The Art of Gaslighting
NEED TO KNOW
The Art of Gaslighting
GUINEA-BISSAU
Speaking at the COP29 climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan recently, Guinea-Bissau President Umaro Sissoco Embaló detailed his government’s “strategic actions” to mitigate the impacts of climate change on his Portuguese-speaking nation.
These measures, he said, according to Voice of America, include growing mangroves to blunt rising sea levels and halt ecological degradation. They are crucial, he added, because climate changes are becoming extremely dangerous for Guinea-Bissau.
Residents such as 70-year-old Aghoti Sanhan, can attest to that.
“The sea keeps coming toward us,” Sanhan told the World Economic Forum recently. “The fields have been ruined by the seawater. (The) land is getting smaller and many people have abandoned the village. One day, I will have to make a decision to abandon this house, too.”
Sanhan’s house lacks electricity and running water, a common problem in the Atlantic coastal nation even though the World Bank determined that Guinea-Bissau possesses the “highest natural capital per capita in West Africa,” meaning lots of untapped potential given its natural resources.
Inadequate infrastructure, dependence on agriculture, the exposure of low-lying coastal areas to climate change risks, organized crime – the country is a key transit hub for illegal narcotics from Latin America to Europe – the suppression of civil society, and political issues are among the obstacles to positive change, the institution wrote.
Illustrating the situation was the president’s recent decision to postpone parliamentary elections indefinitely.
As Agence France-Presse wrote, Embaló dissolved parliament in December 2023 after what he described as a failed coup attempt. Afterward, he scheduled new elections for Nov. 24 this year. But just weeks before the elections, he scrapped them. That turn of events was the latest in a history of corruption, coups, and other disruptions in the country, World Politics Review noted.
Not having a parliament might make Embaló’s life easier. He was elected in late 2019 to govern for a five-year term. Remarkably, aiming to quell accusations that he is trying to consolidate his power to remain in office indefinitely, Embaló has pledged not to run for reelection when his term ends, Africa News reported.
However, since elections were legally supposed to be held this year and he’s canceled them, that means little, wrote Deutsche Welle, adding that it is likely he will actually run again.
The president’s actions may not be a bad thing if he uses the extra time to improve the country’s institutions, especially the judiciary, argued Paulin Maurice Toupane of the Institute for Security Studies.
But he added that it could increase instability and backfire on the presidents. Others, however, believe that the country is headed for another coup.
Alex Vines, the Africa director at Chatham House, told Inkstick earlier this year that the “failure of security sector reform, penetration of organized crime and the absence of credible institutions” are continuing to increase instability in Guinea-Bissau.
“Under Mr. Embaló’s increasingly authoritarian rule, further clampdowns on opposition leaders should be expected – often justified through claims of preserving national security – in the foreseeable future … The dissolution of parliament further highlights the fragility of governability and the risk of a further coup attempt.”
THE WORLD, BRIEFLY
Cord-Cutting
EUROPE
Two undersea data cables in the Baltic Sea were severed in separate incidents earlier this week, sparking suspicions of Russian sabotage, with a Chinese-registered vessel also under investigation after being tracked near the damage sites, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The first incident involved a 135-mile cable connecting Sweden’s Gotland Island to Lithuania, which was cut Sunday morning. The second involved a 730-mile cable (C-Lion 1) linking Helsinki, Finland, to Rostock, Germany, being damaged the following night.
Swedish, Finnish and Lithuanian authorities have launched a preliminary investigation, concluding the damage is likely a result of human interference. Investigators suggested a deliberate act of sabotage, noting that the cables intersect in Sweden’s economic zone.
Further complicating matters, the Yi Peng 3, a Chinese-registered bulk carrier, was tracked near the cables at the time of the incidents, according to Newsweek. The vessel was en route from Russia to Egypt but was apprehended by the Danish Navy and is now under investigation.
While the incidents caused minor disruptions, observers warned that repeated sabotage of undersea cables could disrupt global Internet traffic, compromise financial markets and strain NATO’s ability to coordinate defenses in real time.
Amid the ongoing probe, Western officials have pointed to Russia’s history of hybrid operations: German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius described the incidents as “sabotage,” while Finnish Foreign Minister Antti Häkkänen cited Russia’s “capability and willingness” to target Europe’s infrastructure, Politico noted.
Kremlin officials denied Moscow’s involvement, calling the accusations “absurd.”
Past incidents, such as the Nord Stream gas pipeline explosions in September 2022, have been attributed to Russia’s strategy of destabilizing NATO and European Union countries. Even so, investigations have linked Ukrainians to the sabotage, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Regardless, analysts suggested that the weekend disruptions highlight the escalating strategic importance of the Baltic Sea, often referred to as the “NATO Lake” – particularly after Finland and Sweden joined NATO following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
They noted that Moscow’s objective is to sow fear, tie up Western resources, and weaken NATO’s unity by stoking political divisions over aid to Ukraine.
In response, NATO and the EU officials have pledged to enhance protections for critical infrastructure.
Cleaning House
BRAZIL
Brazilian authorities arrested five officers this week for allegedly plotting to overthrow the government following the 2022 presidential elections and assassinate the incoming president, in a conspiracy aimed at undermining Brazil’s democracy and judicial authority, the Associated Press reported.
The detained officers included four special operations military personnel, one of whom is a retired brigadier general, and another a federal police officer.
On Tuesday, authorities alleged that the suspects planned to kill then-President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. Evidence showed they monitored their targets as early as November 2022 and considered methods such as poison and explosives, officials said.
One operation in December 2022 aimed to capture de Moraes near a parking lot but was aborted at the last moment.
De Moraes – who authorized the arrests – said the actions were part of a broader effort to prevent Lula’s inauguration and destabilize Brazil’s institutions.
Justice Minister Ricardo Lewandowski said Lula was “shocked” by the scale of the plot, Bloomberg noted.
Among those detained was Mário Fernandes, a retired brigadier general who served in former President Jair Bolsonaro’s cabinet until the end of his term.
Fernandes allegedly provided financial support to pro-Bolsonaro protest camps and was linked to documents detailing a “Crisis Cabinet” of 11 military officers that would take power after a coup.
Investigators found some documents were printed inside the presidential palace during Bolsonaro’s term.
Lula narrowly defeated Bolsonaro in the October 2022 election, but has faced ongoing unrest from his far-right supporters, including the Jan. 8, 2023 protests when pro-Bolsonaro supporters stormed the main government buildings in the capital Brasília in an attempt to oust Lula a week after his inauguration.
Bolsonaro – who left for the United States before Lula’s January inauguration – is now facing a series of criminal investigations, including for his role in the riots.
Tuesday’s arrests come amid heightened political tensions in Brazil.
Last Wednesday, a man detonated an explosive device outside the Supreme Court, an act that de Moraes attributed to the ongoing surge of far-right attacks and hate speech directed at Brazil’s institutions.
Federal police are treating the incident as an act of terrorism.
Liberty, Caged
HONG KONG
China escalated its attempt to suppress political dissent in Hong Kong this week, jailing dozens of pro-democracy activists for as long as a decade, sparking outrage on the island and internationally, the Guardian reported.
On Tuesday, a court sentenced 45 pro-democracy activists, which included former legislators and academics, who were part of the group known as Hong Kong 47, to jail terms ranging from two months to 10 years.
The Hong Kong 47 had been arrested in 2021 for their participation in an unofficial primary election that was held in July 2020, under the city’s national security law (NSL) that was imposed by Beijing in response to pro-democracy protests the year before. More than 600,000 people voted in the unofficial election.
Joshua Wong, a student leader from the 2014 Umbrella movement who was once the most recognizable face of the pro-democracy movement, was sentenced to four years and eight months after pleading guilty. Benny Tai, an academic, was sentenced to 10 years because of his role as organizer of the primaries, the longest sentence given so for violating the NSL.
The trial was overseen by three government-picked judges and no jury due to the provisions of the NSL, which critics have deemed punitive, noted the Guardian.
Simultaneously, Jimmy Lai, the media tycoon behind the tabloid “Apple Daily,” which is a regular target of China’s ire, is also battling charges of foreign collusion under the NSL and an additional charge of sedition. He is facing life in prison, according to CNN.
Lai,77, was arrested in 2020 and pleaded not guilty to the charges in January. On Wednesday, taking a stand at his trial, Lai said he never tried to influence foreign policy, never advocated for independence or asked foreign officials to take concrete action on Hong Kong.
Western countries and rights groups have demanded Lai’s release from solitary confinement, due to concerns for his health.
For human rights groups and Western nations, these two cases under the NSL highlight the steep decline in civil liberties such as freedom of speech, assembly and political participation in Hong Kong over the past five years.
Officials in Hong Kong and Beijing have rejected the criticism, saying that Lai is a “political tool of foreign forces trying to curb China through Hong Kong” and that “no one should be allowed to use democracy as a pretext to escape (the) law.”
DISCOVERIES
The Wet Dog Shake
A drenched canine vigorously shaking off water everywhere – it’s a reflex dog owners often dread. But beneath this chaotic movement lies a surprisingly complex neurological mechanism, according to a new study.
Researchers at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Harvard Medical School identified the neural circuitry behind the so-called “wet dog shake,” a behavior found in other furry mammals, such as mice and lions.
They discovered that a specific class of sensory neurons, known as C-fiber low-threshold mechanoreceptors (C-LTMRs), is key to triggering the shaking reflex. These neurons wrap around hair follicles and can detect bending caused by water droplets or other irritants, according to Popular Science.
In their experiments, the research team applied water and sunflower oil to the necks of lab mice, where the behavior is harder to counteract by licking. Nearly all unmodified mice shook off the stimuli within 10 seconds.
But when the team genetically modified some mice to remove most of their C-LTMRs, the shaking frequency dropped by as much as 58 percent. Blocking the spinal cord’s neural signals or interfering with the brain’s parabrachial nucleus – an area that processes pain, touch and temperature – produced similar results.
The findings suggest that the shake is not just for show: It’s an efficient way to prevent discomfort from too much water and protect the mammal from hypothermia, parasite infestation and other risks.
“Essentially, it’s a defensive system to get rid of potentially harmful stimuli that’s on their fur,” co-author Dawei Zhang told Live Science.
Thomas Knöpfel, a neuroscientist at Hong Kong Baptist University who was not involved in the study, told Nature that the behavior is a “very coordinated motor response.”
He added that the findings offer a good starting point to study how the brain sends commands to control the movement.
Meanwhile, the authors hope that the research could open doors to studying similar conditions in humans, such as skin hypersensitivity, and even the neural coordination behind other repetitive movements.