Tuesday, August 9, 2022
OPINION: PAUL KRUGMAN - Did Democrats Just Save Civilization?
They really did it. The Inflation Reduction Act, which is mainly a climate change bill with a side helping of health reform, passed the Senate on Sunday; by all accounts, it will easily pass the House, so it’s about to become law.
This is a very big deal. The act isn’t, by itself, enough to avert climate disaster. But it is a huge step in the right direction and sets the stage for more action in the years ahead. It will catalyze progress in green technology; its economic benefits will make passing additional legislation easier; it gives the United States the credibility it needs to lead a global effort to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
There are, of course, cynics eager to denigrate the achievement. Some on the left rushed to dismiss the bill as a giveaway to the fossil fuel industry posing as environmental action. More important, Republicans — who unanimously opposed the legislation — are shouting the usual things they shout: Big spending! Inflation!
But actual experts on energy and the environment are giddy over what has been accomplished, and serious economists aren’t worried about the effect on inflation.Start with the environmental side. Many people I talk to assume that President Biden’s environmental agenda, as contained in his original Build Back Better proposal, must have been greatly watered down in the legislation we actually got. After all, didn’t Democrats have to make big concessions to win over Senator Joe Manchin? Aren’t there important giveaways to fossil fuel interests, like aid for a controversial natural gas pipeline?However, energy analysts believe that any adverse climate effect from these concessions will be swamped by the gains from tax credits for clean energy. The REPEAT Project, compiled by Princeton’s ZERO Lab, has produced a side-by-side comparison of emissions cuts under the Inflation Reduction Act and the earlier House version of Build Back Better. By 2035 the I.R.A., they estimate, will have delivered more than 90 percent of the emissions reductions that B.B.B. would have achieved. After all that legislative drama, Biden’s climate policy has emerged essentially intact.
How was this possible? Right at the beginning, the Biden administration decided that its climate policy would be all carrots, no sticks — that it would provide incentives to do the right thing, not penalties for doing the wrong thing. This strategy, it was hoped, would prove politically feasible in a way that, say, a carbon tax wouldn’t. And this hope has been vindicated.
Furthermore, it’s a strategy that seems likely to pay political dividends in the future. One new study, by E. Mark Curtis and Ioana Marinescu, finds that “the growth of renewable energy leads to the creation of relatively high paying jobs, which are more often than not located in areas that stand to lose from a decline in fossil fuel extraction jobs.”
So what did the Biden administration lose? Unfortunately, much of the social spending B.B.B. originally included — child tax credits, universal pre-K and more — was cut. That’s tragic, although enhanced health insurance subsidies — which have helped bring America’s uninsured rate to a record low — have been extended. But Democrats delivered on their climate promises, more or less in full.
What about the critique from the right? Aside from the pathetic attempt to portray the I.R.A. as a big tax hike on the middle class, Republicans like Mitt Romney are trying to lump this legislation in with last year’s American Rescue Plan, which they claim caused inflation to spike.
Never mind whether this claim is true. The key thing is to do the math. The Inflation Reduction Act calls for spending less than $500 billion over a decade, compared with the American Rescue Plan’s $1.9 trillion in a single year — and will actually reduce the deficit. That’s why independent analysts find that it will have little effect on inflation.
But if the spending isn’t very large, how can it have such a big impact? The answer is that right now we’re sitting on a sort of cusp. Renewable energy technology has made revolutionary progress, and renewables are already cheaper in many areas than fossil fuels. A moderate push from public policy is all that it will take to transition to a much greener economy. And the Inflation Reduction Act will provide that push.
Given all this, however, why did every single Republican senator vote against the I.R.A.? They aren’t all ignorant and innumerate; I’m pretty sure that Romney, for example, knows that he’s talking nonsense.
Nor can we easily invoke differences in ideology. The I.R.A.’s climate push mostly relies on tax credits — and Republicans have themselves used tax credits to achieve social goals, like the (much abused) Opportunity Zone credits in Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cut.
Almost surely, what we’re really looking at is the politics of spite. Every Republican in the Senate was willing to kill our best chance at avoiding climate disaster, simply to deny the Biden administration a win.
The good news is that the legislation passed in spite of their spite. And the world is a more hopeful place than it was just a few weeks ago.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/08/opinion/climate-inflation-bill.html
US government watchdog warns of 'systematic' threats to religious freedom in Pakistan
By Ian M. Giatti
A United States government watchdog is recommending that the State Department once again designate Pakistan as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for what it calls ”systematic, ongoing, and egregious” violations of religious freedom and a "growing intolerance for religious diversity."
According to a new report from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a recent spate of attacks targeting religious minorities in the Muslim-majority country underscores a “growing intolerance for religious diversity fueled by extremism and existing problematic Pakistani legislation.”
"USCIRF has continued to recommend Pakistan be designated as a CPC since 2003 and the State Department has done so since 2018," USCIRF Commissioner Sharon Kleinbaum told The Christian Post. "The State Department re-issues these designations each year.” Christians, along with members of the Shi’a Muslim, Ahmadiyya Muslim, Hindu and Sikh communities, face what USCIRF describes as “aggressive societal discrimination often propagated by extremist rhetoric,” often due to the Pakistani government’s failure to protect these minority groups.
Such discrimination and persecution include accusations of blasphemy, targeted killings, lynchings, mob violence, forced conversions, and the desecration of their houses of worship and cemeteries against religious minorities or “anyone who interprets or practices their faith differently from the majority.”
"As a country created for a group seeking religious equality and representation, Pakistan has a strong obligation to protect the rights of religious minorities and those of differing faiths or none at all," Kleinbaum said.
USCIRF’s Freedom of Religion or Belief Victims List highlights 55 individuals who were detained or imprisoned on blasphemy charges in Pakistan.Under Pakistani law, those accused of blasphemy face violence, imprisonment with limited opportunity for bail, and even death, according to USCIRF.One such case involved Tabitha Gill, a Christian nurse who was accused of blasphemy by her colleagues and was beaten and tortured by hospital staff in Karachi in January 2021.
“Though the government has publicly condemned mob violence, it has done little to protect religious minorities or provide justice,” the report said.
The report also highlighted the threat of abduction, forced conversion to Islam, rape and forced marriages of religious minority women and children, particularly from the Christian, Hindu and Sikh faiths.According to USCIRF, last December, the Sindh High Court returned custody of a 14-year-old Christian girl who was abducted, forcefully married and converted to Islam, back to her parents under the condition that she remain Muslim.
Arzoo Raja’s 44-year-old abductor and the cleric who conducted the marriage and conversion certification both maintain their innocence, stating that Raja had reached puberty, which is the age of consent according to Sharia law, the report added.
A bill aimed at protecting religious minorities against forced conversion was opposed by Pakistan’s Ministry of Religious Affairs last October and rejected by a parliamentary committee, which argued that any age limit for conversions of non-Muslims “goes against Islam and the Constitution of Pakistan.”In addition to re-designating Pakistan as a CPC, the report also recommended striking a binding deal with the Pakistani government to address religious freedom violations with various benchmarks, including the release of prisoners accused of blasphemy and the repeal of blasphemy and anti-Ahmadiyya laws.
The blasphemy laws embedded in Sections 295 and 298 of the Pakistan Penal Code are frequently misused for personal revenge. It carries no provision to punish a false accuser or a false witness. Dozens of individuals are imprisoned on blasphemy charges in Pakistan.
USCIRF also called on U.S. lawmakers to advocate for the release of religious prisoners of conscience in Pakistan, including Junaid Hafeez, Asif Pervaiz, Stephen Masih, Notan Lal and Aneeqa Atee.
The report also urged Congress to incorporate religious freedom concerns into its larger oversight of the U.S.-Pakistan bilateral relationship through Congressional hearings, letters and delegations.
The world’s attention was drawn to Pakistan’s blasphemy laws after Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five, was sentenced to death and served over 10 years in prison before Pakistan’s Supreme Court acquitted her in 2018. Her acquittal drew the ire of radical extremist groups as many protested in the streets and threatened to kill the Supreme Court justices responsible for setting her free.
In 2014, Christian couple Shehzad and Shamah Masih were burned to death in a brick kiln over false accusations that they had ripped pages out of the Quran.
Open Doors USA ranks Pakistan as the eighth-worst country in the world when it comes to Christian persecution.
https://www.christianpost.com/news/us-watchdog-warns-threats-religious-freedom-pakistan.html
Yousuf Raza Gilani questions PTI participation in by-poll
https://www.dawn.com/news/1704016/yousuf-raza-gilani-questions-pti-participation-in-by-poll
Probe against Pakistani charities launched in UK in case related to funds misuse - PTI’s prohibited funding case
Amid an ongoing probe into Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s prohibited funding case agencies in the United Kingdom have started investigations into misuse of funds by Pakistan charity organizations into misuse of funds.
Sources privy to the matter said that the British agencies have started the investigation against Pakistani charities after UK’s Charity Commission and the National Crime Agency received complaints, according to local media reported. Both institutions are investigating the case.
According to local media, it has been alleged that funds collected in the name of charitable organizations have been sent to Pakistan but were used for political purposes.
Sources, cited in the media, further said that funds were collected in Britain in the name of a hospital and university established in Pakistan, which was later used for political purposes. British investigative agencies have been given the complaints with the evidence.Along with the application, the detailed decision of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) against PTI in the foreign funding case, a report published in the Financial Times, and details of accounts of the political parties have also been provided to the investigating agencies, the sources said.Pakistan’s FIA has summoned 10 leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf including former National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, former Sindh governor Imran Ismail, Mian Mahmood-ur-Rashid, former MPA Seema Zia and others to address questions during the probe.The probe agency has also identified four employees of the PTI secretariat, whose personal and salary accounts were used for receiving foreign funding. The agency said funds were received in the bank accounts of Muhammad Arshad, Tahir Iqbal, Muhammad Rafique, and Nauman Afzal. In the statements, the PTI employees said that they used to give the money received in their accounts to PTI’s finance manager, according to a report in local Pakistan newspaper.
They said they would give signed blank cheques to the finance manager. According to the publication, the FIA came to know during the investigation that besides other accounts, foreign funding was also received in employees’ salary accounts.
FIA earlier constituted a six-member team to probe the case.
This investigation came a few days after the three-member Election Commission of Pakistan bench in a unanimous verdict ruled that the PTI received prohibited funding in the case pending since 2014, Geo News reported.
Akbar S Babar, the man who blew the lid off the scam involving the inflow of dubious foreign funds into Imran Khan’s political outfit Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) formally approached the FIA to initiate a probe against the PTI on Wednesday.
Babar told the FIA that the PTI’s financial board in 2011 illegally authorised four employees of the party’s central secretariat to collect donations in their personal accounts from within Pakistan and abroad.In its verdict, the ECP observed the ‘unknown accounts’ and said that hiding accounts are a “violation of the Constitution”.Moreover, it found that PTI Chairman and former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan submitted a false Nomination Form I.
The ECP decided to issue a show-cause notice to the PTI to explain why the commission should not seize the funds it received.
https://theprint.in/world/probe-against-pakistani-charities-launched-in-uk-in-case-related-to-funds-misuse/1075591/
Colombo allows Pakistani frigate Taimur to dock, Dhaka says no
While Chinese built PNS Taimur is on its way to Karachi from Shanghai, the warship has conducted exercises with Cambodian and Malaysian Navies and will expand is diplomatic engagement with Sri Lanka.Sri Lanka has allowed permission to the Chinese built-Pakistani guided missile frigate PNS Taimur to make a port call at Colombo while on its way to join the Pakistan Navy in Karachi. Build by Hudong-Zhonghua shipyard in Shanghai, the warship is on its maiden voyage to Pakistan while exercising en-route with Cambodian and Malaysian navies. The ship is expected to be at Colombo port from August 12-15, 2022.
While Sri Lanka gave permission to the Pakistani guided missile frigate to make a port call at Colombo, it is understood that the ship was denied a permission to make a port call at Chattogram port by the Sheikh Hasina government from August 7-10 after making a port call at Lumut port in Malaysia.According to diplomatic sources, India’s close ally Bangladesh denied permission to PNS Taimur as August is a month of mourning for Sheikh Hasina as her father, Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rehman also fondly called Bangabandhu, was assassinated by Pak instigated and Jamait-e-Islami inspired radical Islamist forces on August 15, 1975.The Sheikh Hasina government is close to Narendra Modi government with the Bangladesh Prime Minister clear that her father and family was done to death at the behest of Pakistan. The radical Islamist forces also made an assassination attempt on Sheikh Hasina in 2000 as Prime Minister and in 2004 as the Awami League President.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to make a trip to India in the first week of September and along with PM Modi will launch the jointly developed 1320 Mega Watt Maitree Super Thermal Power Project at Rampal in Khulna sub-division. PNS Taimur, the second of the four Type 054 A/P frigates build in China, was commissioned on June 23, 2022. The lead ship of this class is PMNS Tughril and was commissioned on January 24, 2022. China is also building eight Yuan class -041 diesel attack submarines for Pakistan by 2028 with the objective to militarily flank India on high seas.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/colombo-allows-pakistani-frigate-taimur-to-dock-dhaka-says-no-101659952772019.html
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