Innholdsfortegnelse for 18 February 2022 i Guardian Weekly

Salvage operation People search debris on the beach in the aftermath of Cyclone Batsirai in the town of Mananjary. The death toll rose to 120, as information continued to filter in from badly affected areas. The cyclone batter ed the south-eastern coast of the island, leaving at least 91,000 people with destroyed or damaged homes. The Guardian Weekly Founded in Manchester, England 4 July 1919 Guardian Weekly is an edited selection of some of the best journalism found in the Guardian and Observer newspapers in the UK and the Guardian’s digital editions in the UK, US and Australia. The weekly magazine has an international focus and three editions: global, Australia and North America. The Guardian was founded in 1821, and Guardian Weekly in 1919. We exist to hold power to account in…

Why is Russia threatening to invade Ukraine? Russian spokespeople daily deny any intention to invade. So, too, did Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, when he met the French leader, Emmanuel Macron, last week, and when he spoke to President Joe Biden on the phone. There are two problems with this. First, given Putin’s Johnsonian relationship with truth, few western governments believe the denials. Second, Putin has not explained why, if his intentions are peaceful, more than half of Russia’s armed forces, including 130,000 troops, are massed on Ukraine’s borders. It could all be a bluff. But who would bet the house on that? So what drives Putin? There are numerous theories. Putin is said to want to re build a Russian sphere of influence in eastern Europe, principally embracing former Soviet…

The Pakistan-Afghan border, running along Britain’s colonial-era Durand Line, is a centre of the increasing tensions between Islamabad and the Taliban, with a rise in attacks since the group came to power in Kabul. Five Pakistani soldiers were killed this month at a north-western border post in Khurram district by militants inside Afghanistan in an attack claimed by the Pakistani Taliban, Tehreek-e-Taliban-Pakistan (TTP). After a ceasefire between the group and the Pakistani government collapsed within weeks, the Pakistani foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, said Islamabad had told the Afghan Taliban leadership it considered TTP as a test case of its ability to control militants. “If the Taliban can’t address concerns of Pakistan, then who would trust them and their promise of cutting ties to al-Qaida and other such groups?” he…

The signs are painted on every wall and hang from every lamp-post of this small Gujarat village. “Easy Canada visa, student and immigration,” states one. “Study in Canada, free application, spouse can apply,” claims another. Indeed, in Dingucha, a village in rural west India, almost every house now has a family member either in Canada or the US. It was a fact they used to proudly shout from the rooftops; but now, the village has fallen silent. Ask people about their relatives in North America and they shrug their shoulders and walk off nervously. It was a family of four – Jagdish Patel, 39, his wife Vaishali, 37, their 11-year-old daughter Vihangi and three-year-old son Dharmik – who set off from Dingucha on 10 January, with Canada visitor visas stamped…

Removing a white facemask as she took to the witness stand behind a protective screen, Sarah Palin likened herself to the biblical David taking on the mighty Goliath of American media, the New York Times. The 58-year-old’s appearance in a Manhattan courtroom last week was a far cry from her heyday on the campaign trail, whipping up crowds with incendiary rhetoric as a vice-presidential candidate in 2008. But in making her pitch to a jury she still had a star power, and the reflex for bashing the media, that served as a reminder of how she paved the way for Donald Trump. When the former governor of Alaska was asked whether she might think about running for office again, she told the court: “The door’s always open.” Anyone wondering, “Whatever…

The Bolivian polleras, bulky skirts commonly associated with the indigenous women from the highlands, were for decades a symbol of uniqueness – and discrimination. Now, a new generation of women skateboarders in Cochabamba, Bolivia’s second largest city, wears them as a piece of resistance. The voluminous garment has its origins in the Spanish conquest in the 16th century. It was imposed on the native population, but became part of the local identity. Since it symbolises authenticity and stigmatisation, dusting off polleras that once belonged to aunts and grandmothers seemed the obvious choice for Dani Santiváñez, a young Bolivian skater who wanted to reclaim her roots. In 2018, she and two friends formed the female collective ImillaSkate “as a cry for inclusion”. Imilla means “young girl” in Aymara and Quechua, the…

The far right “trucker convoy” that has paralysed Ottawa might be singularly shocking, but what disturbs the most is it’s not unique. “Freedom” protests similar in form and simultaneously nebulous in broadly anti-vax/anti-mandate political goals have materialised in Britain, France and New Zealand. A convoy claiming to originate from across Europe was this week making its way towards Brussels. A gathering described as “Spring Break for QAnon” or “Camp Covid” is encamped outside parliament in Canberra. Across these countries, protesters appear as a wild herd of anti-vaxxer, QAnonner and more nefarious fellow travellers, alongside some more ordinary people. Sometimes it’s hard to tell whether social media content about these events has been gathered by extremism monitors, or comedians. Participants unwilling to be injected with a free vaccine safely used on…

Andrew Miller is interested in human failure – specifically “those sudden tests of worth and courage” that, if not passed, can destroy a life. Miller’s novels are often built around such moments of disruption. In Oxygen, published in 2001, László Lázár grapples with the memory of a few seconds’ hesitation that led to his lover’s death while Alec Valentine is aware that he is letting down his terminally ill mother through his incapacity to love. Other works explore a broader failure to connect. In Miller’s 1997 debut, Ingenious Pain, for example, we meet James Dyer, a doctor who can’t feel pain or pleasure. Miller’s ninth novel revisits the theme, and it’s handled in a way that is bolder and more exquisitely menacing than anything he’s done before. Stephen Rose is…

On manoeuvres Deployments mapped Page 12 → What does Puttin want? Simson Tisdall Page 13 → Russia and Nato Julian Borger Page 14 → Almost one year ago, Russia began moving forces from Siberia and other regions to the border with Ukraine. With more than half of its land forces now poised for an attack, whether or not there will be a war with Ukraine hinged this week on the decision of Vladimir Putin, whose options range from a large-scale assault to a decision to hold his troops back or ultimately send them home. At stake is a potentially devastating conflict, sanctions and economic hardship, and a verdict on the legacy of Putin, who has broadcast his decision to engage in brinksmanship with the west, saying that the tensions have…

The UK’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, announced last week that he aimed to abolish all Covid regulations, including the requirement to isolate after testing positive, in England from 24 February. Here’s what experts around the world think of that plan, which would make England something of an outlier when it comes to coronavirus precautions. France According to Arnaud Fontanet, a senior epidemiologist at the Pasteur Institute and a member of the government’s scientific advisory council, France is unlikely to follow England in abandoning all coronavirus measures before late March or early April. Fontanet said measures such as mask wearing, home working and quarantine remained vital in order to slow the number of infections and keep hospital admissions down. “Quite small changes in behaviour can really influence the dynamic. Reducing contacts…

Appearing on state tele vision, military officers read from a statement, calmly announcing the takeover of the state. In the capital, crowds celebrate, cheering as the coup is roundly condemned outside their country. It is a scene that has played out on multiple occasions in west Africa – in Mali in 2020 and again in August last year, in Guinea in September, and in Burkina Faso last month. Coups have also taken place to the east, in Chad and Sudan. At the start of the month, an attempted coup was thwarted in Guinea-Bissau. At an urgent Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) summit of west African leaders, Ghana’s president, Nana Akufo-Addo, reflected the alarm in regional capitals. “Emerging threats in our region … stem from the military’s interference in…

With a handshake and brief embrace, congresswoman Abigail Spanberger welcomed Joe Biden to her Virginia district. The event last Thursday was an opportunity to highlight the administration’s plans to lower the cost of prescription drugs, but it also provided an opportunity for the US president to promote the members of his party ahead of the midterm elections in November. “In every chapter in her career, in every chapter, she’s always been about one thing: service,” the president said of Spanberger, a Democrat whose competitive re-election race is on the front line of the battle for control of the House. It is a crucial effort: Democrats face a punishing political climate as they defend their paper-thin majorities in the House and Senate. A sitting president’s party typically loses seats during the…

It was an extraordinary way to end nearly two years of restrictions and lockdowns. With no explanatory briefings from either the chief medical officer or chief scientific adviser, no input from Sage and no consultation with Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, the UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, told a surprised House of Commons he would unilaterally lift all Covid restrictions in England a month ahead of time on 24 February. How public health could be sustained thereafter was plainly an afterthought, of little consequence to be unveiled after the recess in a document pointedly called Living with Covid. Nobody expects other than the scantest strategy, with even the Office for National Statistics’s highly regarded surveillance survey, which allows the UK to pick up the emergence of high-risk variants, likely to…

In January 1788, a fleet of British ships under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip anchored in a bay known as Warrane to the people living there. What happened next is the familiar story of Australia’s founding. Less widely known is that 11 blood-sucking vampires were also brought ashore by the “First Fleet” that day. Once loose, they became addicted to the blood of Indigenous Australians and set about massacring the population, thereby weakening their resistance to the British invaders. Or at least, that’s according to Shanika and Tyson, the vampire-killing “bloodhunters” at the centre of a new eight-part Australian series, Firebite. And who are we to argue? Nothing less than history, and who gets to decide it, is at stake in the new wave of colonial-confronting horror being made…

In the days leading up to the outbreak of the second world war, writes Simon Parkin, the British police and intelligence services were “deluged with tipoffs about suspicious refugees and foreigners”. A beekeeper was detained when investigators found a diary entry reading:“Exchange British queen for Italian queen.” An art historian was reported by a neighbour who had heard some suspicious knocking noises (perhaps a secret coded message?) produced by the bed while he was having sex with his fiancee. By the time Churchill became prime minister in May 1940, the mood was even more fevered. Imminent invasion seemed highly likely and the country, inflamed by sensationalist newspaper articles, was deeply worried about the “fifth column menace”. The government could therefore claim popular support for its decision to intern all “enemy…

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1 RUSSIA/UKRAINE Conflict would spread to other countries, says Truss The UK foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has warned of a “dangerous moment for the world” as the prospect of a Russian invasion of Ukraine could embolden other countries such as Iran and China to expand their ambitions. Speaking on Sky News, Truss said: “We could be on the brink of a war in Europe.” Her comments came as world leaders made last-ditch efforts for a diplomatic solution to the crisis on the Russia-Ukraine border. A core pillar of the dispute is Russia’s demand for a guarantee that Ukraine will not join Nato, the defensive alliance of 30 countries. But Truss has said it is not for Russia to determine Ukraine’s security arrangements. “I fear it would not stop at Ukraine.…

CORONAVIRUS Scientists fear rush to lift all pandemic restrictions A future variant of Covid-19 could be much more dangerous and cause far higher numbers of deaths and cases of serious illness than Omicron, leading UK scientists have warned. As a result, many of them say that caution needs to be taken in lifting the last Covid restrictions in England, as Boris Johnson plans to do from 24 February. Demands were growing this week for Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance, the government’s most senior advisers on Covid, to reveal what evidence there was to back the decision. The dangers posed by accepting the widespread assumption that Covid-19 variants would continue to get milder in their impact was highlighted by epidemiologist Prof Mark Woolhouse, of Edinburgh University. “The Omicron variant did not…

As of 6 February, 74-76 battalion tactical groups, the smallest operational unit in Moscow’s army, were estimated by military intelligence group Rochan Consulting to be in place near the borders of Ukraine in both Russia and latterly Belarus. Many of the heavy weapons arrived in spring 2021, when Russia put these and an estimated 110,000 troops with tanks near the border. Some, but not all, of Russia’s troops returned to base in May after Putin secured a summit with Joe Biden. Russian troops have been arriving from the east for several weeks. On 11 February, the head of the Norwegian intelligence service said they numbered 150,000. There are also separatist forces in the breakaway areas of Donetsk and Luhansk. Their numbers are estimated at 32,000, some of whom are likely…

When the Taliban reached Parveen Tokhi’s home province of Zabul in mid-August and asked to use her school as a temporary barracks, the headteacher was frightened but clear about what she had to do. She spent the bleak years of the first Taliban government in the 1990s stuck at home like almost all Afghan women, barred from education and work. She was determined that the same shadow wouldn’t engulf another generation. “I said: ‘OK, you can stay there overnight, but these buildings are a girls’ school, and I have sacrificed all my life for the education of these girls.’” The men had to be out in time for morning classes to start as usual at Bibi Khala school the next day, she insisted, undaunted by their guns. Then she got…

The rightwing French presidential candidate Valérie Pécresse vowed to crack down on immigration as she held her first big rally last Sunday amid competition from the growing far right and defections from her party to the centrist leader Emmanuel Macron. “There is no sovereignty without borders,” Pécresse said on stage in Paris as more than 6,000 people waved French flags in support of the first female presidential candidate for Les Républicains, the traditional rightwing party of Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy. Pécresse, who on a recent trip to Greek migrant camps said she was not against “barbed wire” to keep migrants out of Europe, told the rally she would support the building of barriers and “even walls” on the edge of Europe if the countries on the frontline wanted it.…

Vaquitas, the world’s tiniest marine mammals, have long teetered on the brink of extinction. The population of porpoises marked with black ringed eyes and smiling, upturned mouths has dwindled by a devastating 99% over the past decade. Scientists say their future is more precarious than ever, after a survey found less than 10 individuals left in the waters of their limited home range between Baja California and Mexico. But some say there is hope for the endangered species, which has persisted against the odds. “We are looking for a needle in the haystack – but we know the needle is there,” says Barbara Taylor, a marine conservation biologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, noting how researchers can still hear the vaquitas’ high-pitched calls and echolocation clicks, collected on…

A bushy pathway leads to the crossing points along the Limpopo River that are the most treacherous part of the journey for Zimbabweans seeking a better life in South Africa. The river has flooded after weeks of incessant rain, resulting in three drownings of “border jumpers” last month alone. A few kilometres away, where the roar of the river can still be heard, men and women clutching small bags of belongings trudge along a dusty track near Malindi Transit Shed. At 9am on a Friday morning, the route to the bridge connecting South Africa and Zimbabwe is already heavily patrolled by soldiers clasping rifles. The journey to Beitbridge on the Zimbabwean side is punctuated by five security checkpoints, with a bribe of 50 rand ($3.20) required by the soldiers and…

A line of large blue skips full of chopped wood sit at the back of a site belonging to Norway’s biggest bitcoin mining operation, a 5,000 sq metre warehouse on the outskirts of Hønefoss, a town 65km northwest of Oslo. Hot air is pumped into the 12 skips through bendy, corrugated pipes curling out from the warehouse. Despite the snow, it will only take a few days for the logs to be dried out, after which a lumberjack, grateful for the free service, will take them away to be sold. The wood is being warmed by some of the “waste heat” being emitted from PHOTOGRAPHS BY ELIN HØYLAND thousands of stacked-high computer servers, known as miners, working away inside the warehouse. It is one of two such sites owned by…

If you want proof that nuclear fusion can produce energy at scale somewhere in the universe, you need only look at the night sky: each pinprick of light is a natural nuclear fusion-powered reactor. For decades, scientists have sought to bring the power source of stars down to Earth. In a stunning result, the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy in Oxfordshire has reached a landmark in sparking and sustaining a mini star. Scientists working on a doughnut-shaped machine called Jet, or the Joint European Torus, were able to double the previous world record (set in 1997) for energy released by fusion reactions. While the experiment ran, the output of fusion power was equivalent to four onshore wind turbines – a step towards power production at an industrial scale. In keeping…

I love mushrooms, but my partner hates their texture. How can I make her see the error of her ways? Ollie, London, UK As with any difficult relationship, it can take work, but there is hope. “When you say, ‘I don’t like mushrooms,’ it’s like saying you don’t like wine,” says self-confessed fungus obsessive Will Murray. “There are so many varieties, and they all behave in different ways.” The chef and co-founder of Fallow in London, who even grows his own at the restaurant, adds: “If, for example, you brine and deep-fry grey oyster mushrooms, they take on the texture of fried chicken.” A simpler strategy is to fry them on a high heat. “You need to be in danger of setting off the smoke alarm, or you’re not doing…