20231026

Mumbai’s Deadly Air Pollution at Times Rivalling New Delhi

Mumbai’s pollution has soared to rival even India’s capital New Delhi on some days, prompting city authorities to turn to unprecedented ways to improve air quality.

The city has asked construction sites to be covered with 35-feet-high (11-meter) sheets to block dust and to install sprinklers to spray water “at least four to five times” a day to prevent dust from flying, it said in its statement. The city administration has also warned it could shut down construction sites if dust and pollution control measures are not implemented.

Smog levels in India’s most populated city are also worsening because of changing weather patterns, according to authorities. Mumbai has seen unusually high temperatures for the month of October, heavy showers forcing school closures and dry spells in normally wet months in the state of Maharashtra, where Mumbai is located. Mumbai is one of the world’s most vulnerable cities to climate-change induced hazards, including sea-level increases, storm surges, flooding and coastal erosion.

EK: Development before sustainability. It’s the same path for any country: the West, NIEs, China, India, and then maybe Africa, eventually.

Israel Is Losing Support as Fury Grows Over Its Strikes on Gaza

The monarch launched into an impassioned denunciation of Israel’s subsequent bombing of Gaza and the West’s “double standard,” juxtaposing what happened in southern Israel with what is occurring in Gaza. “Are we being told it is wrong to kill an entire family at gunpoint but it’s OK to shell them to death?”

Inside Israel, a powerful sense of foreboding was evidenced by a new poll showing 64% of Israelis now fear for their physical safety. Hamas continues to fire rockets and missiles into the country every day while militants try to sneak in via land or sea. Security officials believe some of those who entered on Oct. 7 may be in hiding in preparation for a second attack.

Outside of Israel, many see things differently. On Tuesday, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said of the Hamas killings that they “did not happen in a vacuum,” adding, “The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation.”

The Holocaust memorial centre in Jerusalem, known as Yad Vashem, issued a statement in response to Guterres, saying Oct. 7 was different from the Holocaust only “because Jews have today a state and an army. We are not defenseless and at the mercy of others. However, it puts to test the sincerity of world leaders, intellectuals and influencers who come to Yad Vashem and pledge ‘Never Again.’”

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday canceled a visit to Israel that was meant to take place later this year and added, “Hamas isn’t a terror organization but is instead a group of liberators and mujahideen defending their land and people. We will never allow for the killing of children.” Turkey also paused plans for energy cooperation with Israel.

EK: Surprising to read this, from Bloomberg, a US-based news channel. Letting the cat out of the bag?

India to Resume Select Visa Services for Canadian Citizens

India will begin issuing certain categories of visas for Canadian citizens, in a sign of softening of tensions between the two nations over the killing of a Sikh separatist leader.

India will resume issuing visas from Oct. 26 to people of Indian origin, and those requiring permits to attend conferences or for business or medical reasons, the Indian High Commission in Ottawa said on Wednesday. The decision was taken after a “considered review of the security situation that takes into account some Canadian measures in this regard,” it said in a statement. The Indian High Commission and consulates will also address any emergency situation, according to the statement.

EK: Well, you can’t block the country forever. ¯/_(ツ)_/¯

Israel’s Friends Are Urging Patience. That’s Good Advice.

The US reportedly has asked Israel to delay its Gaza ground invasion to make time to rush extra missile defenses to America’s military bases across the Middle East, as it becomes increasingly clear they would come under attack when tanks roll in. No doubt Benjamin Netanyahu will oblige his most important ally — it should take just a few days. But the better reason for the prime minister to take his time is to be sure he’s doing the right thing for Israel, not to mention its own damaged reputation.

There is at this point no element of surprise to be lost, while Hamas — already under intense aerial bombardment — will only weaken with time. So it’s worth waiting to put in place a full strategy not just to crush Hamas militarily, but at the same time avoid a wider war and exit the battlefield with a plan and the international support Israel will need to help with building a new reality in Gaza.

Ultimately it is up to Israel and its generals to decide how to defend their country, and Bloomberg News has reported that a recalibration could already be underway. Yet the advice from close friends against letting anger — and therefore Hamas — decide the pace has few downsides. Netanyahu surely knows that even if dramatic action is popular now, that would change quickly if the war went badly. Such a mistake would not be forgiven. The potential human, military and strategic costs of rushing in are large. As the great Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu said, “Victorious warriors win first and then go to war.”

EK: There is no reason for Israelis to become the Nazis. Here’s hoping.