-right country; Biden got the Presidency but Bernie got the bill, a serious return to the days of L.B.J. and the idea that big government can solve problems.

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The spotlight must now turn to the rich men Ghislaine Maxwell trafficked girls for

 


The spotlight must now turn to the rich men Ghislaine Maxwell trafficked girls for

Gaby Hinsliff

The woman who procured girls for Jeffrey Epstein and his friends will die in prison – but most of the men involved still walk free

 

Thu 30 Dec 2021 18.20 GMT

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/dec/30/ghislaine-maxwell-has-been-convicted-now-the-spotlight-must-turn-to-her-friends

 

Ghislaine Maxwell is going to jail, and for a very long time indeed. Prince Andrew’s good friend of many decades, and Donald Trump’s regular guest at his Florida retreat, has been convicted of grooming and trafficking girls for sex in a verdict that will reverberate through the highest reaches of the transatlantic establishment. No more invites to Balmoral for the woman who turned vulnerable teenagers into rich men’s sexual playthings, and no more hobnobbing with friendly newspaper editors either. No more private jets or haughty instructions to staff to keep their mouths shut, even as they were picking up discarded vibrators from the bedroom floor. And presumably no more public sympathy of the kind Rachel Johnson expressed recently in the Spectator, fondly recalling Ghislaine’s “naughty eyes” as she flirted with a young Boris Johnson at Oxford, back in the days when none of them had ever heard of the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. For all that Maxwell’s lawyers sought to paint her accusers as gold-diggers chasing damages from Epstein’s estate, the lesson many will draw from this case is that the rich are far more often protected by their money and connections than rendered vulnerable by them.

 

Well, now the world can finally see the seedy billionaire and his predatory girlfriend for what they were. Much like the guilty verdict handed to Harvey Weinstein almost two years ago, the result goes some way to restoring faith in the battered principle that nobody should be above the law. Yet there’s something profoundly unsatisfying about it nonetheless. That the woman who procured girls for Epstein and his wealthy friends will now die in prison, while the men involved remain either free to live their lives or (in Epstein’s case) beyond the reach of any mortal judge, provokes a nagging sense of unfinished business.

 

It goes without saying that Ghislaine Maxwell is not the victim here. Although her lawyers made much of the fact that Epstein’s prison suicide left her to carry the can for his crimes, suggesting rage at him had been unfairly projected on to her, the prosecution argued more convincingly that she was in fact critical to the enterprise. A lone middle-aged man asking teenage girls to visit his ranch is creepy, but the same invitation from a couple feels respectable, even benevolent. From an early age, we drum into children the idea that if they’re lost or scared they should seek help from a police officer first and, failing that, a woman. The girls Maxwell lured into her boyfriend’s clutches were reassured by an older woman’s presence and it’s the betrayal of that female trust that feels so monstrous. While these vulnerable teenagers looked to her for support, she was grooming them for sexual exploitation, normalising the perverted anything-goes culture inside his mansion. Strip away the yachts and the servants and all the other trappings of a billionaire lifestyle, and there is frighteningly little separating Maxwell from that tiny but grotesque pantheon of female offenders seemingly so desperate to be loved that they collude in their partners’ abusive fantasies, even to the point of helping persuade someone else’s daughter into a car.

 

We may never know whether Maxwell got her own kicks from this twisted game or whether she was simply too damaged to resist it, conditioned perhaps as friends have suggested by a childhood in the shadow of her bullying father, the late tycoon Robert Maxwell. But the “poor little rich girl” thesis sits uneasily with some of the stories her accusers told in court, which imply a woman accustomed to dealing with problems as only the rich can: by paying someone to make them go away.

 

Kate, who was 17 when she first met the couple, recalled Maxwell complaining about Epstein’s voracious sexual appetite and asking “if I knew anybody who could come and give Jeffrey a blowjob because it was a lot for her to do”, much as she might seek recommendations for a butler or a pool boy – except in this case it was imperative they be young. Carolyn, who was 14 when she was first paid to give Epstein one of his infamously sexualised massages, described how Maxwell felt her breasts and bottom much as if she were checking over livestock for sale, and concluded she had a “great body for Mr Epstein and his friends”. And it’s on those nameless “friends” that the spotlight must now fall.

 

First and most obviously in the firing line are the men against whom direct allegations have been made, chief among them Prince Andrew. Virginia Giuffre, who is currently attempting to bring a civil suit against the prince accusing him of a sexual assault he has vehemently and repeatedly denied, can only be encouraged by a verdict she welcomed with a pointed tweet, arguing that “Maxwell did not act alone. Others must be held accountable.” Whether her lawsuit succeeds or fails, however, the unmasking of his good friend Ghislaine as a convicted sex trafficker makes it almost impossible to envisage a way back to royal ribbon-cutting duties for the prince.

 

But there are plenty more high-profile men who flew on Epstein’s planes, enjoyed his lavish parties, even stayed overnight in one of those mansions hung with tacky erotic art, and say they saw nothing amiss. Was he simply so discreet that nobody could possibly have suspected a thing? Or could it be that a predilection for teenage girls simply didn’t seem all that shocking, inside a rich man’s world where trading in an ageing first wife for someone barely older than your daughter is no big deal?

 

Meanwhile, in the US, there are disturbing questions to answer about a long, oddly flat-footed investigation into Epstein that left victims fearing they would never get their day in court and conspiracy theorists emerging to fill a judicial vacuum. That Maxwell held her tongue even when she eventually came to trial, refusing to testify in her own defence in a way that meant she could be asked no incriminating questions about the household names peppering the victims’ testimony, has only encouraged the latter.

 

Some still hope she might share whatever she knows now, given the conviction has left her with nothing much to lose. The family’s decision to appeal makes that unlikely at least in the near future, and it remains to be seen whether a woman who has traded on her connections all her life is capable even now of turning on them. But she cannot be the only one who knows more than she is telling about that tainted circle through which so many powerful men have moved. Justice is surely neither done, nor seen to be done, until all their dirty little secrets are out.

 

Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist

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Air Travel Is No Holiday as Covid and Storms Cancel Flights

 




Air Travel Is No Holiday as Covid and Storms Cancel Flights

 

Airlines and passengers are ending the year with many of their plans upended. And New Year’s weekend may be bumpy, too.

 

By Niraj Chokshi and Heather Murphy

Dec. 30, 2021

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/30/business/flights-cancelled.html

 

Airlines may have thought their pandemic troubles were behind them in the fall as a coronavirus wave subsided and travelers increasingly took to the skies. But a new virus surge and winter storms have left the carriers and their passengers in a holiday mess.

 

Heading into the New Year’s weekend, when return flights will produce another crest in air travel, airlines have been canceling more than 1,000 flights a day to, from or within the United States. Carriers and their employees say the latest chapter of the pandemic, the Omicron variant, has cut deeply into the ability to staff flights, even though a vast majority of crew members are vaccinated.

 

“I’ve never seen a meltdown like this in my life,” said Angelo Cucuzza, the director of organizing at the Transport Workers Union, which represents flight attendants at JetBlue. “They just can’t keep up with the amount of folks that are testing positive.”

 

JetBlue has been one of the airlines hardest hit, canceling 17 percent of its flights on Thursday, according to the air travel data site FlightAware. The carrier said Wednesday that it would cut about 1,280 flights through mid-January, citing the rise in virus cases in the Northeast, where its operations and crews are concentrated.

 

And then there was the weather, always a volatile element in holiday travel but particularly challenging in recent days — notably in the Pacific Northwest, where heavy snowfall and record low temperatures grounded planes last weekend.

 

The next few days may be just as frustrating. Storms in Southern California and the Northwest could combine to dump snow on airline hubs in Denver and Chicago, with severe thunderstorms threatening Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, too, according to Dan DePodwin, director of forecast operations at AccuWeather.

 

Alaska Airlines, whose main hub is Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, went so far as to suggest that people put off nonessential travel until the new year. The carrier was hit hard again Thursday, with 14 percent of its flights canceled, as Seattle got more snow.

 

As many as 10 million people may fly from Thursday through Monday, according to Transportation Security Administration estimates. For months, airlines have been preparing reserves of workers for the holiday crush. But those measures were inadequate in a fast-changing situation, and many passengers were frustrated.

 

“Even though it’s been two years with Covid, it does not seem like they have this figured out,” said Sabine Malloy, whose plan to rendezvous with her boyfriend in Alaska to see the northern lights was upended on Tuesday when both their flights on Delta Air Lines — hers from Southern California, his from Denver — were canceled. Delta told them that it could not rebook them for several days, she said, so they canceled their plans — after her boyfriend had driven seven hours from South Dakota for his flight.

 

Daily business updates  The latest coverage of business, markets and the economy, sent by email each weekday. Get it sent to your inbox.

Trying to change plans before departing was also daunting. A traveler trying to rebook a family trip on American Airlines encountered a recording saying to expect a four-hour wait for a callback from an agent.

 

Some say airlines shoulder some of the blame for the turmoil. The industry received $54 billion in federal aid to keep workers employed throughout the pandemic, assistance that came with a ban on layoffs. But carriers were able to thin their ranks by offering buyouts and early-retirement packages to thousands of workers.

 

Airlines started hiring again as the travel rebound took off this year, but most have yet to fully restore their work forces: The industry employed nearly 413,000 people in October, down almost 9 percent from the same month in 2019, according to federal data. Airlines have had trouble turning a profit as passenger volumes remain about 15 percent below prepandemic levels.

 

The industry looked to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in recent days for a partial solution to its staffing problems, lobbying for the 10-day isolation period recommended for those infected with the coronavirus to be reduced to five days. Some scientists, unaffiliated with airlines, made a similar suggestion to bolster strained work forces in other realms, like hospitals.

 

On Monday, the C.D.C. shifted its guidance to five days of isolation for people whose symptoms have ended or are abating, followed by five days wearing a mask. The agency said the change was motivated by findings that the coronavirus was mostly transmitted one to two days before symptoms appear and two to three days afterward.

 

On Tuesday, in a memo seen by The New York Times, JetBlue told employees that it would expect those “who have no symptoms, or whose symptoms are improving, to come back to work after five days.” Crew members may remain on leave if they provide a doctor’s note, but they won’t be paid as if they were working, according to Mr. Cucuzza of the Transport Workers Union.

 

Asked for comment, JetBlue said, “The health and safety of our crew members and customers remains our top priority as we work through this pandemic.”

 

Delta is providing five days’ sick leave for infected workers, with two additional paid sick days if they choose to be tested on Day 5 and the results are positive.

 

The shorter isolation time is fueling a debate in the industry. The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents nearly 50,000 flight attendants at 17 airlines, urged maintaining a 10-day isolation period in a letter to airlines on Tuesday.

 

“We believe this is the wrong move for aviation as it accepts that infectious people will be put back on the job or flying as passengers on our planes,” Sara Nelson, the union’s president, wrote. Several flight attendants interviewed expressed concerns that potentially contagious colleagues might return to work without being tested.

 

Airlines always prepare for turmoil, particularly around the holidays, when bad winter weather in one place can knock an entire system off balance. But the industry has been hit especially hard this year.

 

After two airlines, American and Southwest, canceled thousands of flights in October because of fierce weather and a brief shortage of air traffic controllers, they vowed to address the problems, offering bonuses to encourage employees to work throughout the holiday period, stepping up hiring and pruning flight plans. Both have avoided widespread cancellations this holiday season.

 

“We realized that we have got to make sure that we have staffing in place,” David Seymour, American’s chief operating officer, said in an interview. The airline recalled several thousand flight attendants from leave last month and this month and hired almost 600 more.

 

When chaos strikes, airlines engage in a complicated choreography to get out of it.

 

The main goal, airlines and aviation experts say, is to minimize the effect on passengers. But that’s easier said than done.

 

Alaska Airlines spent months laying plans for this holiday season, investing in staff and equipment to deal with the winter weather and lining up backup flight crews, according to Constance von Muehlen, its chief operating officer.

 

The airline managed staff calling in sick at high rates by offering extra pay for others to fill in, but sustained snowfall and record low temperatures in the Seattle area forced it to cancel nearly one-third of its flights on Sunday, about one-quarter on Monday and about one-fifth on Tuesday.

 

“Once you get your day off poorly, there’s nothing you can do to catch up,” Ms. von Muehlen said.

 

On Tuesday, the airline issued a stark announcement. Alaska would cut about 20 percent of flights out of Seattle in the coming days to allow extra time to de-ice planes. It also “strongly” urged customers to delay nonessential travel until after this weekend.

 

“Our values guided our decision,” she said. “We need to be as realistic as possible in what we will be able to operate and to let people know, as difficult as it is for us to do that.”

 

Getting flight crews in place can be especially tricky, with workers dispersed throughout the country and subject to various regulations. Flight attendants are generally required to have nine hours of rest between shifts, for example.

 

The Omicron variant has only confounded that already complicated process.

 

Capt. James Belton, a spokesman for the roughly 13,500 United Airlines pilots in the Air Line Pilots Association, confirmed that the variant is creating challenges.

 

“Our sick calls are above normal,” he said. Many pilots have helped fill gaps by picking up additional shifts, he said, but they are limited to flying 100 hours a month under federal law.

 

Operations on the ground are also being affected. The Federal Aviation Administration warned on Thursday that rising infections among employees, including air traffic control staff, might result in delays.

 

The Transportation Security Administration said that it was concerned about rising virus infections, too, but that it had adequate staffing. Average wait times in airport security lines were about five minutes in recent days, a spokesman said.

 

Getting through security, of course, is no guarantee that the rest of the trip will be smooth.

 

Elizabeth Barnhisel and her husband were heading off on a delayed honeymoon when a canceled connection forced an unexpected overnight layover on Tuesday at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Entering a baggage claim area, they found what looked like hundreds of bags lined up and crowds of miserable people — some crying, some napping, because they had been waiting so long for their bags.

 

Every few hours, someone would offer a different reason for the fiasco: frozen carousels, Omicron, weather. After about 10 hours, Ms. Barnhisel’s bag arrived from across the airport.

 

The couple eventually made it to their destination, Vancouver, but it was not the honeymoon experience Ms. Barnhisel had counted on. “We’re flabbergasted,” she said. “We definitely took a risk by taking this trip. But at the end of the day, we’ve got to get back to normal somehow.”

 

Lauren Hirsch contributed reporting.

 

Niraj Chokshi covers the business of transportation, with a focus on autonomous vehicles, airlines and logistics. @nirajc

 

Heather Murphy is a reporter on the Travel desk. She welcomes tips, questions and complaints about traveling during the pandemic. @heathertal

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Biden and Putin exchange warnings during phone call amid rising Ukraine tensions

 


Biden and Putin exchange warnings during phone call amid rising Ukraine tensions

 

Talks represent pair’s second conversation this month

Russia massing tens of thousands of troops near border

 

David Smith Washington bureau chief

@smithinamerica

Thu 30 Dec 2021 22.32 GMT

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/30/biden-putin-call-russia-us-ukraine-tensions

 

Joe Biden and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have exchanged warnings over the crisis in Ukraine during a 50-minute phone call that did little to lower the political temperature, according to their governments.

 

Russia has alarmed the US and its allies by massing tens of thousands of troops near its border with Ukraine over the past two months. This follows its seizure of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in 2014 and its backing of separatists in eastern Ukraine.

 

Thursday’s talks, requested by Putin, were the leaders’ second conversation this month but, the White House said, consisted of both men restating their positions – including Biden warning of severe consequences if Putin decides to invade.

 

“President Biden urged Russia to de-escalate tensions with Ukraine,” said Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, in a statement. “He made clear that the United States and its allies and partners will respond decisively if Russia further invades Ukraine.”

 

In a conference call with reporters, a senior administration official added that Biden had laid out “two paths”: one of diplomacy and deescalation, the other of deterrence “including serious costs and consequences” such as economic sanctions, strengthening Nato’s force posture and military assistance to Ukraine.

 

The Kremlin, meanwhile, insisted that Putin had used the call to issue a threat of his own, telling Biden that new sanctions could totally rupture ties between Russia and the US and represent a colossal mistake.

 

Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy adviser, was quoted by the Reuters news agency as saying: “Our president immediately responded that if the west decides in this or other circumstances to impose these unprecedented sanctions which have been mentioned then that could lead to a complete breakdown in ties between our countries and cause the most serious damage to relations between Russia and the west.”

 

Ushakov added: “Our president also mentioned that it would be a mistake that our descendants would see as a huge error.”

 

Biden, who is spending the week in his home state of Delaware, spoke to Putin from his home near Wilmington. The White House distributed a picture of the president speaking to the Russian leader from a desk lined with family photos.

 

The call came ahead of a US-Russia security meeting in Geneva on 9 and 10 January, followed by a Russia-Nato session on 12 January, and a broader conference including Moscow, Washington and other European countries on 13 January.

 

In the media conference call, a White House official described the conversation as “serious and substantive” but focused on setting the tone and tenor for the diplomatic engagements to come rather than breaking new ground.

 

The official also acknowledged that Putin offered little clarity as to whether he plans to invade or back down. “We’re not going to draw conclusions and there were certainly no declarations as to intentions from this conversation.

 

“But regardless, our focus is really on actions and on indicators, not on words at this point, so we’re going to continue to monitor very closely the movement and build-up of Russian forces on the Ukraine border and prepare ourselves for whatever decision ultimately is made by the Russian president.”

 

Putin, who held a video call with Biden on 7 December, has compared the current tensions to the cold-war era Cuban missile crisis in 1962. He denies planning to attack Ukraine and insists that Russia has the right to move its troops on its own soil.

 

Moscow has called for legally binding guarantees that Nato will not expand further eastwards and certain offensive weapons will not be deployed to Ukraine or other neighbouring countries. Washington regards some of the demands as non-starters.

 

Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, spoke on Wednesday with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy. State department spokesperson Ned Price said Blinken “reiterated the United States’ unwavering support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity in the face of Russia’s military buildup on Ukraine’s borders”.

Biden, Putin see hope for ‘meaningful progress’ after call focussed on Ukraine

quinta-feira, 30 de dezembro de 2021

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Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed and Fail, by Ray Dalio

 


Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed and Fail

 

Author(s):

Ray Dalio

Release Date:

November 30, 2021

        

Reviewed by:

Craig R. Roach

 

“Dalio’s philosophical foundation for choosing investments is a sprawling, holistic study of how the world has worked over hundreds of years of history.”

 

Ray Dalio is among the world’s most successful investors, and in his new book, Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order, he reveals how he and his colleagues at Bridgewater Associates choose investments for the future. His approach, however, is not what you would get from the standard-issue Wall Street stock picker. Dalio’s philosophical foundation for choosing investments is a sprawling, holistic study of how the world has worked over hundreds of years of history. What he found is that dominant countries—or what he calls “empires”— inevitably rise and fall over long segments of time. Nothing is forever, including, as Dalio documents, America’s position as the leading world power today.

 

The early part of the book is all about convincing the reader that these cycles happen, and that they make all the difference in which countries are rising and which are falling at any point in time. Dalio focuses on three major historical transitions: the rise of the Netherlands and its replacement by the United Kingdom; the replacement of the United Kingdom by the United States; and the pending (at least possible) replacement of the United States by China.

 

In his “Archetypical Big Cycle,” Dalio lists the forces that drive an empire’s rise: “a) relatively low levels of indebtedness; b) relatively small wealth, values, and political gaps between people; c) people working effectively together to produce prosperity; d) good education and infrastructure; e) strong and capable leadership; and f) a peaceful world order that is guided by one or more dominant world powers.”

 

He also succinctly states that three forces might drive the American empire’s decline. The first is a steadily increasing debt burden that financially weakens the empire. The second is a widening gap in household income and wealth that incites internal conflicts. The third is a rising external rival who is on course to topple the declining but-still-ruling empire.

 

Dalio fills many pages of his book with explanations and insights on the full impact of money and credit on the rise and fall of empires. He explains three monetary policies the US has used to boost the economy that have now become problematic. The first policy is for the Federal Reserve to lower short-term interest rates; the problem here is that short-term interest rates are already at zero. The second is to lower long-term interest rates by buying long-term bonds so the yield will fall; this “quantitative easing” is already substantially in place with the Federal Reserve buying billons of dollar of bonds each month.

 

The third policy is for the Federal Reserve essentially to print money and buy Treasury bills and bonds directly; this “debt monetization” has become the policy of choice in the US today. Monetization of debt has its risks in the context of the fall of empires. As noted, short-term interest rates are at zero, so investors are driven to purchase assets such as gold, property, and stocks, which drive up asset prices; this exacerbates the politically sensitive income and wealth gaps because only those who can afford the assets see an increase in wealth.

 

Moreover, the US dollar is the world’s primary reserve currency—the favorite currency for safely storing cash. If the US government drives the value of the dollar down by printing more dollars, there is the risk that the US could lose its role as the primary reserve currency and, thus, further undercut the ability of the US to borrow. Dalio argues that the US has too much debt and writes “what does that mean for the dollar (most importantly) and the other more minor reserve currencies? Will they decline and others replace them? Most probably they will decline analogously to past reserve currency declines: slowly for a long time and then very quickly.”

 

Dalio also highlights the essential link between monetized debt and productivity gains won through technological innovation. He argues that all this debt must be spent on investments that boost productivity: “an essential ingredient for success is that the debt and money that are created are used to produce productivity gains and favorable returns on investment, rather than just being given away.” If an empire fails to do that “the money will be devalued to the point that it won’t leave the government or anyone else with much buying power.”

 

Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order is not an easy read; it is a thicket of historical discussion permeated with graph-after-graph of evidence on each cycle. Despite this obstacle, Dalio’s balanced, often unique, and worrisome analysis of the possible outcome of the now intense rivalry between the US and China is timely. This rivalry resonates in the headlines every day, and Dalio writes that “emotions have been running so high between the US and China that many people have urged [Dalio] not to publish this chapter [on China].”

 

Dalio sees the two countries in a tie. He writes that “China is now roughly tied with the US in being the leading power in trade, economic output, and innovation and technology and it is a strong and quickly rising military and educational power. It is an emerging power in the financial sector but is lagging as a reserve currency and financial center.”

 

He is unique in his explanations of the differences in philosophy for the two countries; but those differences are not what you expect. For example, Dalio opines that “America is run from the bottom up (e.g., democracy) and optimized for the individual; China is run from the top down and optimized for the collective.” Dalio explains further that democracy has no roots in China, but capitalism (at least meritocracy) does.

 

Finally, Dalio argues that the United States and China are already engaged in “wars” on seven fronts. Dalio writes that history has “taught us that there are five major types of wars: 1) trade/economic wars, 2) technology wars, 3) geopolitical wars, 4) capital wars, and 5) military wars. To these [Dalio] would add 6) culture wars and 7) the wars with ourselves.” These war fronts, Dalio argues, should be “recognized as interrelated conflicts that are extensions of one bigger evolving conflict.”

 

Dalio wants to define these different forms of conflict so that the world can avoid escalation to a hot war. For example, with trade/economic wars, Dalio concludes that “we haven’t seen the US-China trade war taken very far.” However, he identifies high-risk actions when he writes that “the most dangerous part of the trade/economic war comes when countries cut others off from essential imports.” He writes that the US could cut off “China’s imports of oil, other needed commodities, technologies.” And for its part “China could escalate by cutting off companies like General Motors (which sells more cars in China than in the US) and Apple.”

 

In conclusion, Dalio identifies a positive force, new technology, that can offset the negative forces in all the wars. He writes that “humanity’s inventiveness will probably lead to great advances while the debt/economic cycle, the internal order cycle, the external order cycle, and worsening acts of nature will almost certainly pose problems. In other words, there will be a battle between humanity’s inventiveness and these other challenges.” The pandemic proves his point. Biotech saved our lives with vaccines. InfoTech saved our jobs with platforms that enabled e-commerce and remote work.

 

Craig R. Roach is an author of narrative nonfiction. His book Simply Electrifying: The Technology that Transformed the World, from Benjamin Franklin to Elon Musk (BenBella Books, 2017) won a 2018 Axiom Business Book Award Gold Medal.

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Amsterdam cancels anti-Covid rule demo, citing public order fears

 


Amsterdam cancels anti-Covid rule demo, citing public order fears

CoronaSociety December 30, 2021

An anti-coronavirus measure rally in Amsterdam earlier this year. Photo: DutchNews.nl

https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2021/12/amsterdam-cancels-anti-covid-rule-demo-citing-public-order-fears/

 

A demonstration against the coronavirus rules which had been scheduled to take place on January 2 has been banned because the organisers ‘refused’ to cooperate with plans to ensure it could take place safely. The decision to ban the protest was taken by the city’s mayor Femke Halsema, together with the police and public prosecution department. The city said in a press release that the organisers of the demonstration, who had claimed 25,000 people would attend, had indicated they were ‘out for confrontation’. ‘The police also have strong indications that people and groups who were out for trouble and prepared to use violence were planning to mix in with the demonstrators,’ the statement said. The demonstration could have gone ahead if the organisers agreed to limit numbers to 3,500 and not to march through the city. Given they were unwilling to do this, there was ‘no choice other than to ban the demonstration in the interests of public health and to prevent disorder.’ The Omicron variant of coronavirus is spreading rapidly in the Dutch capital and now accounts for 80% of cases. Freedom ‘Amsterdammers are staying home as much as possible, companies have been forced to close their doors, theatres and cinemas are shut,’ Halsema is quoted as saying by the Parool. While the freedom to demonstrate is an important right, she and the police had ‘no confidence that the organisers would ensure the demonstration was properly organised.’ The Parool said that a spokesman for the mayor said the decision was unconnected to the planned strike by riot police which was set to coincide with the demonstration. Organiser Michel Reijinga told the paper the decision was scandalous and that he had offered his full cooperation. Several hundred people were arrested in riots across the Netherlands last January after the curfew was introduced. There was more trouble, sparked by organised troublemakers in Rotterdam, in November.

 

Read more at DutchNews.nl:

 

Amsterdam verbiedt demonstratie ‘Samen voor NL’ op 2 januari

https://www.amsterdam.nl/nieuws/nieuwsoverzicht/verbod-demonstratie/

 

30 december 2021

De Amsterdamse driehoek (gemeente, politie en OM) verbiedt de aangekondigde demonstratie Samen voor NL van zondag 2 januari 2022 op het Museumplein.

 

De driehoek was ondanks de lockdown bereid de demonstratie te faciliteren onder de voorwaarde dat er een maximaal aantal demonstranten zou zijn en dat de duur en de vorm beperkt zouden blijven. Met een maximaal aantal van 3.500 mensen zou er veilig op 1,5 meter afstand op het Museumplein kunnen worden gedemonstreerd.

 

Organisatie weigert medewerking

De organisatie van deze demonstratie heeft aangegeven 25.000 demonstranten te verwachten en door de stad te willen trekken. De organisatie is niet bereid mee te werken aan een veilig en ordelijk verloop en heeft aangekondigd de confrontatie op te willen zoeken en de regels te gaan overtreden. Ook heeft de politie sterke aanwijzingen dat er personen en groepen aanwezig zullen zijn die uit zijn op ongeregeldheden en bereid zijn om geweld te gebruiken. In het belang van de volksgezondheid en om wanordelijkheden te voorkomen, ziet de driehoek zich daarom genoodzaakt de demonstratie te verbieden.

Abriu portas da Europa a imigrantes ilegais. Tribunal diz-se impotente para punir advogada como merecia

 


JUSTIÇA

Abriu portas da Europa a imigrantes ilegais. Tribunal diz-se impotente para punir advogada como merecia

 

Sentença acusa arguida de ser indiferente à crise humanitária que continua a matar milhares de refugiados que tentam chegar à Europa.

 

Ana Henriques

29 de Dezembro de 2021, 23:26

https://www.publico.pt/2021/12/29/sociedade/noticia/abriu-portas-europa-imigrantes-ilegais-tribunal-dizse-impotente-punir-advogada-merecia-1990281

 

Questões formais impediram uma juíza de punir de forma mais severa uma advogada que se dedicou durante dois anos a abrir as portas da Europa a dezenas de imigrantes ilegais, a maior parte dos quais continuam neste momento em paradeiro incerto. Proferida este mês, a sentença que a condenou a cinco anos de prisão efectiva sublinha que lidava na maior parte das vezes com adolescentes menores e que demonstrou “total indiferença” pela crise humanitária que continua a matar milhares de migrantes e refugiados que tentam chegar à Europa.

 

Desde que ingressou na advocacia, em 2015 que Marisa Monteiro, hoje com 42 anos, era frequentadora assídua do aeroporto de Lisboa, mais propriamente do Centro de Instalação Temporária, local onde ficam detidos os passageiros sem condições para entrar em território nacional. Até 2018, altura em que o Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras (SEF) a confrontou com as suas suspeitas, entregou mais de cem pedidos de asilo pelos quais cobrou aos requerentes entre mil e 1700 euros cada um. O estratagema a que recorreu, segundo ficou provado em tribunal, baseava-se acima de tudo na lentidão da justiça portuguesa.

 

Depois de alegar perante o SEF que os seus clientes, na sua maioria adolescentes menores, eram pessoas que viajavam para Portugal fugidas de perseguições políticas, sexuais e religiosas nos seus países de origem, ficava à espera da recusa do visto de permanência em território nacional, uma vez que nenhum deles conseguia provar essa condição. Na realidade, estes jovens oriundos sobretudo do Senegal e países vizinhos queriam juntar-se a familiares seus residentes em França e noutros países europeus por questões económicas. Quando chegava a recusa de permanência em território nacional Marisa Monteiro recorria sistematicamente da decisão para os tribunais administrativos, ciente de que o recurso não seria decidido no prazo máximo de 60 dias que a lei prevê que os candidatos a asilo possam estar detidos. Quando finalmente os tribunais administrativos se pronunciavam já os imigrantes tinham sido libertados e rumado além-fronteiras.

 

Segundo a sentença, a arguida terá lucrado com esta actividade cerca de 130 mil euros, uma vez que tinha de repartir os lucros com cúmplices que tinha nos países de origem, e que lhe indicavam em que voos seguiam os candidatos a asilo e a que horas chegavam ao aeroporto de Lisboa. A sua actuação tornou-se notada quer pela quantidade de casos que conseguia angariar quer por apresentar requerimentos em nome dos imigrantes antes mesmo de ter falado com eles no Centro de Instalação Temporária. Muitos deles tinham embarcado com documentos de identificação falsos ou roubados a compatriotas seus.

 

A decisão judicial dá conta, entre outros casos, da situação de uma menor chamada Marceline que chegou a Lisboa a 1 de Janeiro de 2017, nascida no Congo. Contou às autoridades que tinha 15 anos e vinha do Senegal, onde se prostituía às ordens de uma senhora que lhe dava abrigo e comida. Foi essa mulher, garantiu, que a convenceu a viajar para a Europa, pagando-lhe a viagem e tratando-lhe da documentação. Que não se preocupasse, porque teria alguém do sexo feminino à sua espera na capital portuguesa. E assim era.

 

Por ser menor não ficou no aeroporto: foi encaminhada para instalações do Centro Português de Refugiados, donde saiu para voltar à prostituição. Viria a ser interceptada pelas autoridades em Espanha num autocarro onde viajava acompanhada de um homem, com destino a França. A advogada aconselhava sempre os imigrantes a abandonarem Portugal pela via terrestre, por os controlos policiais serem menos eficazes do que se viajassem por via aérea.

 

Para esconder das autoridades o que ganhava com esta actividade, os pagamentos eram feitos ao marido e a vários outros familiares através de agências de transferência de dinheiro. Ao tribunal, justificou esta forma de trabalhar alegando que as duas gravidezes que teve em pouco tempo, aliadas ao enorme volume de serviço, fez com que tivesse tido de recorrer à sua ajuda. Nem esta nem outras explicações que deu durante o julgamento convenceram a juíza, que acabou por a condenar por 50 crimes de auxílio à imigração ilegal.

 

A arguida terá lucrado com esta actividade cerca de 130 mil euros, uma vez que tinha de repartir os lucros com cúmplices que tinha nos países de origem

 

Sucede que o Ministério Público teve, durante a fase de inquérito do processo, expectativas de punição mais baixas. Como considerou que todos estes casos correspondiam à prática de um único crime – na forma continuada – remeteu o caso para um tipo de tribunal, o chamado local criminal, que por lei só pode aplicar penas de prisão até ao máximo de cinco anos. A juíza ainda tentou resolver o problema, mas acabou por se conformar. Deixou, porém, escrito na sentença que a advogada merecia ser condenada a sete anos e meio de cadeia, mas que estava impedida de tomar semelhante decisão.

 

“A culpa da arguida é elevadíssima, porquanto actuou durante um longo período de tempo e em elevadíssimo número de vítimas”, observou. “Numa época de verdadeira crise humanitária no que respeita a cidadãos estrangeiros que pretendem entrar no continente europeu, muitos deles vítimas de pessoas como a arguida, a quem pagam para arriscarem a vida no transporte, realizado por vezes em botes que, naufragando, conduzem à morte, demonstrou, com a sua conduta, uma total indiferença pela sorte destas pessoas, que podiam até ser vítimas de redes de prostituição”.

 

O PÚBLICO tentou, sem sucesso, falar com Marisa Monteiro.