Good morning, Its World Press Freedom Day.
But let’s face it, the press is in a crisis like no other from disinformation to biased right wing cable TV, to debates over bans of political leaders on major media platforms, to the bans of media platforms themselves by authoritarian Governments. In my 4 decades of being a journalist I have never seen such dark times in journalism, so celebrate main stream free media because it’s under siege.
Israel
The disaster Thursday night on Mount Meron has made headlines around the world as thousands of Ultra Orthodox religious jews known as heredim attended an event that ended with panic and a crush of people which took the lives of 45 people. Tragic and now an event we hear shouldn’t have taken a place at all.
The Government of Prime Minister Netanyhu was warned in the pandemic not to allow this religious gathering to take place because of Covid risks, but because he is trying to form a post election coalition, and needs the minority religious parties to sign on, so he wouldn’t say no.
What you may not know is this is an ongoing problem for decades in Israeli’s wobbly coalition Government’s where religious parties hold too much sway which many Israeli’s resent. They resent the heredim for refusing to serve in the military, as all Israel’s must do, and they resent their huge grants from government and extortion of tax dollars for their special needs while often flouting main stream Government rules on everything from treatment of women, to public gatherings.
Netanyahu is being blamed by many in Israel for the deaths at Mount Meron, where 100 thousand religious attended. And he is being blamed earlier in the pandemic for caving into heredim demands for a pilgrimage in September to go to Ukraine. Some 30,000 pilgrims traveled to Ukraine, bringing plane loads of sick people back to Israel – most of whom then defied mandatory quarantine requirements, spreading the disease in their own communities and then to the rest of the country.
Russia Covid
Why is President Putin instigating some of toughest repressions of his 21 year rule in Russia? In past days he has closed down the regional offices of jailed opposition leader Navalny and arrested journalists and Navalny supporters.
It is simply because his popularity in the pandemic has been plunging and there is a dangerous desperation in the Kremlin we have not seen before. Putin’s one guarantee has been aging Russians who supported his lack of democracy and ignored his theft of billions of dollars, as long as he maintained a social contract with them. That meant keep the pensions afloat and provide their health care as in Soviet times.
But the pandemic has laid bare much, and it’s getting worse. In fact Russia’s largely hidden death toll from Covid is among the worst in the world. Latest stats show Russia recorded 460,000 excess deaths in the first 12 months of the pandemic. And in March of 2021 38,000 more deaths than in March 2020. That’s a 25% increase in March, and a 20% increase in February.
If Russia was transparent it would be announcing they are in the midst of a new wave of Covid, and the Putin regime had abandoned almost all social distancing measures, while only 1 in 10 Russians have taken the Sputnik vaccine. And of course Parliamentary elections are approaching, and like I said before, President Putin’s repressions reflect that dangerous desperation we simply have not seen before.
India Covid
Some supplies of oxygen from the U.S. and U.K. and other countries have helped a struggling India, but the latest wave of covid is said to be so grim, people who fought to get their relatives into hospitals, are often also pulling them out because of a lack of care and uncontrolled virus spreads in ICU’s.
The political blowback to the Government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has just begun. This weekend he lost a key election race in West Bengal as anger simmers over his leadership in the pandemic which includes relaxation of social gatherings to allow political rallies, and censorship of critical news coverage including the devastating oxygen shortages.
Daily deaths in India hit a record 3,689 on Sunday, while the number of cases slowed slightly after the country became the first to cross the mark of 400,000 cases in a day.
Canada’s Pipelines
A showdown between the U.S. and Canada is looming over aging pipelines ordered to close by May 12. The Pipelines belong to Calgary-based Enbridge’s Line 5, which carries up to 540,000 barrels of crude oil and natural gas liquids across Michigan and under the Great Lakes each day, and are nearly 70 years old.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmore has ordered the shutdown saying the pipelines threaten the health of the Great Lakes. Joe Comartin, Canada’s consul general in Detroit, said a shutdown would have “significant” impacts on both sides of the border including months-long propane shortages to higher costs for consumers to fuels being carried by rail, truck or boat – methods that he said are less emissions-friendly and more dangerous than a pipeline.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/netanyahu-is-responsible-for-the-45-meron-deaths-here-is-why-analysis-667008
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/05/01/russias-pandemic-excess-death-toll-passes-460k-a73804
https://en.unesco.org/commemorations/worldpressfreedomday
https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/looming-showdown-as-michigan-governor-orders-line-5-pipeline-to-ontario-shut-down
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/india-covid-cases-slow-thai-death-toll-at-record-virus-update/ar-BB1ggq2Z?ocid=uxbndlbing