The second armory belonging to the army destroyed by fire ! Ammunitions explode ; People within 4 kilo meters evacuated

(Lanka-e-News -05.June.2016, 10.50PM) The Kosgama  armory , the second armory of  the army of Sri Lanka (SL)  is in the process of  total destruction  following a  conflagration.

There are two main armories belonging to the army, and one of them is situated in the Kosgama camp hall . In that armory are stored from small to large bullets of T 56 weapons , RPG and Multi barrel .

This evening at about 5.30 p.m. the fire had broken out starting with the small sized bullets, and  had gradually spread to the larger bullets in the armory.

It is the SL Army electronic and Mechanical force that is in charge of this camp of the army, and around it are also voluntary forces and a number of service forces. When  the fire began to spread to the minor ammunition , the soldiers and army officers have gone from  the venue leaving everything.

Even now the fire is raging and the heavy ammunition are heard exploding. This sound is heard to a radius of 20 kilo meters , and the people in the army camp area are evacuating.

Though various rumors are afloat , any damage that is to occur following this fire due to the ammunition within the armory can reach up to a radius of about 4 kilometers , Hence the people in the area within 4 kilometers radius of the army camp are notified  to  evacuate.  

When an armory catches fire , it is not possible to douse it by spraying water or chemicals from the air , and no one can get close , a fire officer with specialized knowledge on fire extinguishing in Britain told Lanka e news.

The army expects the explosions of the ammunition to go on   until tomorrow morning . So far there has been  reports of one dead body and 2 injurd. Until the  explosions come to an end there is nothing that can be done than staying out of it.

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by     (2016-06-05 17:31:56)

Not Quite “Waiting For Godot”

By Emil van der Poorten –June 5, 2016

Emil van der Poorten

Wikipedia describes “Waiting for Godot” “as an absurdist play by Samuel Beckett, in which two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, wait endlessly and in vain for the arrival of someone …”

That quote certainly came to mind the other night when I and the rest of the forty-odd “number holders” languished in the corridor of one of the “channel centres” in a provincial capital.

I had symptoms very similar to a friend who had recently been diagnosed with a detached retina and who had had to undergo complicated (and expensive in a private institution) surgery.

I took the usual Sri Lankan route, phoned the “channel centre,” as these places where patients meet consultants are called, and was given a number: eleven, to be exact.

That was a little off-putting because the consultant began seeing patients at 7:30 in the evening and would not, I assumed, go on for too long given the fact that it must have already been a long (professional) day in ward and operating theatre before arrival at “the centre” which, incidentally bears the name of one of those “important” families of that particular city.

My assumptions were to be turned on their head quickly enough.

Despite the fact that I know consultants not to belong in the category of “clock watchers” in the matter of showing up at the times scheduled by them, I arrived a half hour early on a dark and drizzly night which most nights have been for the past little while.

I gave my name, producing, as I always now do, a business card which is expected to do away with the verbal contortions which usually erupt when I have to give that information orally.

Anyway, the officious young lady did get it right, but recorded me only by my first name, something that was not unique to this particular location as I’ve discovered since my return to the country in which I received it.

The fun had only begun.

I moved towards the corridor, jam-packed with humanity awaiting entry into the hallowed chambers in which those who supposedly took the Hippocratic Oath ply their respective trades.

My loss of hearing hasn’t destroyed by ability to read receipts and the one I was given had a female first name. Not a particular problem until I realized that the number allocated to that person was thirty-nine, if I remember right.

Anyway, back to the counter I go in an effort to correct a mistake for which the clerk concerned bore complete responsibility. She, however, appeared most annoyed that I had accepted the wrong receipt and, with a mutter and scowl, dispatched one of her flunkeys in search of the person now carrying a receipt for money paid by Emil and the number eleven on it.

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CID To File Criminal Charges Against Army Comm, DMI Head?

By Mandana Ismail Abeywickrema- Sunday, June 05, 2016

The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) is contemplating filing criminal charges against the Commander of the Sri Lanka Army and the head of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) if the military fail to cooperate in the investigations carried out on several high profile murder cases, The Sunday Leaderlearns.

The Sunday Leader learns that the CID has continuously sought the assistance of the DMI in several murder probes, but the latter had failed to cooperate in the investigations by providing required information and in some instances evidence related to the investigations.

The Mount Lavinia Magistrate’s Court last week ordered the DMI to provide all necessary information to the CID related to the murder probe of the founding Editor of The Sunday Leader, Lasantha Wickrematunge.

The CID it is learnt had sought information related to the movements of several military intelligence (MI) personnel in Lasantha’s investigation. However, the failure of the DMI to cooperate in Lasantha’s investigation resulted in the CID seeking a court order on the same.

Senior police sources told The Sunday Leader that if the hierarchy of the Sri Lanka Army and the DMI fail to adhere to the court order, the CID would pursue criminal charges for the suppression of evidence and failure to cooperate in murder investigations.

“The CID has taken into custody senior police officers who have been accused of suppressing evidence in several high profile cases. Therefore, military personnel cannot be considered above the law,” senior police sources said.

MI personnel have been so far implicated in the murder probes of former TNA MPs Joseph Pararajasingham and Nataraja Raviraj as well as Editor Lasantha Wickrematunge.

When contacted by The Sunday Leader, Military Spokesperson Brigadier Jayanath Jayaweera said the Army Commander has directed the Military Police to look into the court order issued last week related to Lasantha’s murder investigation.

Jayaweera added that the army would take the required action after the Military Police informs the required details as per the court order.

Preventing non-alcoholic fatty liver

2016-06-06

Non-alcoholic fatty liver is a condition, where fat is accumulated in the liver of people, who drink little or no alcohol.
“This a common condition, especially in the South East Asian countries where 30-40 percent of the population 
is affected,” explains Consultant Gastroenterologist, Dr. Ranjith Peiris.
“What is tricky and dangerous about the disease is that it shows no symptoms until it progresses to a very advanced stage, resulting even in liver failure,” he warned. 
The increasing prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver is predicted to become the most common cause of advanced liver disease in the world in the coming decades. 
In an interview with the Daily Mirror , Dr. Peiris explains how the condition can be prevented.

Q  Why is the Asian population more prone to this condition?
The situation could be largely attributed to the epidemic of diabetes in this region, especially in the South Asian region. Coupled with this, lack of exercise, fast-food and obesity, which are all results of urbanization, have contributed to this situation. South Asians may also have a genetic predisposition to store more fat in the abdominal cavity and in the liver. 

"Weight-loss is the most effective method to improve it, and a target of 3-5% of the body weight loss is recommended"

Q   Who are at the risk of developing non-alcoholic fatty liver?
Diabetes is a leading pre-disposing factor. There are two types of diabetes: Type 1 diabetes and Type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes, onset of which is at maturity (Occurring later in life unlike Type 1 diabetes which can be contacted in early life) could trigger fatty liver.
Non-alcoholic fatty liver is prevalent in 50 percent of the diabetics. Overweight and obese people are also at risk, high cholesterol (Those with high triglycerides). Those who lead sedentary lifestyles, those who consume oily food and fast food are also at risk.
If anyone has the above mentioned high risk factors, we encourage him or her to do a liver profile (Which is a blood test) at least every six months and an ultra sound scan of the abdomen at least once a year.
Fatty liver can also be prevented by cutting down on the intake of fast food/oily food and red meats. High fibre products such as vegetables and green leaves and fish will help reducing obesity reducing incidence of fatty liver. 

Q  Is there a genetic involvement in developing the condition?
We presume a genetic predisposition as diabetes, which is a risk factor that has a genetic involvement. However, worldwide research is still underway to discover the genetic factor. Similar to diabetes, most cases are expected to be due to the influence of multiple genes, so a single genetic factor is unlikely.

Q  Are both males and females equally susceptible?
Yes, both genders are equally susceptible.

Q  Are there symptoms of this condition?
This is what is tricky about this disease as it has no symptoms and some may experience a mild pain in the right side of the abdomen if the condition has advanced.
Non-alcoholic fatty liver entails a spectrum. The very early stages are known as steatosis, where there is excess fat in the liver. This could progress into the second stage known as steato-hepatitis. This phase could progress into cirrhosis and also other complications including liver cancer and finally liver failure. 

Q  In the absence of symptoms, how is fatty liver diagnosed?
In about 80 percent of cases, fatty liver is diagnosed when patients are tested for some other condition/disease. Unfortunately, some patients present with advanced cirrhosis of the liver, with no other apparent cause (cryptogenic cirrhosis).

Q  What are the diagnostic tools/tests used?
A lipid profile which is a blood test is the preliminary test done. Ultra sound scan of the abdomen, results of which are given in three gradings:
Grade 1 would indicate early stages of the condition followed by Grade 2 which is the more advanced stage and Grade 3, which is the most complicated stage.
If the diagnosis is uncertain and there are doubts, we do a liver biopsy. However, there are other causes that may give similar tests results (e.g: Viral Hepatitis) and these may need to be excluded by blood tests.

"Fatty liver can also be prevented by cutting down on the intake of fast food/oily food and red meats"

Q  What are the repercussions of mismanaged non-alcoholic fatty liver?
Generally, 20 percent of mismanaged cases with steato-hepatitis would end up in cirrhosis. If the condition is mismanaged it could lead to liver cancer as well. This is why irrespective of the age, high risk groups (those with risk factors) are advised to do a liver profile every six months and an ultra sound scan of the abdomen annually to detect non-alcoholic fatty liver very early. Even those in their early 20s could get non-alcoholic fatty liver, if they have risk factors which we discussed earlier. 

Q How is the condition treated?
At the initial stage (steatosis) without any clinical intervention, the situation could be managed by modifying the risk factors. Weight-loss is the most effective method to improve it, and a target of 3-5% of the body weight loss is recommended. If the condition has advanced, we treat it with a combination of drugs and modification of risk factors.
Risk factors like diabetes and high cholesterol levels need to be managed carefully. There is no single drug proven to be effective in curing fatty liver, but extensive research is currently underway worldwide to discover new agents. There is no place for surgery in fatty liver. One should remember that sometimes medication could be life-long depending on the severity of the condition. Proper monitoring of the condition without resorting to ad hoc treatment is imperative.

Ex-HQI to be charged over assault on Manjula Tilakaratne

Jun 05, 2016

Charges can be filed against the then Mt. Lavinia HQI, chief inspector Pushpakumara over the assault on former secretary of the Judicial Services Commission Manjula Tilakaratne, reports say.

It is questionable that that CID has not paid proper attention to a statement given by an underworld member that together with him, Pushpakumara, a closest friend of the Rajapaksa family, had carried out the assault.

 

Called by ‘Pushpe Aiya’ by Namal Rajapaksa, this policeman is presently an ASP in the Colombo traffic division. Neither an investigation carried out over accusations that Pushpakumara has amassed wealth illegally with the knowledge of the Rajapaksas during their rule.

Gazans fear for children's futures after 10 years under siege

Residents warn that children born since blockade began in 2006 will grow up to hate their 'prison guards' amid growing sense of helplessness 

Palestinian protesters take to boats in Gaza City's harbour as part of events marking a decade of the siege (MEE/Mohammed Asad) 

A group of children in Gaza port protest for medication supplies, the right to travel and end to the siege (MEE/Mohammed Asad) 

Mohammed Omer-Saturday 4 June 2016

GAZA CITY – More than 10 years since Israel first imposed a crippling blockade on Gaza, the strip’s 1.8 million-plus residents say they have had as much as they can take and are increasingly worried for a new generation growing up knowing nothing but war, deprivation and isolation.

“It’s now 10 years of Israeli siege on Gaza,” Abu Maher, a 62-year-old fisherman sitting by Gaza’s fishing harbour, told Middle East Eye.

“The problem is not with us, we have seen enough wars in our lives, but it’s the small blameless children who are born into a siege mentality, and naturally come to hate their prison guards.”

During the past decade, Gaza has endured three Israeli military assaults from land, sea and air that have left thousands of Palestinians dead, many more badly injured and maimed and much of the strip’s infrastructure and fragile economy in ruins.

Hundreds of people waving Palestinian flags turned out on Wednesday to mark the sixth anniversary of the raid in 2010 by Israeli commandos on the Mavi Marmara, a Gaza-bound Turkish aid ship, in which 10 activists were killed.

The protesters honoured their memories by throwing brightly coloured carnations into the Mediterranean as part of a worldwide week of events marking a decade of the blockade using the hashtag #EndGazaSiege.

The blockade is generally considered to have begun when economic sanctions were imposed by Israel and the Middle East Quartet – made up of the US, the UN, the EU and Russia – in response to Hamas’s victory in the Palestinian elections in January 2006, although restrictions were further tightened when Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007.

Among the protesters were lots of young children holding placards denouncing the blockade, which is all they have ever known.

Rahaf, a nine-year-old boy, marched largely in silence while holding a banner saying his “suffering is the tragedy of all homes that have been destroyed”.

The demonstrators assembled on the same location where thousands of Gazans waved similar flags in 2008 to welcome one of a number of Free Gaza aid boats which did succeed in breaking the blockade in that year.

Abu Maher remembers that day as a good moment, one when he felt the stoic pride of Gaza was protected and defended by the international activists who cared enough to risk their lives to bring basic humanitarian aid and send a message of support for the enclave’s besieged people.

Since then, there have been several more efforts by international activists to break the siege by entering Gaza by sea, but all have been repelled by the Israeli navy.

Now the strip’s residents say they increasingly feel isolated and alone. Three wars have also destroyed tens of thousands of homes and devastated Gaza’s social fabric, leaving children orphaned and wives widowed.

Psychiatrists say that cases of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among children have doubled since 2012 and other kinds of traumas and mental issues are also on the rise.

NGOs also report an increase in gender-based violence, with Action Aid and other humanitarian groups offering support to women affected by the conflict and in need of legal counselling.

'Our jailers neither let us die, nor flourish'

Meanwhile, the siege remains as tightly enforced as ever. At the Erez crossing with Israel, only humanitarian workers and those with special permits, such as a few Palestinian businessmen who deal with Israeli companies, are able to come and go.

A few hundred Palestinians requiring urgent medical treatment or those with permission to study abroad have also been permitted to leave.

Rafah, Gaza’s other main land crossing, to Egypt, has also been largely closed since the 2006 election, although controls were relaxed in 2010 following the Mavi Marmara attack by Israel on an aid flotilla, with 167,000 people allowed to cross that year compared with 60,000 in 2009.

After the 2011 revolution in Egypt and the subsequent election of Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, Gaza briefly won more freedoms, and 257,000 Palestinians were able to cross in a single year.

Those numbers fell sharply after Morsi was ousted in 2013, and last year Rafah was open for just 21 days.

The Geneva-based Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor says that the blockade has doubled the level of human suffering in Gaza, where six out of every 10 families are now believed to be short on food and are classified as nutritionally insecure.

The United Nations has already warned that conditions in Gaza will be unlivable by 2020.

Umm Fouad Jaber, a 42-year-old Gaza resident, told MEE that people simply did not know what to do anymore and that the only way they felt they could continue to resist was to stay and defend their ancestral lands.

“Our jailers neither let us die nor flourish,” she said.

Jaber said that things had deteriorated so much under the blockade that clean water was now hard to come by. Shortages are widespread, and when water does drip out of the taps there is no way of knowing if it will be clean or dirty.

Power is also a rare commodity, with families not knowing when they will receive a few hours of power, only to be plunged into darkness again.

Marwan Karam, a supermarket owner, told MEE that getting even basic supplies in was extremely hard and that it could often be even harder to get customers.

With the blockade being held partially responsible for Gaza’s rocketing unemployment rate, which officially stands at 40 percent but is widely believed to be much higher, few can afford to pay for the goods they desperately need.

Many shopowners have for years been allowing friends and neighbours to eke out an existence by extending large lines of credit that they only half expect will ever be repaid.

“Gaza is like an acutely ill patient kept alive on a few drops of IV fluid; not enough to nourish, but enough to be kept alive to avoid the label of cruelty and neglect,” he said.

Israel insists the blockade is a necessary security precaution in response to the threat to its borders posed by Hamas and other Gaza-based militants.

But Richard Falk, the former UN special rapporteur on Palestine and now chairman of board of trustees at the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, told MEE that the siege of Gaza amounted to a form of “collective punishment” enforced by Israel on a helpless civilian population.

"No ordeal of human suffering is more an affront to the conscience of humanity than the decade-long blockade imposed by Israel on the people of Gaza,” said Falk.

“This continuing human rights abuse is a lethal and massive instance of collective punishment afflicting an entrapped civilian population. The blockade has also borne witness to the helplessness and complicity of the international community, including the United Nations."

Yet despite growing awareness of the plight of Gaza’s residents, people living with the effects of the occupation say they feel as though they have been utterly forgotten.

Recent moves towards reconciliation between Israel and Turkey, who fell out over the Mavi Marmara raid, in which eight Turkish nationals were killed, have left many fearful that Ankara will renege on its demands for the blockade to be eased, even while other Arab countries – including Egypt, Jordan, and several Gulf states – continue to grow closer to Israel.

At Gaza’s harbour where activists gathered to mark the official start to commemorations, children carried pictures showing signs of despair and deprivation.

“No to hunger, yes to lifting the blockade,” said a banner held up by an eight-year-old girl. 

Abu Maher, the fisherman, called for her voice and those of thousands of others to be heard saying that Gaza’s children were “desperate for a better future”.

“We should build bridges of understanding between nations, but for that to happen the borders should be opened,” he added.

Democracy, Freedom and Human Rights not for Muslims

June 1, 2016 

This is the century old unwritten message of US. Europe, Israel and their mercenary Arab dictators to Muslims

by Latheef Farook  :  

A century old message of US, Britain, France, Russia, Israel and the Saudi led oppressive Arab dictators was-democracy is not for Muslims and the Middle East and North Africa should be ruled by dictators who should obediently carry out their western masters’ agenda.

 For example North African Muslim country of Algeria, part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire from 16th-century, was conquered by the France in 1830.

Algerians began their freedom struggle in 1950s and gained independence from France in 1962. During the freedom struggle, France killed around a million Algerians. Assassinations, torture, rape and other such crimes were common place. France “forced two million Algerians from their homes, many into barbed-wire concentration camps and saw the destruction of over 8,000 villages.

In the first ever parliamentary elections in December 1991 the Islamic Salvation Front, FIS, which blended religion with politics, was given a massive mandate. 

However the Algerians were not lucky enough to enjoy the fruits of their struggle for freedom and democracy as military leaders and their French masters were quick to suppress FIS and install a military regime.

The military regime banned street gatherings, declared a state of emergency, disbanded the FIS and dissolved all 411 FIS-controlled National People’s Assembly. Inevitably, there were violent clashes and the military was fully backed by France, West and Arab dictators.

Saudi Arabia was the first to recognise the military regime.  

       

In the violence around 180,000 people were killed and human rights organisations accused the military regime of brutality, abductions and torture and held them responsible for many of these deaths. 

The former Algerian Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia admitted for the first time in March 2006 of government forces killing 17,000 Islamic activists during the 1990s though he did not say who was responsible for the killing of more than 180,000 civilians in the conflict. Those Islamic activists killed were the cream of the Islamic force which tried to establish an Islamic state based on Shariah law through means of Western democracy.

Free and fair elections in Gaza and West Bank

In a spotless democratic election, held in January 2006, under the supervision of former US President Jimmy Carter who described it as free and fair, Islamically oriented Hamas was elected with an overwhelming majority.

Israel and its US, European partners and their Arab collaborators were alarmed. They wanted to crush people’s verdict and the rising democracy. They tasked Palestine Authority President Mahmud Abbas.

First Israel and its collaborators stopped all donations and cut off the flow of all money to starve Palestinian into submission. The Arab regimes too joined this financial blockade knowing very well the misery they were causing to Palestinians.

Though PA was defeated Israel, US, UK, Europe and their Arab collaborators recognized PA and ignored Hamas.

Six months later in June 2006 Israel bombed and    turned Gaza Strip into a virtual slaughter house.  In an unprecedented lawlessness and in violation of international law, Israel started mafia-style abduction of Hamas cabinet ministers, mayors and parliamentarians.

Once again  on 27 December 2008 Israel, using the most sophisticated and most destructive fighter planes and weapons supplied by United States, committed genocide on starving Palestinians in Gaza, which was virtually turned into a slaughterhouse.

Israel again attacked Palestinians in Gaza in 2012 and in July 2014. They were joined by Arab dictators in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.

Israeli peace activist Uri Avnery said “the message of Jews, the US and Europe to Palestinian is that you will reach the brink of hunger, and even beyond, if you do not surrender. You must remove the Hamas government and elect candidates approved by Israel and the US. You must be satisfied with a Palestinian state consisting of several enclaves, each of which will be utterly dependent on the tender mercies of Israel.” 

Arab Spring - uprising for democracy

In the midst Arab Spring was triggered off in Tunisia on 18 December 2010 when 26-year-old Mohamed Bouazizi, bread winner of his widowed mother and six siblings, set himself on fire after a policewoman slapped him for not handing over his wooden cart he used for selling fruits and vegetables at a place where he dint have permit to do so.

Mohamed Bouazizi’s suicide captured by cell phone cameras and shared on the Internet caused spontaneous protests all over the country calling upon President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his regime to step down. About a month later, he fled.

The momentum in Tunisia set off uprisings across the Middle East.

By the end of February 2012, governments were overthrown and rulers were forced from power in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen;  civil uprisings erupted in Bahrain, Syria; major protests broke out Algeria, Iraq,  Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, and Sudan] and minor protests occurred in Mauritania, Oman, Arabia, Djibouti  Western Sahara, and Palestine.  

In Egypt, President Hosni Mubarak resigned on 11 February 2011 after 18 days of massive protests, ending his 30-year presidency.

In the first ever free elections in 60 years in Jun 2012 Mohamed Morsi was elected president .President Mohamed Morsi was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood—striving to introduce Islamic way of life.

Once again conspiracy mill started working in full swing. US, Britain, France, Russian Israeli, Saudi, Abu Dhabi and Kuwait conspirators were all out to crush rising democracy and dash all hopes and dreams of Egyptians. They staged a military coup, overthrew President Morsy and   installed former military chief, Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi as President on Sunday 8 June 2014. 

Here comes the crux of the problem as regimes in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Israel , US and Europe consider Islam as the only threat to their existence and exploitations. Thus the joint plot to overthrow President Morsi.

First thing Al Sisi did after being sworn in as president was to thank the Israeli President Shimon Peres -perhaps for installing him in power to serve the Zionists.  Later Zionist war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu admitted that Israel planned and toppled President Morsi’s government in collaboration with Saudi, UAE and Kuwait - three countries jointly spent 11 billion dollars to crush democracy in Egypt.

This is the shameful state of affairs in the Middle East ruled by scoundrels.

In the uprising in Libya Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown on 23 August 2011and killed.

Encouraged by Arab Uprising oppressed Syrians too rose up demanding little freedom. The result was Syria was bombed and virtually turned into a waste land and emptied of its people who are forced to seek refuge in Europe in freezing cold.

All what the people in the Middle East and North Africa wanted was little freedom   .What did the so called champions of human rights in US, Britain ,France, Russia, Israel and their  mercenary Arab dictators do? They supported  dictators, triggered and aggravated violence ,bombed and destroyed the infrastructure of these almost developed countries and pushed them into pre medieval era, massacred people employing most sophisticated war planes and driven out prosperous people into refugee camps.

Israel which has been behind all wars  destructions and killings in the region, is the best beneficiary  .Now the political environment is created to establish  Greater Israel by annexing Palestinian occupied territories and parts of Egypt, Syria and Iraq so that the Middle East and North Africa will remain oppressed and brutalised for centuries to come. Ends

Latheef Farook is Colombo based Senior Journalist and Author. He could be reached at E mail   almfarook19@gmail.com

Google: new concerns raised about political influence by senior ‘revolving door’ jobs

The tech giant has employed scores of government advisers, while former employees found jobs with European governments

Google stands accused of employing former goverment officials in order to get close to government. Photograph: Pawel Kopczynski/Reuters

Jamie Doward-Saturday 4 June 2016

New concerns have been raised about the political influence of Google after research found at least 80 “revolving door” moves in the past decade – instances where the online giant took on government employees and European governments employed Google staff.

The research was carried out by the Google Transparency Project, an initiative run by the Campaign for Accountability (CfA), a US organisation that scrutinises corporations and politicians. The CfA has suggested that the moves are a result of Google seeking to boost its influence in Europe as the company seeks to head off antitrust action and moves to tighten up on online privacy.

In the UK, Google has hired people from Downing Street, the Home Office, the Treasury, the Department for Education and the Department for Transport. Overall, the company has hired at least 28 British public officials since 2005.

Those hired have included Sarah Hunter, a senior policy adviser to Tony Blair when prime minister, who became head of public policy for Google in the UK. Hunter is now head of policy for Google X, the arm that deals with new businesses such as drones and self-driving cars.

In 2013 Google hired Verity Harding, a special adviser to former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg. Harding is now policy manager for Google DeepMind, its artificial intelligence arm, which recently secured a contract with the NHS.

Overall, the research suggests that Google, now part of parent company AlphabetInc, has hired at least 65 former government officials from within the European Union since 2005. These include Tomas Gulbinas, a former ambassador-at-large for the Lithuanian government, and Georgios Mavros, a former adviser to a French member of the European parliament: both became Google lobbyists.

During the same period, 15 Google employees were appointed to government positions in Europe, gaining what the CfA claims are “valuable contacts at the heart of the decision-making process”.

In the UK, appointments include that of Baroness Joanna Shields, a former managing director for Google, who was made minister for internet safety, and Google’s executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, who David Cameron appointed to his business advisory council. Dame Margaret Hodge, former head of the Commons’ public accounts committee, told the CfA that the appointments were part of a deliberate strategy by Google to gain influence in the public sphere. “I have absolutely no doubt it’s part of their strategy,” Hodge said. “Google deliberately nurtures that culture, and I have absolutely no doubt that they see it as strategically important to be as close as they can to government.”

She added that, unlike other large American companies, such as Apple, “one gets the impression that [government] ministers are in awe of Google”.

The European commission has formally accused Google of abusing its market dominance by systematically favouring its own online comparison shopping service. It has also expressed the view that Google has abused its dominant position by imposing restrictions on manufacturers of electronic devices using Google’s Android operating system, and on mobile network operators.

According to the CfA, Google dramatically stepped up its revolving door hires in Europe in 2011, shortly after the commission launched its first investigation into alleged antitrust violations by the company.

A total of 18 “revolving door hires” were made in 2011 – more than double the previous year’s figure and more than three times the number in any other year covered by the analysis. Google hired staff from a host of European state bodies, including Poland’s ministry of economy, Nato, the European parliament, the British embassy to the US, the Lithuanian ministry of foreign affairs, and Spain’s justice ministry.

Anne Weismann, executive director of the CfA, said that the company was following a strategy it had successfully employed in the US. “Google’s influence in Washington today is unmatched,” she said. “The company regularly spends more on lobbying than any other, and our analysis found that Google’s lobbyists enjoy unrivalled access to the White House. On average, Google executives visit the White House more than once a week. At the same time, we have documented more than 250 “revolving door” 

moves between Google and the US government. Now Google appears to be trying to replicate its Washington influence machine in Europe, where it is facing mounting threats from policymakers on a variety of issues.”

Questions have been raised about who funds the Google Transparency Project. The CfA declined to say, and this prompted suspicion that it is bankrolled by rival media and internet companies keen to check the company’s power.

Supporters of Google say that it needs to hire people with policy expertise because European governments regularly seek its views on a range of issues including terrorism, child protection and copyright. Many of the visits its staff make to governments are at the requests of politicians.

A Google spokesman said: “European politicians have many questions for Google and about the internet. We’re working hard to answer those questions, helping policymakers understand our business and the opportunity for European businesses to grow online.”

But Weismann said the scale of Google’s influence was almost unprecedented. “The revolving door isn’t unique to Google,” Weismann said. “What’s surprising is how aggressively the company has hired public officials, and how little attention it has received.”

In the UK, Google has been moving into a raft of new areas now being heavily promoted by the government. “We need to rethink how we view Google,” said Tamasin Cave of the campaign group Spinwatch. “Its not a search engine, it’s a political beast that has captured the attention of our policy-makers. Most worryingly in health and education, where privatisation through technology is gathering pace. Even if our politicians have bought into its thinking, we as a public should be asking how Google’s involvement in the NHS and schools will impact them, what are the consequences, and who benefits: us or Google?”

Corruption and Legacy in Lima

As voters in Peru head to the polls, the country might elect a controversial candidate — Keiko Fujimori. But has she convinced the electorate that she’s shed the shady past of her father’s presidency?

BY SIMEON TEGEL-JUNE 3, 2016

LIMA — For a candidate with a compelling need to prove her personal integrity, Keiko Fujimori has been running an odd campaign ahead of Peru’s June 5 presidential runoff election. The key challenge weighing her down — a “very large rucksack,” as she has described it — is the profoundly corrupt legacy of her father, former right-wing strongman Alberto Fujimori who was imprisoned for 25 years in 2009 for serious human rights violations and bribing crooked journalists to attack his opponents. It was during his time as president of Peru, from 1990 to 2000, that $600 million of state fundsvanished without a trace. Meanwhile, his principal aide used to film himselfusing bribes and blackmail to co-opt key public servants, including members of the Peruvian Congress.

If Fujimori, a 41-year-old former congresswoman, has an Achilles heel, then, it is the perception that she and her loyal Popular Force party are venal characters vying to reinstate the legacy of her father and are interested in power largely to raid public coffers. Since crushing a splintered field in the first round of presidential elections in April, taking 40 percent of the vote, her commitment to clean politics and the rule of law — demonstrated bytheatrically signing a document guaranteeing freedom of the press and respect for democratic norms — has come under heavy scrutiny. Her clientelistic deal-making with shady interest groups operating on the fringes of the law, along with Popular Force’s new outright majority in Peru’s 130-member, single-chamber Congress, has left many voters, desperate for a firm hand to guide a country plagued by organized crime, cocaine trafficking, and, rampant graft, worried about a repeat of Fujimori senior’s abuses if she becomes president.

But ahead of Sunday’s runoff vote, Fujimori appears to have abandoned her efforts to cultivate an image of a kinder, gentler — and law-abiding — Fujimorismo. Last month, reports surfaced that Joaquín Ramírez, Popular Force’s general secretary and principal financier, is under investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration on suspicion of money laundering. According to the Spanish-language U.S. network Univision and the Peruvian current affairs show Cuarto Poder, Ramírez was caught on an undercover DEA wire admitting to laundering $15 million for Fujimori during her failed 2011 presidential bid. Ramírez is one of Fujimori’s closest confidants; her campaign headquarters are housed in one of his properties, and she rides around in one of his SUVs. The DEA, subsequently, issued a brief statement denying Fujimori was under investigation but pointedly avoiding any reference to Ramírez.

With the corruption and dirty deals that seem to follow Fujimori wherever she goes, the biggest risk for her heading into Sunday’s vote is that she will lose the backing of new supporters who believed her promises to respect the democratic order and crack down on crime. Her lead in the polls is narrow at best, and with an electorate deeply polarized by the Fujimorista legacy, these are the votes that could spell the difference between victory and defeat.

Still, if the Ramírez revelations have shone a harsh light on Fujimori’s commitment to the rule of law, then her recent electoral alliances appear only to have confirmed the trend of possible corruption. These alliances include winning the backing of a union leader allegedly linked to extortion in the construction industry and a public deal with the gold miners responsible for poisoning waterways and ravaging the Amazon in illegal operations. At a rally in Lima, she told the crowd that the state should stop putting “obstacles” — environmental regulations — in the miners’ way and vowed to reverse an attempt by the outgoing administration of President Ollanta Humala to formalize them. Separately, Fujimori has vowed to halt an ongoing reform of the police, an institution viewed with contempt by many Peruvians for its endemic graft and routine incompetence.

Fujimori’s critics have been quick to throw cold water on her promises to tackle crime. On the campaign trail, she has proposed restoring the death penalty and insisted she would be willing to declare a state of emergency in Lima, if necessary, and to send military patrols to crime hotspots. Former chief anti-corruption prosecutor Julio Arbizu warns that no one should be taken in by Fujimori’s populist posturing as someone who would attack crime with an iron fist. “Fujimorismo is essentially a corrupt organization,” Arbizu says, emphasizing that the movement is beyond redemption. “That is why its senior members joined the party. That is also why it’s not possible to talk about new and old Fujimorismo, as though the organization has changed its culture.”

Another prominent figure unimpressed with Fujimori’s hard-line law-and-order agenda is Richard Ortega, the national secretary of SUPP, Peru’s main police union. “Crime is a complicated problem. Her father prostituted the police and armed forces and embezzled the military-police pension fund,” he says. “Why should anyone believe Keiko now?” Cynthia McClintock, a political science professor specializing in Peru at George Washington University, says Fujimori’s clientelistic horse-trading is “scary,” adding, “This is a clear portent of what would happen if she wins, making unsavory agreements with people engaged in criminal activity.”

Yet Fujimori’s recent attempts to shore up her base — consisting mostly of poor voters across the country who revere her father for ending hyperinflation and defeating the Maoist Shining Path, whose nihilistic violence unleashed a civil war that claimed 69,000 lives — suggest she is rattled after losing the substantial lead she built up ahead of April’s first round. In that contest, she took almost twice as much as center-right former Prime Minister Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, her opponent in Sunday’s runoff. Now, after initially being in a statistical tie in the first weeks after that vote, she has once again taken the lead, by around five points, against the wonky 77-year-old businessman. Kuczynski, meanwhile, appears to have picked up votes from several other first-round candidates, including one on the far left, whose only point of agreement is that Fujimorismo’s return to power would be a risky backward step for Peru.

Fujimori has also defied conventional political strategy by tacking further right as the runoff vote looms. At a rally in May organized by Alberto Santana, an ultra-conservative evangelical preacher with a knack for outrageous public statements, she ditched previous commitments to allow abortion for rape victims and back same-sex civil unions. Santana also told the crowd, in front of Fujimori, that homosexuality was an “aberration” and blamed gays for “the pink plague” — AIDS. These moves may shore up Fujimori’s right flank, though she did subsequently seek to distance herself from Santana’s fire-and-brimstone rhetoric.

But, in a tight race, the Ramírez revelations may yet knock her off course. Her handling of the scandal has been less than skillful, perhaps because she has, until now, given only a handful of media interviews and never been seriously challenged on such basic issues as her murky campaign finances, whether she would pardon her father, and even the financing of her undergraduate education.

Minutes after the broadcast of the Ramírez report, Fujimori called intoCuarto Poder live to claim the allegation was “absolutely false” and part of a “dirty war.” She accused Kuczynski of planting the scoop. “If they think that because I am a woman, they can affect me with these kinds of accusations, they are wrong,” she said. “They will not stop me.” She then appeared to hang up on the presenters, before regaining her composure and calling back into the show.

After three days of mounting pressure, Ramírez, whose mysterious rise from charging fares on Lima buses to real estate mogul has long attracted suspicion, eventually agreed to temporarily step down as Popular Force general secretary. In a defiant speech, the congressman, like his party leader, sought to paint himself as the victim. Using a Spanish term for a mestizo Latin American, he claimed he was being targeted simply because he was a “cholo with money.”

Whether most Peruvians believe that will likely be a defining question in a race set to go right down to the wire. With endemic corruption already undermining citizens’ faith in public institutions, the outcome of the election could hardly be more critical for Peru. Whether Fujimori or Kuczynski wins, Peru’s next president will need to be seen as serious about tackling graft. Yet Fujimori, it seems, would be starting that task with a handicap that goes far beyond the “backpack” handed to her by her father.

Photo credit: MARTIN BERNETTI/AFP/Getty Images