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Jamaica condemns Frank Hester’s Diane Abbott comments amid concern over contract

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Jamaica condemns Frank Hester’s Diane Abbott comments amid concern over contract

Olivia Grange, Jamaica’s culture minister, said: ‘That the woman of whom he spoke has Jamaican roots, made his statement a personal offence to me and all Black Jamaican women.’ Photograph: Guardian

Olivia Grange, Jamaica’s culture minister, said: ‘That the woman of whom he spoke has Jamaican roots, made his statement a personal offence to me and all Black Jamaican women.’ Photograph: Guardian© Photograph: Guardian

The Jamaican government has joined widespread condemnation of comments by the Conservative’s party’s biggest donor, Frank Hester, amid concerns about a contract it signed with his digital health company.

Earlier in March the Guardian revealed that during a meeting in 2019 Hester had said Diane Abbott, Britain’s first black female MP, made you “want to hate all black women” and that she “should be shot”, remarks that are now subject of investigation by West Yorkshire police.

After the publication of the remarks, Jamaica’s health ministry has faced calls to cancel a deal, worth a reported $5m (£4m), for Hester’s healthcare technology company, TPP, to manage the country’s digital medical records.

In its first comments on the issue, Jamaica’s ministry of health and wellness (MOHW) said in a statement that it “condemns any form of discriminatory behaviour, including racism and sexism”, the Jamaica Gleaner reported.

It pointed out the contract was signed with TPP before the ministry was aware of Hester’s remarks.

The ministry called on TPP to hold Hester to account for the remarks. It said: “The MOHW takes this matter very seriously and calls for appropriate action to be taken within the firm to hold Mr Hester accountable based on the findings from the investigations.”

Jamaica’s culture minister, Olivia Grange, also condemned the remarks. In a statement seen by the Guardian, she said: “As a Jamaican woman, I was shocked to read that a prominent Englishman had made such a horrible statement that seeing Diane Abbott on TV made him ‘want to hate all Black women’.”

She added: “That the woman of whom he spoke has Jamaican roots, made his statement a personal offence to me and all Black Jamaican women. On behalf of all Jamaicans, I offer Diane full support in this difficult situation.”

“I hope there is some way to reconcile this matter in a way that brings peace.”

Hester has apologised for the remarks as being “rude” but insisted they were not motivated by race or gender.

Lord Marland, a businessman and Tory donor who says he knows Hester, has previously cited TPP’s work in Jamaica to support his claim that Hester is not racist. Speaking on LBC, Marland said: “He travels widely overseas – he does a lot of a business in Jamaica, he does business in Malaysia, in Bangladesh, in places like that – so he’s not a racist.”

Earlier on Monday, Jamaica’s opposition health spokesperson, Dr Alfred Dawes, said this defence added “insult to injury”. He was reported as saying: “That the government of Jamaica is allowing its dealings with Mr Hester to be used as a rebuttal to the activism of black Britons, the diaspora and their supporters, is an egregious offence against our proud history of the struggle against oppression.”

Last week, a former Jamiacan opposition MP Ronald Thwaites urged the government to tear up its contract with TPP. He wrote: “Diane’s Jamaican sisters and brothers are now paying big money tomplement the National Medical Records System. The Ministry of Health must cancel that contract now.” 

Reference: Story by Matthew Weaver 

The latest on the Baltimore Key Bridge collapse

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The latest on the Baltimore Key Bridge collapse

State of Emergency remains in place for Baltimore, mayor says

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said the city remains in a state of emergency as recovery efforts continue for the six presumed dead a day after the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed.

“There's still a state of emergency. We will have that for the foreseeable future," Scott told CNN’s John Berman Wednesday. "This is an unthinkable tragedy that impacts our city and our community and our state in so many different and ways," he said.

The mayor declared a state of emergency in the city Tuesday after a 984-foot cargo ship hit a pillar of the Key Bridge, causing it to collapse.

 

Authorities announced Tuesday afternoon that efforts had shifted from a search and rescue operation to a recovery operation. The mayor also acknowledged the work ahead to reopen the Port of Baltimore, a major hub for vehicles, containers and commodities which has suspended vessel traffic was suspended until further notice following the bridge collapse. 

But, he said, his concentration remains on the recovery efforts. “We're all, right now, still focused on recovery. That's what we're talking about today — recovering those who we lost,” he said. 

Emergency vehicles are parked near the scene of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore, Maryland, on March 27.

 Emergency vehicles are parked near the scene of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore, Maryland, on March 27. Mike Segar/Reuters  

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore says divers are dealing with a “treacherous situation” as they continue search and recovery efforts for six unaccounted people in the Francis Key Scott Bridge collapse, he told CBS News Wednesday morning.

We’re talking about frigid temperatures, we’re talking about a moving tide, we’re talking about darkness and mangled metal, that’s still very much in the middle of this water,” Moore said describing the conditions divers are up against.“
“The heroism of our first responders was just outstanding,” Moore said on CBS.

Moore spoke to families of missing construction workers saying “these were fathers, and these were sons, and these were husbands, and these were people who their families relied on and so we let them know the state would be there for them,” he told CBS.

The governor pledged his commitment to the families in search and recovery efforts, saying he's confident officials are only looking for six unaccounted for individuals.

Moore stressed the economic impact the collapse will have, saying the port indirectly employs over 100,000 people and imports 51 million tons of foreign cargo, more cars, trucks, agricultural equipment than any other port in this country, he said.Maryland governor says there's no timeline for when channel will reopen as he stresses economic impact of port

Maryland governor says there's no timeline for when channel will reopen as he stresses economic impact of port Maryland Governor Wes Moore, center, addresses a press conference at the scene of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore, Maryland, on March 26.

Maryland Governor Wes Moore, center, addresses a press conference at the scene of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore, Maryland, on March 26. Shawn Thew/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore told CNN on Wednesday that there currently is no specific timeline for when ships may be able to move in and out of the channel into the Port of Baltimore after the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, but that it is a priority.

The bridge collapse is currently blocking a key channel into the busy port and impacting thousands of workers. Moore said that approximately 15,000 workers are directly impacted and about 140,000 workers are indirectly impacted.

The Port of Baltimore has such a significant economic impact not just on on my s"tate, not just on the state of Maryland, but we're talking about 51 million tons of foreign cargo. That's the largest, we're the largest port in the country for foreign cargo," Moore said.

Moore also noted that Baltimore is a top 10 port overall for the country. He said there are people who will be impacted all over the country as the port remains closed, from the farmer a Kentucky to an auto dealer in Michigan.

Pressed again on when ships will be able to move in and out of the port, Moore responded, "We're prioritizing and focusing on how we (are) coordinating efforts. I mean, it's the reason that, that I've been on the ground marshaling the resources and marshaling and the efforts and and why we're going to stay here, to be able to make sure that we can get this thing open and get things going again." 

By Kathleen Magramo, Antoinette Radford and Alisha Ebrahimji, CNN/From CNN’s Chris Boyette

A, B and C Influences: The Fourth way -P.D.Ouspensky.

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A, B and C Influences: The Fourth way - P.D.Ouspensky.

Q. Have all races of men the same possibility of development?

A. That is an interesting question. I asked this question myself when I first came to this work and I was told that it had been discussed in very important schools at a very important period, and that after making all possible experiments in this connection they came to the conclusion that between the white, yellow, black, brown and red races. At the present time, the white and yellow races have predominance, whereas in the past it was probably one of the others. For instance, the sphinx reminds one of a negro, not a European.

Q. In connection with what you said about good and evil, could a follower of this system take part in war?

A. It is his business. There are no external prohibitions or conditions.

Q. But could he reconcile the two?

A. Again it is his business. This particular system leaves man very free he wants to create consciousness and will. Neither consciousness nor will can be created by following certain external restrictions. One must be free. You must understand that external things matter least of all. It is the internal things that are important, internal war.


Q. There are many things that seem to me evil which I am capable of committing.

A. You cannot take yourself because you could only take examples of evil which you have committed already. So it is better to take the idea in general. Find all possible examples-I do not mean accidents or mistakes, because many crimes are accidential-but take all that we call definite intentional evil, and you will see that it does not need consciousness; one mechanical action, and everything goes on.

Q. It creates the illusion of choice.

A. That is the greatest illusion-the illusion of 'doing'and the illusion of choice. These these belong to a higher level. Beginning at No. 4 one already begins to have, but men 1, 2 and 3 have very little choice.

Q. Wouldn't you say that the study of black magic was conscious evil?

A.Do you know anybody who studied it, with the exception of people who read books with terrifying pictures and deceive themselves?

Q.If you deliberately set to work to deceive another person is not that deliberate evil?

A. Most probably you could not help yourself; there was such a pressure of circumstances or something, that you could not do otherwise.These are all difficult problems and they take a long time to get used to, because we are accustomed to think in the wrong way. For instance, when we look at historical events , we take as conscious just those things that cannot be conscious and the things that may be conscious we take as mechanical, as a kind of process.


Now if we return to this idea that only a very few can develop and find hidden possibilities in themselves, the question naturally arises. What determines the difference? Why do some people have a chance and some people have no chance/ It is quite true that some people have no chance from the very beginning. They are born in such circumstances that they can learn nothing, or they are themselves defective in some way; so we exclude defective people becaus e there is nothing to be said about them.

We are interested in people who are normal in circumstances, and they themselves must be normal , with ordinary possiblities of learning, understanding and so on. Now, out of these people only a very few will be capable of making even the first step in the way of development. how and why it is so?

All people in the ordinary conditions of life live under two kinds of influences. First there are the influences created in life, desire for riches, fame and so on, which we call influences. A. secondly, there are other influences which come from outside life which work in the same conditions although they are different, and we call these influences.B. they reach man in the form of religion, literature or philosophy.

These influences of the second kind are conscious in their origin. Influences A are mechanical from the beginning. Man can meet these B influences or he can pass them by without noticing them, or he can hear them and think that he understands them, use the words and at the same time have no real understanding at all.

These two influences really determine the further development of man. If man accumulates influences B, results of these influences crystallize in him (I use the word crystallize in the ordinary sense) and form in him a certain kind of centre of attraction which we call magnetic centre.


The compact mass of memory of these influences attracts him in a certain direction, or makes him turn in a certain direction. When magnetic centre is formed in man it will be easier for him to attract himself more influences B, but if this magnetic centre in man grows , then after some time he meets another man, or a group of people, from whom he can learn something different, something that is not included in influences B, and which we call influence C.

This influence is conscious in origin and action and can only be transmitted by direct instruction. Influence B can come through books and works of art and things like that, but influence C can only come by direct contact. If a man in whom magnetic centre has grown meets with a man or a group through whom he comes into contact with influence C, that means thet he has made the first step. Then there is a possibility of development for him.

Q. What does the first step mean?

A. It is connected with the idea of a 'path' or 'way'.What is important to understand is that the way does not begin on the ordinary level of life; it begins on a higher level. The first step is the moment when one meets with influence C. From this moment there begins a staircase with a number of steps which have to be climbed before this way can be reached. The way does not begin at the bottom, but only after the last step has been climbed.

Q. What do you call a normal man?

A. It may seem paradoxical, but we have no other definition-it means a man who can develop.

Q. Is there any relationship between influence B and influences A? When influences B come into man, do they affect influences A and transform them?


A.They may effect them, but at the same time one necessarily excludes another. Man lives on the earth under these two different influences: he may choose only one, or he may have both. When you speak of influences A and B, you begin to speak about facts. If you replace this expression by one or another definite fact, you will see in which relation they stand. It is very easy.

At this point the question naturally arises : Why is it so difficult for a man to start changing himself, to come to a possibility of growing? Because, you see, we must remember that man is created in a very interesting way by nature. He is developed up to a certin point :after this point he must develop himself. Nature does not develop man beyond a certain point.

Later we shall learn in full detail up to what point man is developed and how his further development must begin, and we shall see why from this point of view he could never develop himself and why he cannot be developed by nature. But before that we must understand certain general conditions.

It is difficult for a man to start any kind owork on himself because he lives in a very bad place in the universe. At first that must sound a very strange idea. We do not realize that there are better and worse places in the univers, and we certainly donot realize that we happen to be almost in the worse place. We fail to realize it because, from one point of view, our knowledge of the universe is too complicated. From another point of view it does not take into account real facts.

If we look for the nearst place to us in the unioverse we realize that we live on earth, and that the moon is under the influence of the earth. At the same time we see that the earth is one of the planets of the solar system , that there are bigger planets, probably more powerful than the earth, and that all these planets, taken together, must somehow affect and control the earth. Next in scale comes the sun, and we realize that the sun controls all the planets and the earth at the same time.

If you think from this point of view you will already have a differnt idea of the solar system, although there is nothing new in these things: it is only a question of how to relate one thing to another.

Reference: A, B and C Influences.The Fourth way -P.D.Ouspensky.

Putin will be ruthless after the Moscow attack, but Russians don’t trust him to keep them safe Opinion by Andrei Soldatov

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Putin will be ruthless after the Moscow attack, but Russians don’t trust him to keep them safe

‘Vladimir Putin has responded to every new terrorist attack with more restrictions that have made it impossible to bring any public pressure to bear on him and his agencies.’ Photograph: Artem Priakhin/Sopa Images/Rex/Shutterstock

Broadcast live on Russian television, Chernomyrdin’s call resulted in the release of women and children and the end of the first Chechen war, which was seen as a humiliation for the Russian army. It also led to a traumatic soul-searching in the Russian security services and special forces.

Putin will have none of that. In the years that have followed, he has responded to every new terrorist attack with more restrictions that have made it impossible to bring any public pressure to bear on him and his agencies during or after a terror attack.

Strict information censorship around terrorist attacks was introduced. I was investigated by the FSB (the federal security service) for the first time for publishing a critical account of an FSB operation in October 2002, when more than a thousand people were taken hostage in a Moscow theatre. The special operation ended with a horrible loss of more than 130 hostages, most killed by a gas used by the FSB.

Vladimir Putin has responded to every new terrorist attack with more restrictions that have made it impossible to bring any public pressure to bear on him and his agencies.’  

When Vladimir Putin came to power in 2000, he made one thing clear immediately: he would be different from his predecessors – Boris Yeltsin and Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union – in his response to terrorism.

That difference would be manifested in his declared determination never to wilt under pressure. Like many officers trained in the KGB and traumatised by the collapse of the Soviet Union, Putin was convinced the Russian state was so fragile that it could collapse at any moment if its enemies were given an inch. To Putin and his KGB friends, the famous phone call made in 1995 by Yeltsin’s prime minister, Viktor Chernomyrdin, to a terrorist leader to save the lives of hostages in a hospital in Budyonnovsk, was the worst possible way of dealing with terrorists.

Any criticism of the Russian security services’ response was ruled out and the idea of relying on the Duma to find the truth was completely compromised after its attempt to investigate the Beslan school hostage-taking and siege in 2004.

By 2006, Putin’s obsession about not giving an inch to his enemies had been formalised into a major piece of Russian anti-terror legislation “on countering terrorism”, which replaced Yeltsin’s 1998 law. It had a striking definition of terrorism: “Terrorism is an ideology of violence and practice of influence on decision-making by bodies of the government, institutions of local government, or international organisations, by means of intimidation of the population and (or) other forms of illegal violent actions.”

That new legislation placed a strong emphasis on terrorism as something aimed at the Russian state, while Yeltsin’s 1998 law had defined it as something directed at civilians. The Russian security services got the point, and so did terrorist groups. In the 1990s and early 2000s, terrorists took hostages and made political demands, hoping to force the Kremlin into negotiation. Thereafter they switched to brutal, senseless acts of terror, knowing that Putin’s Kremlin would not respond to any demands.

Terrorist groups in the North Caucasus first killed security services personnel, but then progressed to massacre by blowing up a Moscow airport and attacking public transport.

Putin is a very systematic person. He has stuck to his policy of protecting his agencies throughout his reign. He has kept the successor to the KGB, the FSB – his longest and most beloved investment – well supplied with resources, and made sure it is completely immune to any criticism.

That has deeply affected its culture as the main Russian security agency responsible for counter-terrorism. The FSB became very efficient and innovative at repression. Nowadays, the Russian security and intelligence services are world experts in killing and torture. Russian society has seen plenty of recent examples of that: Alexei Navalny’s horrible death in February, the plight of political prisoners, the assassination last month of a Russian defector in Spain, and the hammer attack on a political exile in Vilnius, Lithuania.

The FSB is also rather competent at investigating attacks after the event, thanks in large part to video surveillance, combined with up-to-the-minute facial recognition technology. We saw this in the FSB’s response to the Crocus city hall attack in Moscow. Four suspected perpetrators were identified, pursued and arrested within 24 hours. And, sure enough, they were immediately tortured – one of the suspects had his ear cut off and was forced to eat it by special forces, all recorded and at once leaked to pro-Kremlin media.

But these are not the qualities that help to prevent attacks happening, and time and again, the FSB has failed as an intelligence collection agency because other things are needed: information-sharing capabilities between agencies, both domestic and foreign, and trust between those agencies and within those agencies. They also need to be trusted by the population, and they need to be ready to say very uncomfortable things to the generals – even to the country’s leader.

In this country where no freedoms are allowed and political discussion is strongly censored, trust in national security services is in short supply. Of course, the harassed population will go along with the government narrative, but fear and mistrust has already led to the blossoming of all sorts of conspiracy theories, questioning and undermining everything the Kremlin has said about Friday’s attack.

At some point, the Russian people came to realise that Putin will stop at nothing to achieve his objective, and that he would be fully capable of committing any crime against his own people, however horrible. That’s a problem he faces in the aftermath of attacks: big brother technology, brutal force and repression can only get you so far.

Andrei Soldatov is author of The Compatriots: The Russian Exiles Who Fought Against the Kremlin 

Opinion by Andrei Soldatov: The Guardian 

Russian court rejects legal claim against prison by Alexei Navalny’s mother

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Russian court rejects legal claim against prison by Alexei Navalny’s mother

Russian court has rejected a lawsuit filed by the mother of Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader who died in prison in February, that claimed he received inadequate medical care.

Ivan Zhdanov, head of the Anti-Corruption Foundation founded by Mr Navalny, said the court in the town of Labytnangi, near the Arctic prison where he died, turned down Lyudmila Navalnaya’s case because it said only Mr Navalny could be the plaintiff.

“Alexei filed claims against the colonies many times for failure to provide medical care. The claims were denied. Now that he was killed, his family’s claim is being denied with mocking wording,” Mr Zhdanov said on the Telegram messaging app.

Alexei Navalny died in prison (Moscow City Court via AP)
Alexei Navalny died in prison (Moscow City Court via AP)© Provided by PA Media

Mr Navalny, the most persistent foe of President Vladimir Putin, was serving a 19-year sentence.

He had been behind bars since January 2021 after returning to Russia from Germany where he had been recovering from nerve-agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin.

The cause of his February 16 death has been described by officials as due to natural causes.

 
 
Story by Associated Press Reporter
 

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