The Scent of Desperation

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The Scent of Desperation

GEORGIA

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili had a question recently for Bidzina Ivanishvili, a pro-Russian billionaire oligarch and former prime minister who is widely viewed as the most powerful person in the former Soviet republic on the Black Sea.

“Where are you taking Georgia?” she rhetorically asked Ivanishvili in an interview with Politico.

“I’m not into conspiracy theories, but it might be (part of) a (plot),” she added, referring to an about-face by Ivanishvili’s party, Georgia Dream, to commit to setting the country on the path toward joining the European Union, a direction it had previously long opposed.

That alleged plot involves widening Russian influence in the South Caucasus country as voters prepare to elect a new parliament on Oct. 26. Even so, supporting Russia in Georgia is “politically radioactive,” wrote World Politics Review, noting that almost 80 percent of Georgians want to join the EU. That’s the reason for Georgia Dream’s back-tracking.

More true to form, Ivanishvili has suggested that his country might make peace with two breakaway regions – Abkhazia and South Ossetia – in Georgia: Russia invaded the country in 2008 and recognized the regions as independent states in a move that foreshadowed the situation in the east of Ukraine, reported Reuters.

Meanwhile, Ivanishvili appears to be gunning for Zourabichvili, who, born in France to Georgian political dissidents who fled the Soviet Union, supports her country’s bid to become part of the EU.

Lawmakers in the ruling Georgia Dream party have renewed their push to impeach the president, saying she violated the country’s constitution by making unpermitted diplomatic visits to Brussels, France and Germany, Le Monde reported. A similar effort failed last year.

Zourabichvili for her part has been meeting with opposition lawmakers in an attempt to forge a new coalition government that would oust Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze and enact a more pro-Western agenda, wrote Le Monde.

She has framed the Oct. 26 election as a crossroads. “We have a quasi-referendum on the choice between Europe or a return to an uncertain Russian past,” she told Agence France-Presse.

Analysts at the Foreign Policy Research Institute agreed, writing that while Georgia, which lies at the crossroads of energy and trade networks between Europe, Russia and China, took a pro-Western turn in the so-called Rose Revolution of 2003, its leaders have been seeking to shore up its ties with the more autocratic East.

Georgia Dream-sponsored laws, like the recent anti-LGBTQ legislation banning Pride events, as well as targeting non-governmental organizations and media outlets, are examples of the trend. Russia has adopted similar laws over the past few years.

Still, Russian leaders have denied they are seeking to exert undue influence in Georgia, reported Commersant, a Georgia-based news outlet. They claimed that if anyone was meddling in Georgian politics, it was Western politicians seeking to bring the country under their influence.

Western leaders, however, haven’t of late been cozying up to Georgia. The United Kingdom, for example, has suspended military discussions with Georgia, citing democratic backsliding, reported Devdiscourse.

Laura Linderman of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute of the American Foreign Policy Council, said Georgia, as it holds this election, “stands at a pivotal juncture.” That is because Georgia Dream “appears increasingly willing to resort to drastic measures” to maintain its grip on power as it is bleeding voters. For example, the party recently indicated that it would ban the country’s political opposition if it wins a majority in the upcoming elections.

That’s not likely to happen, say analysts, because there is growing discontent among Georgian voters, fueled by the government’s authoritarian measures and its failure to address critical economic and social issues.

Still, if it does, it could set off another revolution in the country, wrote Carnegie Politika.

“Now Georgia Dream is effectively declaring that if the opposition loses the upcoming election, it may lose its legal means of fighting for power in the future,” it wrote, adding, “there is no reason to believe that this is a bluff. In other words, the authorities themselves are putting the opposition in a situation where street battles will be key to its survival.”

THE WORLD, BRIEFLY

Tasting Nostalgia

MEXICO

Mexico’s new president, Claudia Sheinbaum, announced a new agriculture plan on Tuesday to boost “food sovereignty” in the country by returning to the staples and stores of its past, while critics blasted the initiative, saying the country has moved on, according to ABC News.

In the 1980s, meals in Mexico usually consisted of tortillas, beans, instant coffee, and cheap hot chocolate that were bought at small and shabby government-controlled stores stocking limited items. Sheinbaum’s agriculture plan aspires to revive those stores and produce more of the goods on their shelves.

“It is about producing what we eat,” Sheinbaum said of her policy. “It is much better to eat a bean taco than a bag of potato chips.”

The government aims to boost bean production by about 30 percent in six years to replace bean imports. It also aims to lower tortilla prices by 10 percent, and guarantee prices for farmers who grow the corn used in them.

The plan also includes supporting coffee production, mainly for instant coffee, which the government claims is used by 84 percent of Mexican households.

Skeptics of the plan have raised concerns that the goods chosen by the government run counter to current trends in the food industry. For example, consumption of fresh ground coffee instead of instant has grown exponentially, and specialized coffee chains and shops are ubiquitous in the country. Instant products accounted for only about 37 percent of the sales value of coffee products, according to a recent Techanvio report.

Meanwhile, bean and tortilla consumption have been dropping for decades, with Mexicans often disparaging beans as food for the poor.

Critics also pointed out that with this plan, Mexico is moving towards more central planning in its economy while also planning to produce cheaper products, bucking a trend toward higher value-added goods that bring in more revenue.

Avatar Takeover

POLAND

A Polish radio station drew criticism this week after it fired its journalists and replaced them with “presenters” generated by artificial intelligence (AI), prompting calls for laws to regulate the use of the technology, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.

On Tuesday, OFF Radio Krakow launched its new operations by airing an “interview” conducted by an AI-generated presenter mimicking the voice of the late Polish poet and Nobel laureate, Wisława Szymborska.

The station, based in the southern city of Krakow, called it “the first experiment in Poland in which journalists … are virtual characters created by AI.”

Station head Marcin Pulit explained that three AI-generated hosts were designed to reach young listeners by speaking about subjects of concern to them. He added that it is an experiment: “Is artificial intelligence more of an opportunity or a threat to media, radio and journalism? We will seek answers to this question.”

Still, the initiative sparked controversy after one former OFF Radio Krakow host Mateusz Demski published an open letter this week condemning “the replacement of employees with artificial intelligence.”

“It is a dangerous precedent that hits us all,” he wrote.

More than 15,000 people signed a petition objecting to the changes. The outrage also attracted the attention of the Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski, who called for rules in regulating AI.

“The widespread use of AI must be done for people, not against them!” the minister wrote on X.

The switch to AI-generated presenters puzzled Demski and the station’s advisory board because OFF Radio Krakow is part of the country’s public broadcasting network and funded by taxpayers.

Pulit responded to the controversy, saying that the journalists were dismissed because of poor ratings, according to Poland’s TVP World. He added that the AI experiment would last three months after which a new generation of journalists would take over.

Let’s Get Physical

CHINA

China’s National Health Commission (NHC) released its first guidelines to standardize the diagnosis and treatment of obesity, to address concerns over the rising rate of obesity in the world’s second-most populous country, Reuters reported.

The new guidelines include guidance and regulations, such as clinical nutrition, behavioral and psychological interventions, and prescribed exercise for obesity.

The commission said the regulations come as China is facing an upward morbidity trend of its overweight and obese population: Currently, more than half the population is overweight with officials warning that the rate will likely top 65 percent by 2030.

“Obesity has become a major public health issue in China, ranking as the sixth leading risk factor for death and disability in the country,” according to the new guidelines.

Local media, health professionals and academics explained that the rising trend could be attributed to the improvement of living standards in the country: More jobs are becoming sedentary and desk-bound, while agricultural work is becoming less physically demanding.

Others added that job-related issues, such as stress and long hours, coupled with an economic slowdown that means people are choosing cheaper and more unhealthy food have also contributed to the increasing obesity rate.

For centuries, China struggled to feed its population and under-nourishment was a major concern for many families. Then in the late 1970s, China embarked on economic reform following the death of leader Mao Zedong.

The guidelines come a few months after the NCH and 15 other government departments launched a three-year public awareness campaign to combat obesity.

Officials also distributed health guidelines to primary and secondary schools, urging regular screenings, daily exercise, consultations with nutritionists and creating measures for the adoption of healthier eating habits, including cutting down on salt, oil and sugar.

DISCOVERIES

Life, the Universe and Everything

A new study is providing fresh evidence that the building blocks of life may have been delivered to early Earth via meteorites.

A research team led by Rayssa Martins from the University of Cambridge’s Department of Earth Sciences tracked the chemical element zinc in meteorites to understand the origins of Earth’s “volatiles.”

These are elements or compounds that vaporize at low temperatures and are essential for life as we know it.

“One of the most fundamental questions on the origin of life is where the materials we need for life to evolve came from,” Martins said in a statement. “If we can understand how these materials came to be on Earth, it might give us clues to how life originated here and how it might emerge elsewhere.”

Their findings showed that Earth’s zinc originated from two distinct parts of the solar system. About half came from planetesimals – small rocky bodies – that formed close to the Sun.

The other half likely came from planetesimals beyond Jupiter. These distant planetesimals were less affected by solar radiation, allowing them to retain more volatiles, according to Space.com.

Martins and her colleagues discovered that melted planetesimals contributed around 70 percent of Earth’s overall mass but only 10 percent of its zinc. In contrast, unmelted planetesimals delivered most of Earth’s zinc and other essential volatiles, including water.

“Our results show there’s no guarantee that planets incorporate the right materials to have enough water and other volatiles in the first place – regardless of their physical state,” Martins noted.

The study highlights that the distance between a planet and its star is important for determining habitability, with the authors adding that the findings could assist in the search for life beyond Earth.

“Similar conditions and processes are also likely in other young planetary systems,” Martins said.

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