Suchergebnisse

Momentum in Washington to cut or eliminate U.S. funding for a United Nations agency that aids Palestinians is moving forward almost entirely unchecked. But it's based on unproven allegations — largely uncritically amplified by U.S. media — that the agency's staff had links to Hamas's Oct. 7 attack on Israel. The allegations are contained in an Israeli government dossier claiming that 13 employees (one of which was not identified), out of a total of 13,000, at the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) either took part or assisted in the Hamas-led atrocities. Israel notified UNRWA of the allegations early last month and authorities at the U.N. agency immediately fired the 12 employees without conducting an investigation. News of the allegations broke soon thereafter which opened the floodgates of knee-jerk reactions, including donor countries pausing their funding for UNRWA — which could result in millions of Palestinians in Gaza stranded without aid amid a humanitarian crisis —and efforts in Washington to cut UNRWA's funding entirely and forever.Meanwhile, these debates have been buttressed by inaccurate media coverage of Israel's allegations. More specifically, many major U.S. news outlets have been leaving out one key detail when reporting on the Israeli dossier: while the Israelis make a number of claims and accusations that they say are based on intelligence and other source data, the document itself contains no direct evidence that these 12 identified UNRWA employees participated in or assisted the Oct. 7 attack. Some outlets at least tried to make this point clear in wider stories or segments on the saga. For example, the Associated Press has noted that the Israelis provided no evidence. CBS News's Debora Patta noted on the network's Nightly News program on January 29 that in the document, "Israel accuses 12 UNRWA employees of being involved in the October 7 Hamas attack, including the kidnapping of Israeli citizens," adding, "But they have yet to provide evidence substantiating these claims."CNN reported that the network "has not seen the intelligence that underlies the summary of allegations" and that that summary "does not provide evidence to support its claims." CNN anchor Anna Coren asked Ophir Falk, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyhu, to provide evidence — which he could not — and wondered why the alleged perpetrators haven't been arrested. "Well the first step is for them to be fired," Falk said. Outside of the AP, CBS, and CNN, major U.S. media reporting on this issue has largely accepted the Israeli claims or have even gone further as to advance the Israeli narrative on UNRWA. The New York Times, for example, has published several stories on the UNRWA saga, and none of them have mentioned that the Israeli dossier has no specific evidence (it's probably worth noting here that one of the reporters covering this issue for the Times once served in the Israeli Defense Forces).The Wall Street Journal published a lengthy article giving credence to the Israeli allegations and in another, reported that the dossier "is the most detailed look yet at the widespread links between the UNRWA employees and militants." Another Journal article said the allegations are "a blow" to UNRWA without telling readers the dossier provides no evidence. Meanwhile, ABC World News Tonight's report on the dossier not only failed to tell its viewers it contains no specific evidence, but it went a step further reporting that "the U.N. has not denied the claims."Others like NBC Nightly News and the Washington Post provided lengthy coverage of the Israeli allegations and mention only in passing that the outlets have not independently verified the claims. Conversely, some non-traditional media outlets have been more forceful in their coverage of the dossier, making the lack of evidence a key feature of their reporting. For example, Breaking Points' Krystal Ball this week took the Israeli claims to task. "It is literally just a[n] evidence-free list of allegations, …no actual evidence is provided," she said, adding, "Now maybe they did participate and maybe they didn't. I can tell you there is definitely not enough that has been provided to say anything about this. Again, zero evidence provided."Most of the mainstream reports also omit key contextual information, like for example, that UNRWA routinely provides the Israeli government with a list of the names of its employees, or that many on the right in Israel, and their allies in the United States, have been trying to shut down UNRWA for decades because they believe the U.N. agency legitimizes Palestinians' claims to land they say was stolen by Israel. "There has been a long standing aim for Republicans and some Democrats in Congress to defund UNRWA long before Oct. 7, as they see the agency as responsible for enabling the right of return to be an ever growing final status issue," Joel Braunold, managing director of the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace, told RS. Indeed, the Biden administration worked with Senate leaders this week on an aid bill that would bar any funding from going to UNRWA and prevent any funding going to the agency that has already been allocated to it. And the House is now considering a bill that would permanently block U.S. funds to UNRWA."While the bipartisan consensus is not where the House is currently, the Overton window has shifted closer to those wishing for congressional cut off to the agency," Braunold said. Meanwhile, UNRWA says it will run out of money by the end of February if donor countries like the United States continue to withhold their funding. Top U.N. officials are pleading with donors to keep the agency funded. "Our humanitarian operation, on which 2 million people depend as a lifeline in Gaza, is collapsing," UNRWA Commissioner-General Phillipe Lazzarini said in a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter. "Palestinians in Gaza did not need this additional collective punishment."Former UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness is asking wealthy countries in the region to underwrite the aid agency should its funding collapse at the end of the month. "Some of the most desperate people in the Middle East are now facing starvation, they're facing famine, and the Arab states need to step up to the plate," he said.It appears that the Biden administration agrees with that sentiment. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby even suggested recently that the administration would support UNRWA even if a formal investigation finds that the 12 employees assisted Hamas's attack. "I do think it's important to remember that UNRWA does important work across the region, certainly in Gaza," he said last week on NBC's Today Show. "They have helped save thousands of lives and we shouldn't impugn the good work of a whole agency because of the terrible allegations lobbied against just a small number of their employees."

Academia has long been misunderstood in so many ways.  That folks don't understand the academic job market has long been a theme here.  Lately, folks have been wondering about our motives, with some of this questioning the integrity of the average academic.  So, let me take the lenses we apply to politicians and focus them on the average North American academic.  To be clear, there are exceptions, such as the recent scandal about a climate change scholar taking big bucks from polluters to shill for them.  But when I focus on the basics, these tend to apply to most folks, at least in the research university landscape.I raise this today because folks think that we academics may sell our souls for grant money.  I have been asked whether I filter what I say in order to get ahead in this business.  Folks who know me giggle at the idea that I filter myself much.  So, what does it take to get ahead in academia, and does the desire for/pressure to get government money lead folks to be less critical?Since we assume that politicians are careerists, that they are motivated by the desire for election and then re-election, it is only fair that folks assume about academics that they are motivated by the desire to be employed and then promoted.  What does it take to get a job and then promoted?  A shit ton of luck these days.  But mostly academic publications.  We don't get academic jobs in the US or Canada (I can't speak about Mexico or elsewhere) because we do television or radio or say nice things about the government.  We get jobs and we get promoted almost entirely based on how many articles/books we publish, where they are published, whether other academics cite our stuff.  Where does the money come in?  It matters--and how much it matters varies by discipline--but grant money (not consulting money, more on that later) pays for the research, which then gets us the publications.  Some folks need less grant money than others.  If you need to travel to do fieldwork or to access archives, that costs money. If you need research assistants to code data, they don't work for free (ok, sometimes they work for academic credits or for co-authorship, but mostly they work for pay).  As I have said elsewhere, grant money rarely goes into our pockets.*  Getting back to publishing, does sucking up to the powers that be get you more pubs?  Well, if you mean government, no.  If you mean the bigger names in the field, that depends on the journal/editor/reviewers.  But mostly what sells a paper are a combination of whether it asks an interesting question (interesting to the editor, to the reviewers), whether it poses an interesting answer (ditto), whether the methods are rigorous and perhaps funky (innovative methods can help... and maybe hurt), whether it has important ramifications.  None of this is aimed at the government--while funding trends can drive research to a certain area, like counterterrorism after 9/11 and counterinsurgency after the US poured gasoline all over Iraq and Afghanistan, the reviewers and editors are the key audiences.  So, what drives our research agendas?  This cartoon illustrates it nicely: That is, profs study the stuff that interests them.  We are driven by curiosity.  I always say we can't control where we do our work, but we can control what our work is.  Scholars vary widely in what they choose to study and why they choose to study whatever it is they study, but it is largely up to them, especially after tenure.  Sure, a department hires a prof to do something, like teach and research International Relations, and maybe something more specific like International Trade, but the questions they ask, the methods they use, the answers they get are not stuff that anyone but the scholar controls.  Some profs may aim their research at hot topics thinking that will get them better publications, but we suck at evaluating what is going to be hot in two to seven years--it takes a while to do the research and then more time to publish.  So, yes, folks can try to game things, but mostly profs study what they want and how they want because that is why they became profs.  So, in all of Marvel-dom, this particular scientist just wants to turn people into dinosaurs, and that might be the most realistic villain--a PhD with a specific interest due to their own preferences.  Other stuff matters in career progression--networking so that the right people end up writing your letters and inviting to you to various reindeer games--edited volume projects, special issues, etc.  But pandering to donors?  Not really a thing.There is, of course, one potential exception to all of this--consulting.  As profs are experts in their area, folks in the public and private sectors may want to hire some to provide their insights.  And then, yeah, the prof may aim at telling the funder what they want to hear.  Profs should list who they consult for--I have seem some economists with very fulsome conflict of interest statements.  Poli sci doesn't have quite the same norms, at least not yet.  In my mind, I do think there is a world of difference between grants and consulting contracts, but I don't have much experience in the latter so I can't speak to it as well.   Is there careerism in academia?  Certainly.  But it does not operate the way some may suggest--ego, ambition, and even greed matter, but who we pander to is not so obvious nor does the pandering lead to betraying most of our ideals and findings.  As always, if you wonder what is driving us, read our stuff.*In the US, there is this strange thing called summer money--that since
one is often technically employed for 9 months, a grant can include some
money for summer wages.  That does not exist in Canada since we are on 12
month contracts.  And, yes, fellowships can cover food/rent/etc, unlike grants.  I recently received a fellowship that will help cover my income since my sabbatical income is 85% of my normal income.

Let's just say the timing of the old Bossier
political establishment isn't great this legislative election cycle.

The Benton courthouse gang and major portions of
the Bossier Parish School Board and Bossier City Council prefer compliant state
legislators who won't work in support of forcing accountability and limited government
onto local governments and will carry their water to milk the state as much as
possible for their preferred interests. By those metrics, a couple of area
legislators have provoked the establishment's ire.

As a result of reapportionment, six districts will
represent substantial portions of Bossier Parish from 2024 on. One is a new
House district that extends south of the parish line and three others involve
unquestionably fiscal and social conservative incumbents: GOP state Reps. Danny McCormick
and Raymond Crews
and Republican state Sen. Robert
Mills. In their initial elections, both Crews and Mills faced establishment-backed
candidates (brothers, in fact), but won.

However, in the minds of the Bossier establishment
as far as two other consistent conservatives go, they crossed a line. GOP state
Rep. Dodie Horton upset the bunch
when she
successfully brought legislation to put mild accountability controls on
members of the Board of Commissioners to the Cypress Black
Bayou Recreation and Water Conservation District. The Board is a patronage
sink for Bossier governments that spent
tens of thousands of dollars in fruitless legal expenses and more on grandiose,
unrealistic plans.

The establishment coalesced around area businessman
Republican Chris Turner (no
relation to Republican state Rep. Chris Turner a few
dozen miles to the east), campaign finance
records show to oppose Horton. In the latter third of 2022 he raised
$119,000 and spent almost half to introduce himself to District 9 voters
(Cypress Black Bayou Commissioner Walter O. Bigby was one who gave the maximum,
and early, to Turner).

However, Horton raised funds throughout 2022 and
ended the first quarter of the year with almost twice as much as Turner had
at the end of the previous year (Horton, who is not compelled by law to do so,
filed a disclosure form through Apr. 7; legislative candidates legally must
file one for all of this year to date in September). In contrast to Turner, whose
main sources of funds came from business entities, Horton relied more on individuals,
political action committees, and fellow elected officials.

She may well have expected this broader base of
support, not only because she is a two-term incumbent but also as she has backed,
and scored, big legislative wins. She is the sponsor of HB 466, which
would ban classroom or extracurricular expressions extraneous to educating
students that focus on sexual activity and gives parents control over the names
and pronouns that refer to their children, a similar bill to one that reached
the floor of the House last year. This year, it heads to the Senate with a
better-then-even chance of passing into law.

She also has a record of fiscal conservatism to go
along with social conservatism, giving her the past term a score of 95 on the Louisiana Legislature Log voting scorecard
(higher scores, with 100 the maximum, denote greater conservatism/reformism), issue
preferences very much in line with her somewhat-redrawn district. She's part of
the Louisiana Conservative
Caucus which, to date, has forced the Legislature to pare back unwise
spending in this year's budget, as well as the Louisiana
Freedom Caucus that focuses on a conservative agenda. Her record makes it
difficult for Turner to claim he could vote any more in line with district preferences,
and he has no record of accomplishment like Horton's.

Publicizing her work and success on HB 466 alone
can negate any claim to better representation that Turner could make, plus she
can draw upon a long record of district service not only while in office but as
a legislative assistant before that (although reapportionment changed the boundaries
somewhat). Nonetheless, expect the Bossier establishment to do its best, if it
can't beat her, to make her work hard as a warning to other politicians not to
oppose it in future battles.

However, the establishment really is upset with term-limited
Republican state Rep. Alan Seabaugh, one of the most visible conservatives in the Legislature and vying for the dramatically reshaped Senate District 31, which has extended its
territory focused around Natchitoches northward into southern Bossier, as well
as Caddo, Parishes. He committed the sin of backing certain insurgent
candidates in Bossier City elections in 2021 and has political influence in
northwest Louisiana beyond his office that threatens it.

A disruptor like this the good old boys don't want
in power, and so they – allied with the almost-extinct big-government white
Democrat machines extending south to Natchitoches – found
perhaps the best candidate possible to put up against him, former Bossier
Parish Community College and Northwestern State University basketball coach Mike McConathy. He checks off important
of boxes: blank slate but lots of goodwill from his sporting career, pals with
the likes of former Bossier Parish Democrat-then-Republican state Rep. Billy
Montgomery (who ended his political career as a functionary for Bossier Parish
government), Democrat former state Sen. Don Kelly, and RINO-like state Sen. Louie Bernard (the incumbent who
Seabaugh chased from attempting reelection; all three personally or through
entities they control have donated to McConathy), and able to sound
conservative on plenty of issues.

But, if anything, Seabaugh also can
out-conservative his opponent (his Log score for this term is 93) and
demonstrate even more legislative effectiveness than can Horton. He can remind
voters how in 2018 he helped to prevent extending part of the 2016 sales tax increase
that has saved taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars since and was a leader
in tort reform, although mild. More recently, he leads the Freedom Caucus and
has a hand in building support for the several conservative bills it has backed
and the right-sized budget. So far, these have advanced relentlessly. Finally,
he's picked up endorsements from gubernatorial favorite Republican Atty. Gen. Jeff Landry and the area's popular
congressman, Republican Rep. Mike
Johnson.

And, in keeping with the history of northwest
Louisiana Senate contests, Seabaugh has plenty of resources at his disposal.
McConathy did well to raise
nearly $120,000 in the last four months of 2022, mostly from large donors
from the Natchitoches region although he spent almost half of it, but Seabaugh
pulled in over a quarter-million bucks in 2022 and has approaching $400,000
available.

So, in both cases, the Bossier establishment
politicians will be asking voters to take chances on a pair of newcomers with
not much initial name recognition and no record in place in exchange for two well-funded
staunch conservatives with records to prove that in two of the most
conservative districts in the state who this year have made consequential, highly-publicized
and odds-on successful efforts to advance a conservative agenda, just in time for
elections. That makes for a tall order for anybody to beat either.

Still, Bossier's good old boys just can't lay down
on this and will give it their best shot. Thus, expect spirited contests that
will ensure full employment of area and state political consultants and dollars
aplenty for local media.

This thesis consists of five chapters: the first three deal with the evolution of Chinese foreign aid from its inception to the publishing of China's first foreign aid White Paper in 2011; the two remaining chapters are reform case studies taking us up to the present. Chapter 1, "Relational Foreign Aid: Tracing the Origins of the Chinese Aid Thinking", traces the origins of the concepts that are considered basic principles of China's foreign aid today and explains when and in which context they were formulated first. Furthermore, the chapter suggests that China's early foreign aid was likely influenced by interactions between the Chinese Communists and the representatives of the United States in China. It shows, in particular, how the Communists' attempts to obtain economic assistance from the U.S. and the U.S.'s denial of ideological grounds on ideological grounds appear to have shaped the principle of political non-interference. Finally, chapter 1 argues that Chinese foreign aid was relational, in the sense of trying to find "common interests" (gongtong liyi 共同利益) in order to create relational power and overcome the international isolation China was faced with after 1949, and claim the China seat from the Republic of China (on Taiwan) in the United Nations General Assembly. Drawing on the Relational Theory of world politics, proposed by Qin Yaqing's 秦亚青 (2018), it analyses how foreign aid was linked to constructed common interest of building economic independence, which China saw as a precondition for political independence. In the process, this chapter challenges several dominant assumptions: first, that foreign aid was dominated by Mao Zedong and driven by ideology, and second, that Chinese aid was "merely an extension of Soviet aid". Chapter 2, "The Long March to "Win-Win": Assembling Chinese Foreign Aid Thinking", continues my historical enquiry and fills a gap that has been largely neglected in the research on Chinese foreign aid: the years between 1978 and 1995. It zooms in on government-linked foreign aid discourses and argues that the major foreign aid reform of 1995, namely the introduction of foreign aid concessional loans (对外援助优惠贷款) managed by the newly set-up China Exim Bank, were the outcome of a reform process, that started in 1979. Thereby, the chapter first debunks the assumptions that foreign aid lost its importance with the new leadership, often found in the literature on Chinese aid. It shows that, quite to the contrary, it was in 1979 (at least according to known documents) that foreign aid was explicitly called a strategic foreign policy tool, which was indispensable to secure a stable international environment for China's modernisation policy. It argues that the new "Four Principles of Economic and Technical Co-operation" (Jingji jishu hezuo de si xiang yuanze经济技术合作的四项原则), whose emphasis on "co-operation" was perceived by many as a departure from aid, in fact, represented an attempt to strike a delicate balance between finding ways to maintain good relations with recipients and to promote China's own economic development. Second, this chapter uses primary and secondary source material to show that the shift away from aid toward economic co-operation-which China's government had indeed sought and which works on Chinese aid or Sino-African relations repeatedly described as having occurred in the early 1980s-essentially did not take place. This happened only after China faced a new crisis: the Tian'anmen square protests, which ended with a violent crackdown and led to sanctions imposed by Western countries. It was then perceived as necessary to significantly increase aid to developing countries in order to ensure their political support – and this, in turn, led to the creation of foreign aid concessional loans as a new mode of aid delivery. Finally, the chapter argues that in order to understand the thinking and action logic behind Chinese foreign aid today, one has to understand the assemblage of Chinese concessional loans. Chapter 3, "Chinese Aid Meets the West – Tracing (Hidden) Reform Debates", discusses how contrary to widespread assumptions in the West that behind Chinese aid there was a clearly defined strategy, the Chinese aid system was (and in fact, still is) characterised by policy experimentation. As argued by Sebastian Heilmann (2018, 111), policy experimentation has been an asset and the key to the adaptability of China's political economy, allowing this authoritarian regime to find innovative solutions to long-standing or newly emerging challenges. Yet, in foreign aid policy experimentation has created a system that is described as highly complex, fragmented and ineffective by its stakeholders. The chapter follows a foreign aid reform debate that started in 2010 – and initiated a reform process that is still ongoing. Although this debate addressed many of the concerns DAC donors voiced towards Chinese aid after 2005, it remained "hidden" because it was conducted almost exclusively in Chinese. The chapter concludes by analysing the first visible outcome of this (hidden) reform debate: the White Paper on China's Foreign Aid which was published in 2011 and spelt out the official master narrative for Chinese foreign aid for the first time in the history of Chinese aid. Chapter 4, "Reform of the Foreign Aid Administration" and Chapter 5, "Credit Risk Management Regulations for Chinese Policy Banks", introduce two reform case studies: The first case study deals with the introduction of the first comprehensive legal document on foreign aid, the "Measures for the Administration of Foreign Aid" in 2014 (MOFCOM 2014b), and the establishment of the new foreign aid agency China Internationa Development Co-operation Agency (CIDCA) in 2018, which replaced the Ministry of Commerce as the lead administration actor for foreign aid. The second case study deals with the introduction of new credit risk management regulations for China's two policy banks, China Development Bank (CDB) 国家开发银行 and China Export-Import (Exim) Bank 中国进出口银行, which issue Chinese government loans to developing countries: the "Measures for the Supervision and Administration" (Jiandu guanli banfa 监督管理办法), issued in November 2017. The function of the case studies is not only to analyse the legal documents and legal processes at the centre of both reforms. Rather, they serve as exemplary cases of how major reforms, which addressed aspects of Chinese aid that have been hotly debated in the West, went completely unnoticed because the related information was available only in Chinese. Furthermore, the case studies are also methodological suggestions on how to trace reforms as they unfold. The thesis concludes with five arguments: China's foreign aid is relational; it is based on policy experimentation; it is guided by historical memory, which is in part responsible for the fact that China's foreign aid is an externalisation of China's domestic modernisation policy; China's foreign aid is not a China story but a global story, it is embedded in a global context and has been directly or indirectly shaped by global shifts.

Цель: исследовать морфологические и морфометрические изменения миокарда на фоне клеточной кардиомиопластики при экспериментальном инфаркте миокарда.Материалы и методы: Эксперимент выполнялся на 142 крысах линии Вистар-Кайота, весом 200-220 г, которые содержались в условиях вивария отдела экспериментальной хирургии ГУ «Институт неотложной и восстановительной хирургии им. В.К. Гусака НАМН Украины» в период с 2012 по 2013 гг. Породу Вистар-Кайота использовали потому, что она является инбредной, что минимизирует реакцию отторжения, благодаря её генетической однородности. Животные содержались в виварии в условиях 12-часового светового дня, комнатной температуры и доступа к воде и пище at libitum при температуре воздуха +20 - + 22 ° С, влажности не более 50 %, в световом режиме - день-ночь. Использование животных в эксперименте проводилось в соответствии с правилами, регламентированными «Европейской конвенцией по надзору и защите позвоночных животных, используемых в экспериментальных и других научных целях» (Страсбург, 1986), Директивы Совета Европейского Союза от 24.11.86 г. и распоряжения МОЗ Украины № 32 от 22.02.88 г. Индукцию инфаркта миокарда (ИМ) осуществляли по разработанной нами методике в условиях общего обезболивания. Отдельную группу составляли 20 самцов, которых мы использовали в качестве доноров мезенхимальных стволовых клеток (МСК) для дальнейшего исследования по Y-хромосоме хоуминга клеток в организме. Культивирования МСК проводили в смеси питательных сред DMEM / F12, 1:1, (Sigma, США). Материалом для морфологических исследований были участки миокарда лабораторных животных. Для оценки морфометрических показателей выполняли гистохимические методики по прописям, которые приведены в указаниях по гистохимии. Иммуногистохимическое исследование проводили на парафиновых срезах толщиной 5-6 мкм непрямым методом Кунса по методике Brosman (1979 г.).Результаты. Было установлено, что клеточная кардиомиопластика значительно улучшает структуру постинфарктного сердца, проявляется в уменьшении зоны рубца и соединительной ткани соответственно, увеличении количества сосудов и процента сохранившихся мышечных волокон. Наилучшие результаты были достигнуты при интрамиокардиальном введении, что требует подтверждения данного факта при клиническом исследовании.Выводы. Клеточная кардиомиопластика при любом способе введения клеточного трансплантата положительно влияет как на морфологический субстрат сердца в виде уменьшения размеров рубца при постинфарктном ремоделировании, увеличение количества новообразованных сосудов и увеличение процента сохранившихся кардиомиоцитов. Это происходит за счет хоуминга МСК в зону ишемии и общности двух механизмах – непосредственного дифференцирования в клетки эндотелия сосудов сердца, а также за счет паракринного эффекта ; Мета: дослідити морфологічні і морфометричні зміни міокарда на тлі клітинної кардіоміопластики при експериментальному інфаркті міокарда.Матеріали та методи: Експеримент виконувався на 142 щурах лінії Вістар-Кайота, вагою 200-220 г, які містилися в умовах віварію відділу експериментальної хірургії ДУ «Інститут невідкладної і відновної хірургії ім. В.К. Гусака НАМН України» в період з 2012 по 2013 рр. Породу Вістар-Кайота використовували тому, що вона є інбредною, що мінімізує реакцію відторгнення, завдяки її генетичної однорідності. Тварини утримувались у віварії в умовах 12-годинного світлового дня, кімнатної температури і доступу до води та їжі at libitum при температурі повітря +20 - +22°С, вологості не більше 50 %, в світловому режимі – день-нічь. Використання тварин в експерименті проводилось відповідно з правилами, регламентованими «Європейською конвенцією по нагляду і захисту хребетних тварин, які використовуються в експериментальних та інших наукових цілях» (Страсбург, 1986), Директиви Ради Європейської Співдружності від 24.11.86 г. та розпорядження МОЗ України №32 від 22.02.88 р. Індукцію інфаркту міокарда (ІМ) здійснювали за розробленою нами методикою в умовах загального знеболення. Окрему групу становили 20 самців, яких ми використовували в якості донорів мезенхімальних стовбурових клітин (МСК) задля подальшого дослідження по Y-хромосомі хоумінга клітин в організмі. Культивування МСК проводили в суміші живильних середовищ DMEM / F12, 1:1, (Sigma, США). Матеріалом для морфологічних досліджень були ділянки міокарда лабораторних тварин. Для оцінки морфометричних показників виконували гістохімічні методики за прописами, які наведені у вказівках з гістохімії. Імуногістохімічне дослідження проводили на парафінових зрізах, товщиною 5–6 мкм непрямим методом Кунса за методикою Brosman (1979 р.).Результати. Було встановлено, що клітинна кардіоміопластіка значно покращує структуру постінфарктного серця, що проявляється в зменшенні зони рубця і сполучної тканини відповідно, збільшенні кількості судин і відсотка збережених м'язових волокон. Найкращі результати були досягнуті при інтраміокардіальному введенні, що вимагає підтвердження даного факту при клінічному дослідженні.Висновки. Клітинна кардіоміопластіка при будь-якому способі введення клітинного трансплантата позитивно впливає як на морфологічний субстрат серця у вигляді зменшення розмірів рубця при постінфарктному ремоделюванні, збільшення кількості новостворених судин і збільшення відсотка збережених кардіоміоцитів. Це відбувається за рахунок хоумінга МСК в зону ішемії та спільності двох механізмах - безпосереднього диференціювання в клітини ендотелію судин серця, а також за рахунок паракринного ефекту ; The aim: to study the morphological and morphometric changes in the myocardium against the background of cellular cardiomyoplasty in experimental myocardial infarction.Materials and methods: the experiment was carried out on 142 Wistar-Kyoto rats weighing 200-220 g, which were kept in the vivarium of the Department of Experimental Surgery of the State Institution "Institute of Emergency and Reconstructive Surgery named after V. K. Gusak of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine" in the period from 2012 to 2013. The Wistar-Kyoto breed was used because it is inbred, which minimizes the rejection reaction, due to its genetic homogeneity. The animals were kept in a vivarium under conditions of 12-hour daylight hours, room temperature and access to water and food at libitum at an air temperature of +20 – + 22 °C, humidity no more than 50 %, in a light mode - day-night. The use of animals in the experiment was carried out in accordance with the rules regulated by the "European Convention for the Supervision and Protection of Vertebrate Animals used for Experimental and Other Scientific Purposes" (Strasbourg, 1986), Directives of the Council of the European Union of November 24, 1986 and the order of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine No. 32 dated 02.22.88. The induction of myocardial infarction (MI) was carried out according to the technique developed by us under general anesthesia. A separate group consisted of 20 males, whom we used as donors of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) for further research on the Y chromosome of cell homing in the body. Cultivation of MSCs was carried out in a mixture of nutrient media DMEM / F12, 1:1, (Sigma, USA). The material for morphological studies was the sections of the myocardium of laboratory animals. To assess the morphometric parameters, histochemical methods were performed according to the recipes, which are given in the instructions for histochemistry. Immunohistochemical study was performed on paraffin sections with a thickness of 5-6 μm by the indirect Koons method according to the Brosman method (1979).Results: it was found that cellular cardiomyoplasty significantly improves the structure of the postinfarction heart, manifests itself in a decrease in the scar area and connective tissue, respectively, in an increase in the number of vessels and the percentage of preserved muscle fibers. The best results were achieved with intramyocardial injection, which requires confirmation of this fact in a clinical study.Conclusions: cellular cardiomyoplasty with any method of introducing a cell graft has a positive effect both on the morphological substrate of the heart in the form of a decrease in the size of the scar during postinfarction remodeling, an increase in the number of newly formed vessels and an increase in the percentage of preserved cardiomyocytes. This occurs due to the homing of MSCs into the ischemic zone and the commonality of two mechanisms – direct differentiation into endothelial cells of the heart vessels, as well as due to the paracrine effect

Цель: исследовать морфологические и морфометрические изменения миокарда на фоне клеточной кардиомиопластики при экспериментальном инфаркте миокарда.Материалы и методы: Эксперимент выполнялся на 142 крысах линии Вистар-Кайота, весом 200-220 г, которые содержались в условиях вивария отдела экспериментальной хирургии ГУ «Институт неотложной и восстановительной хирургии им. В.К. Гусака НАМН Украины» в период с 2012 по 2013 гг. Породу Вистар-Кайота использовали потому, что она является инбредной, что минимизирует реакцию отторжения, благодаря её генетической однородности. Животные содержались в виварии в условиях 12-часового светового дня, комнатной температуры и доступа к воде и пище at libitum при температуре воздуха +20 - + 22 ° С, влажности не более 50 %, в световом режиме - день-ночь. Использование животных в эксперименте проводилось в соответствии с правилами, регламентированными «Европейской конвенцией по надзору и защите позвоночных животных, используемых в экспериментальных и других научных целях» (Страсбург, 1986), Директивы Совета Европейского Союза от 24.11.86 г. и распоряжения МОЗ Украины № 32 от 22.02.88 г. Индукцию инфаркта миокарда (ИМ) осуществляли по разработанной нами методике в условиях общего обезболивания. Отдельную группу составляли 20 самцов, которых мы использовали в качестве доноров мезенхимальных стволовых клеток (МСК) для дальнейшего исследования по Y-хромосоме хоуминга клеток в организме. Культивирования МСК проводили в смеси питательных сред DMEM / F12, 1:1, (Sigma, США). Материалом для морфологических исследований были участки миокарда лабораторных животных. Для оценки морфометрических показателей выполняли гистохимические методики по прописям, которые приведены в указаниях по гистохимии. Иммуногистохимическое исследование проводили на парафиновых срезах толщиной 5-6 мкм непрямым методом Кунса по методике Brosman (1979 г.).Результаты. Было установлено, что клеточная кардиомиопластика значительно улучшает структуру постинфарктного сердца, проявляется в уменьшении зоны рубца и соединительной ткани соответственно, увеличении количества сосудов и процента сохранившихся мышечных волокон. Наилучшие результаты были достигнуты при интрамиокардиальном введении, что требует подтверждения данного факта при клиническом исследовании.Выводы. Клеточная кардиомиопластика при любом способе введения клеточного трансплантата положительно влияет как на морфологический субстрат сердца в виде уменьшения размеров рубца при постинфарктном ремоделировании, увеличение количества новообразованных сосудов и увеличение процента сохранившихся кардиомиоцитов. Это происходит за счет хоуминга МСК в зону ишемии и общности двух механизмах – непосредственного дифференцирования в клетки эндотелия сосудов сердца, а также за счет паракринного эффекта ; Мета: дослідити морфологічні і морфометричні зміни міокарда на тлі клітинної кардіоміопластики при експериментальному інфаркті міокарда.Матеріали та методи: Експеримент виконувався на 142 щурах лінії Вістар-Кайота, вагою 200-220 г, які містилися в умовах віварію відділу експериментальної хірургії ДУ «Інститут невідкладної і відновної хірургії ім. В.К. Гусака НАМН України» в період з 2012 по 2013 рр. Породу Вістар-Кайота використовували тому, що вона є інбредною, що мінімізує реакцію відторгнення, завдяки її генетичної однорідності. Тварини утримувались у віварії в умовах 12-годинного світлового дня, кімнатної температури і доступу до води та їжі at libitum при температурі повітря +20 - +22°С, вологості не більше 50 %, в світловому режимі – день-нічь. Використання тварин в експерименті проводилось відповідно з правилами, регламентованими «Європейською конвенцією по нагляду і захисту хребетних тварин, які використовуються в експериментальних та інших наукових цілях» (Страсбург, 1986), Директиви Ради Європейської Співдружності від 24.11.86 г. та розпорядження МОЗ України №32 від 22.02.88 р. Індукцію інфаркту міокарда (ІМ) здійснювали за розробленою нами методикою в умовах загального знеболення. Окрему групу становили 20 самців, яких ми використовували в якості донорів мезенхімальних стовбурових клітин (МСК) задля подальшого дослідження по Y-хромосомі хоумінга клітин в організмі. Культивування МСК проводили в суміші живильних середовищ DMEM / F12, 1:1, (Sigma, США). Матеріалом для морфологічних досліджень були ділянки міокарда лабораторних тварин. Для оцінки морфометричних показників виконували гістохімічні методики за прописами, які наведені у вказівках з гістохімії. Імуногістохімічне дослідження проводили на парафінових зрізах, товщиною 5–6 мкм непрямим методом Кунса за методикою Brosman (1979 р.).Результати. Було встановлено, що клітинна кардіоміопластіка значно покращує структуру постінфарктного серця, що проявляється в зменшенні зони рубця і сполучної тканини відповідно, збільшенні кількості судин і відсотка збережених м'язових волокон. Найкращі результати були досягнуті при інтраміокардіальному введенні, що вимагає підтвердження даного факту при клінічному дослідженні.Висновки. Клітинна кардіоміопластіка при будь-якому способі введення клітинного трансплантата позитивно впливає як на морфологічний субстрат серця у вигляді зменшення розмірів рубця при постінфарктному ремоделюванні, збільшення кількості новостворених судин і збільшення відсотка збережених кардіоміоцитів. Це відбувається за рахунок хоумінга МСК в зону ішемії та спільності двох механізмах - безпосереднього диференціювання в клітини ендотелію судин серця, а також за рахунок паракринного ефекту ; The aim: to study the morphological and morphometric changes in the myocardium against the background of cellular cardiomyoplasty in experimental myocardial infarction.Materials and methods: the experiment was carried out on 142 Wistar-Kyoto rats weighing 200-220 g, which were kept in the vivarium of the Department of Experimental Surgery of the State Institution "Institute of Emergency and Reconstructive Surgery named after V. K. Gusak of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine" in the period from 2012 to 2013. The Wistar-Kyoto breed was used because it is inbred, which minimizes the rejection reaction, due to its genetic homogeneity. The animals were kept in a vivarium under conditions of 12-hour daylight hours, room temperature and access to water and food at libitum at an air temperature of +20 – + 22 °C, humidity no more than 50 %, in a light mode - day-night. The use of animals in the experiment was carried out in accordance with the rules regulated by the "European Convention for the Supervision and Protection of Vertebrate Animals used for Experimental and Other Scientific Purposes" (Strasbourg, 1986), Directives of the Council of the European Union of November 24, 1986 and the order of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine No. 32 dated 02.22.88. The induction of myocardial infarction (MI) was carried out according to the technique developed by us under general anesthesia. A separate group consisted of 20 males, whom we used as donors of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) for further research on the Y chromosome of cell homing in the body. Cultivation of MSCs was carried out in a mixture of nutrient media DMEM / F12, 1:1, (Sigma, USA). The material for morphological studies was the sections of the myocardium of laboratory animals. To assess the morphometric parameters, histochemical methods were performed according to the recipes, which are given in the instructions for histochemistry. Immunohistochemical study was performed on paraffin sections with a thickness of 5-6 μm by the indirect Koons method according to the Brosman method (1979).Results: it was found that cellular cardiomyoplasty significantly improves the structure of the postinfarction heart, manifests itself in a decrease in the scar area and connective tissue, respectively, in an increase in the number of vessels and the percentage of preserved muscle fibers. The best results were achieved with intramyocardial injection, which requires confirmation of this fact in a clinical study.Conclusions: cellular cardiomyoplasty with any method of introducing a cell graft has a positive effect both on the morphological substrate of the heart in the form of a decrease in the size of the scar during postinfarction remodeling, an increase in the number of newly formed vessels and an increase in the percentage of preserved cardiomyocytes. This occurs due to the homing of MSCs into the ischemic zone and the commonality of two mechanisms – direct differentiation into endothelial cells of the heart vessels, as well as due to the paracrine effect

One of the biggest problems of Nepal has remained overwhelming poverty among the rural populace. At the moment, more than 25 percent of the population is compelled to live their life without basic necessities of life. As the predominant population lives in rural areas and depends on agriculture for their living, poverty in Nepal has been considered as rural phenomenon. In the past, the Nepalese government tried to address the poverty problem basically through supply-led credit interventions. However, they could not bring the desired result because of their limited focus on "credit alone" without emphasis on other support services. By considering past failure, with the support of donors, the Nepalese government started implementing Microenterprise Development Program (MEDEP) in 1998 in 10 districts(at the moment running in 36 districts) by focusing on women, economically and socially deprived communities, and hard core poor integrating components related to social mobilization for enterprise development, entrepreneurship training, technical skills development, access to finance, appropriate technology testing and transfer, and marketing linkages and business counseling . Because of meager economic base of the poor, microcredit is very important for them to start up a microenterprise. In that sense the microfinance component of MEDEP is the most important component while talking about reduction in poverty through microenterprise development in Nepal. Against this backdrop, we have assessed the effectiveness of microcredit provided to MEDEP entrepreneurs in the Sindhupalchowok district in eastern Nepal during 2005-2008 by various financial institutions by using propensity score matching methodology. Secondary data (2005-2008) that was made available to Seoul National University (SNU) by the Microenterprise Development Program (MEDEP) has been used for the purpose of this research. In addition, qualitative (exploratory) research methodology has also been used by interviewing 38 MEDEP microentrepreneurs in order to supplement information need to better explain the results received through PSM estimation. The major objective of the research is to assess the effect of microcredit support in enterprise development for poverty reduction among MEDEP microentrepreneurs. In this regard, efforts have been made to assess the effect of microcredit on sales, cost and profit of entrepreneurs in their entrepreneurial activities. Moreover, the effect of microcredit on the enterprise and the entrepreneur levels has also been assessed as per the research framework proposed. The effect has been measured in two time line scenarios "After one Year" and "After two years". In the first scenario, sales, costs and profit are statistically significant. However, the effect on profit is found to be negative implying that immediately after the establishment of any enterprise making profit is not that easy in the pretext that the entrepreneurs need more time to arrange raw materials, establish linkages with processors and traders, and to arrange necessary sales outlets. Even if the average effect of treatment on the treated (ATT) for profit is negative, the value of profit for the treated group is positive conveying the message that treated groups also had profit but it was less in comparison to untreated groups. In the next scenario, effect "after two years", the microcredit effect on sales and cost are statistically insignificant, whereas such effect on profit are statistically significant. Besides, there is a fluctuation in cost and sales values for treated group in two different scenarios. According to AsDB (1997) fluctuations in the performance of microenterprises in short span of time is possible in developing countries as a micro entrepreneur may have many part time or seasonal activities undertaken to support family income apart from the specific enterprise he is running at the moment. Net earnings in this kind of microenterprises are used for survival purposes meaning that they have short term impact on poverty thorough self-employment with larger number of direct beneficiaries. Livelihood microenterprises show lots of fluctuation in their schedule and volume of production (ibid). ATT derived is the average value of the estimated additional effects of each microcredit borrowing entrepreneur. All the microcredit borrowing entrepreneurs, however, have their own additional effects, which is the effect of microcredit after controlling for selection bias. In this context, we have performed econometrical analysis on the effect of different characteristics/explanatory variables with a data set of microcredit borrowing entrepreneurs using these additional effects as dependent variables. While doing so, rural dummy, savings, Hindu dummy, Dalit Dummy, PCI before MEDEP were found to be significant. However, the contribution of saving is significant and coefficients are positive in both scenarios showing the vital role saving was playing to make credit effective in the effort of poverty alleviation. Statistically significant but positive values of per capita income before MEDEP intervention in case of cost and profit have shown that the real poor were not contributing in microcredit effect on cost and profit. It raises a question whether MEDEP had really succeeded to bring hard core poor people in its ambit as lower level of profit might not encourage them to borrow microcredit and run microenterprise. Even though microentrepreneurs had not been able to generate employment to outsiders they had managed to create work for themselves. It is positive aspect while dealing with poverty because those who were making the agriculture sector overburdened, had been diverted away to the microenterprise sector. Among the major targeted beneficiaries of MEDEP, the women's contribution to generate positive effect of microcredit is not proved except in the case of sales and cost in the "after two years" and "after one year" scenarios. Dalits, however, were doing well in the long run contributing to generate profit. Indigenous microentrepreneurs, though a major focus of the program, are statistically insignificant showing that their role needed to be increased in the whole MEDEP process and basically in borrowing microcredit. On the whole, we have concluded in our research that microcredit had positive effect on the enterprise level in terms of income generation, employment creation and savings and positive but mixed results on the entrepreneur level in terms of enhanced self-esteem, control over resources and community participation. This conclusion has been supported by the findings of the qualitative research (interview) as well. However, the MEDEP has been suffering from number of problems for years, especially from the perspective of institutional development for the sustainability of the program and from the perspective of delivery of microcredit and other support services in rural areas. We believe that microcredit would have done much better, if those problems had been sorted out. Considering the scope of this research, we are not able to ascertain with conformity whether microcredit had contributed to poverty reduction among MEDEP entrepreneurs of Sindhupalchowok district. However, we expect that microcredit might have contributed to some extent in the effort of poverty reduction through MEDEP in the district. The extent, depth and magnitude of such reduction need to be confirmed through in-depth research with comprehensive data on economic and non-economic dimensions of the household, microentrepreneurs and microenterprises. Nevertheless, we recommend the Nepalese government (Ministry of Industry) and United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to expand the coverage of MEDEP nationwide by addressing challenges it has been facing. ; Doctor

Väitöskirjatyössä tutkitaan Venäjän ja Euroopan välisen ympäristöyhteistyöregiimin rakentumisen dynamiikkaa. Tutkimus kohdistuu yhteistyöprosesseihin, yhteistyön käytäntöihin sekä erilaisiin tapoihin määritellä yhteistyön kohteena oleva ongelma ja ratkaisuvaihtoehdot. Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan myös, millaisia reunaehtoja erilaiset ongelmanmäärittelyt ja yhteistyön käytännöt asettavat jaettujen merkitysten ja identiteettien synnylle sekä sosiaaliselle oppimiselle. Aineistosta nousee esiin viisi kehystä, joiden rajoissa Venäjän ja Euroopan välinen ympäristöyhteistyöregiimi on rakentunut. Näitä ovat yhteisten ongelmien kehys, joka korostaa korkean tason toimintaa ja valtioiden välistä diplomatiaa ympäristöyhteistyön perusmuotona; kriisin kehys, jonka mukaan yhteistyön tavoitteena on kaikin mahdollisin keinoin saada aikaan perustavanlaatuinen muutos Venäjän ympäristö-yhteiskuntasuhteessa sekä modernisaation kehys, joka kohtelee ympäristökysymyksiä ennen muuta teollisuuden prosesseja modernisoimalla ratkaistavina teknisinä ongelmina. Ympäristösuurvallan kehyksen mukaan Venäjä on luonnonrikkauksiensa ja 1990-luvulla vähentyneen saastekuormituksen ansiosta ympäristöyhteistyön osapuolena pikemminkin antava kuin vastaanottava osapuoli, ja kumppanuus kehyksen mukaan ympäristöyhteistyön tulisi perustua tasapuoliseen ja tasa-arvoiseen kumppanuuteen, jossa kaikki osapuolet panostavat yhteistyöhön niin materiaalisin kuin älyllisin resurssein. Yhteistyön kehysten tarkastelu osoittaa, että yhteistyötä muovanneet määrittelyt ja toimintakäytännöt ovat usein tuottaneet ja vahvistaneet erilaisia uhkakuvia ja vastakkainasetteluja kuten syntipukki ja hyväntekijä , antajaosapuoli ja saajaosapuoli sekä opettaja ja oppilas . Vastakkainasettelut ja uhkakuvat eivät ole hedelmällisiä, sillä ne eivät edistä tuloksekkaita ja oppimista tuottavia yhteistyön muotoja ja käytäntöjä. Kehysten tarkastelu osoittaa myös, että ongelman- ja ratkaisunmäärittelyt ovat olleet ylhäältä alaspäin suuntautuvia ja erittäin laajoja. Ylhäältä alaspäin suuntautuvan yhteistyömallin lähtökohtana on yleensä ollut järjestelmä kokonaisuudessaan, ja tehtävänä on ollut tunnistaa pahimmat uhkat ja kohdistaa toiminta niihin. Pyrkimyksenä on ollut ohjelmallisten yhteistyökäytäntöjen soveltaminen, suuren mittakaavan hankkeiden toteuttaminen ja viimekädessä Venäjän ja Euroopan ympäristöpolitiikan yhtenäistäminen. Tällainen ajattelu ei kuitenkaan huomio alueellista kontekstia eikä poliittista ja yhteiskunnallista tilannekohtaisuutta. Tutkimuksen keskeinen päätelmä on, että ennen kaikkea se, että kysymykseen yhteistyön oikeasta ja kulloinkin tilanteeseen sopivasta mittakaavasta ei ole kiinnitetty riittävää huomiota yhteistyön kohteen ja toimintatapojen määrittelyssä, on rajoittanut Venäjän ja Euroopan välisen ympäristöyhteistyön tuloksellisuutta ja oppimista.Tutkimuksen tulokset suosittavat, että yhteistyössä tulisi noudattaa käytännönläheistä, alhaalta ylöspäin suuntautuvaa lähestymistapaa, joka korostaa konkreettisten toimijoiden, kokemusta omaavien asianosaisten, roolia ja toimintatapoja. Tämä merkitsee sitä, ettei kaikkiin tapauksiin sovelleta vain yhtä yhteistyön mallia tai instituutiota, vaan niitä on tilanteesta ja ongelmasta riippuen useita toiminnan eri tasoilla. ; In this PhD thesis, I study the dynamics of environmental regime-building between Russia and Europe. I examine the processes through which the regime is constructed. I focus on the definitions of problems and their possible solutions in these processes and the reflections of the definitions on the practices of environmental cooperation. Moreover, I examine how different definitions and practices of cooperation condition social learning. My methodological approach derives from a problem and process-oriented approach to policy analysis that focuses on the examination of political processes and definitional struggles as the basis of these processes. In accordance with this methodology, I chose an idea-based perspective on cooperation that underlines the importance of shared meanings and identities as conditions for learning. While all separate studies follow the basic logic of this methodology with slightly differing methods of analysis, in the overall thesis I synthesise them by applying a method that builds on framing as a way to distinguish between different problem definitions and to analyse the interplay of these definitions with practice. I examine the process of regime-building with the use of six separate studies. These focus on environmental aspects of the energy cooperation problematic; environmental non-governmental organisations in St Petersburg; multilateral cooperation aimed at the institutional development of the St Petersburg water sector; policy networks in environmental cooperation in the St Petersburg water sector and Kola Peninsula mining industry; the implications of a nuclear submarine accident, the Kursk case, for environmental cooperation; and on framing climate change as an international policy problem in Russian public discussion. As a context to these cases, I map the evolution of the Russian­European environmental regime from the early 1970s to the present. As a result, I distinguish between five frames that have shaped Russian­European environmental regime-building from its early days to the present. This has involved the evolution of the environmental regime between Russia and Europe from one shaped mainly by a common problems frame, emphasising high-level diplomacy as the basic form of cooperation, to one of environmental partnership that, in turn, emphasises practical cooperation based on principles of reciprocity and shared responsibility. Currently, interdependencies based on the use of raw materials, trade and markets heavily affect the economic and political context of environmental cooperation between Russia and Europe. Russia has increased its power in the definition of issues, as the popularity of a frame I name great ecological power indicates. The examination of the framings of cooperation reveals that definitions of problems and their possible solutions have often drawn on dichotomies such as fall guys and do-gooders , donors and recipients , or teachers and learners . These dichotomies have not shaped actors identities in a way that would have produced shared meanings and identities. They have not encouraged cooperational practices that would have promoted social learning. Moreover, the results of the thesis indicate that the definitions of problems and the required solutions that the cooperation has been based on have been extensive. Russian­European environmental regime-building has been driven towards ever-wider practices that ultimately aim at the unification of environmental policy throughout Europe and Russia. As a conclusion of the study, I argue that the broadness of definitions on which large-scale projects are built adds to the complicated character of issues and politicises them, possibly creating and enhancing diverse dichotomies. The broadness of definitions and practices thus makes the achievement of problem closure, needed for the effective solution of problems, more difficult and hampers social learning. As a result of too-large scales of projects, the enforcement of participatory methods does not work, even though heavily stressed. Consequently, the results of the thesis indicate that Russian­European environmental regime-building has largely been based on top-down thinking, which takes as its frame an analysis of the whole system. In this kind of thinking, the task has been to identify the worst threats and tackle them. I argue that this kind of thinking misses sensitivity to the spatial context and to the social and political situation. Neglecting the question of scale in defining the foci and forms of the cooperation can be said to have been the most significant constraint for social learning in Russian­European environmental cooperation. As an alternative, I propose a pragmatic bottom-up approach to cooperation that cuts up problems into more manageable pieces, focuses on specific situations, differentiates management practices and involves the relevant stakeholders by taking their practical experience into consideration, to be applied as a basis for environmental regime-building. In institutional terms, a pragmatic bottom-up approach implies stressing institutional pluralism: many different sorts of structures with different scale preoccupations.

The purpose of this paper is to capture lessons learned from East African entrepreneurs who were some of crowdfunding's first adopters. Their experiences can serve as a practical guide for entrepreneurs looking to more effectively utilize crowdfunding across all emerging markets. In order to gather this data, the World Bank conducted interviews with a number of East African technology entrepreneurs who ran crowdfunding campaigns, both successfully and unsuccessfully. The following paper offers six key lessons for entrepreneurs in Africa and other emerging markets as they consider when, why and how to launch a crowdfunding campaign: crowdfunding is much more difficult than most entrepreneurs anticipate and is not for everyone. Opportunity costs abound; business needs should dictate platform choice; payment systems impact platform choice; quality and quantity of contributor networks are key; entrepreneurs should tap into complementary resources and organizations to increase their likelihood of success; and crowdfunding can have non-monetary benefits.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY SMALL-SCALE FARMERS' STRATEGIES IN DEALING WITH CRISES: AN ANALYSIS OF HOUSEHOLD RESPONSES TO CRISIS IN FOUR VILLAGES IN RURAL ZIMBABWE Crises caused by natural and human-induced disasters have always been part of farmers' lives, but recently they have proliferated through the emergence of new economic, political and environmental challenges. Generally, it is the ordinary poor people, many of them living in the vulnerable contexts of the rural tropics, who are bearing the brunt of these changes. This is particularly true for many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, where more than two-thirds of the population still depend on agriculture, and a large proportion of rural households suffer from poverty, food insecurity and social unrest. In such contexts, national governments and numerous NGOs, often supported by international donors, become active in supporting small farmers with training programs, the diffusion of technology, credits, social payments, subsidies and infrastructural investments. These efforts have had a remarkable success, except in stopping a general process of local marginalization and environmental degradation. In the end, the vast majority of small-scale farming families are left on their own to face the challenge of sustaining their livelihoods and guarantee food for their families under precarious conditions. More effective measures to support poor rural farmers in Africa are urgently needed that take better account of and stimulate their adaptive capacity to find responses to the manifold challenges. The research in this thesis aimed to generate empirical insights into farmers' responses to crises as a basis to supporting small-scale farmers more effectively, particularly those in Sub-Saharan Africa, in times of crisis. This includes three specific objectives: (1) to describe how crises changes the conditions for small-scale farmers' activities; (2) to learn how small-scale farmers are responding to these changes; and (3) to find out what factors are driving farmers' 'decisions. To comply with these objectives, the study analyzed in depth the dynamics in four rural villages in Zimbabwe, which represent three typical agricultural contexts in Sub-Saharan Africa: (1) communal agricultural lands with traditional social configurations; (2) agricultural landscapes formed by individualized settlers; and (3) areas resettled in the course of land redistribution programs. Zimbabwe was chosen because it is a prime example of a crisis that brought about severe multi-layered political, economic, social and environmental challenges, especially during the presidency of Robert G. Mugabe between 2000 and 2017. Data were gathered, processed and analyzed using a mixed qualitative and quantitative approach. Household surveys were conducted with lead farmers and extension agents to gain an understanding of the factors and conditions that influence farmers' behavior and choices and to establish categories of farmers. Households were surveyed to determine their characteristics at the personal level (family size, head, level of education, financial situation, and farm experience), the farm level (assets, size, land tenure, remoteness) and the institutional level (extension services, financial support, social organization). Besides, farmers' households that represented the strategies typically used to cope with the situation of crisis were selected for in-depth interviews to learn about the operational details, underlying rationalities and effects of the strategies they had adopted. Expert interviews and participatory mapping exercises with local experts and leaders were conducted to gain an understanding of how the Zimbabwean crisis changed the conditions under which the farmers live and to grasp the range and spatial relevance of strategies adopted by the farmer in response to the changed conditions. Also, secondary sources were systematically explored for relevant information, including reports from international organizations, non-governmental agencies, local NGOs, public research organizations, farmers' groups, dairy associations, Internal Savings and Lending Clubs (ISACs) and government agencies. The study made three principal findings: (1) crises strongly affected farming households; (2) most farmers managed to respond effectively to crisis situations; and (3) support and resource endowments are critical to overcoming crises. The crises strongly affected farmers. More than fifteen years of political and economic crises in Zimbabwe, in combination with frequent droughts, profoundly changed the conditions under which rural farmers live and produce. Most strikingly, the manifestation of this complex situation of crises was the breakdown of public services, including progressive reductions of public services providing farmers with technical and financial assistance and, partly related to this, increases in corruption. For example, although the ruling party announced million-dollar tractor and farm mechanization programs during elections, not one of the farmers from the four case studies received anything. Most critical was also the fact that the state-driven Grain Marketing Board failed to continue offering support to maize farmers with regard to pricing and payment patterns, which led to a massive decline in the production of maize, the key business of many farmers at that time. This withdrawal of the state was further compounded by a massive distortion of markets, which for the farmers made the profitable marketing of their own production considerably more difficult or even impossible, as well as making agricultural input prices unaffordable. The latter development forced a majority of farmers to skip using fertilizers, certified seeds and pesticides. Some few only managed to apply sub-optimal amounts of fertilizers occasionally on smaller parts of their fields. Devastatingly, farmers also suffered animal losses to drought (especially the extreme drought of the 2015/2016 season) and animal diseases that hampered their practice of using manure to maintain soil fertility. In parallel, farmers were heavily affected by climate change, manifested through an increase in dryness, soil erosion and unpredictable rainfall. This was especially hard for farmers acting in the dry conditions that are typical of large parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, where water is the limiting factor of production and where agricultural activities depend on the predictability of rainfall during the sowing period and the availability of groundwater or water reservoirs in the mountains during the growing period. This critical situation was, at least partly, mitigated for more than a third of farmers (38%) through the intervention of donors, NGOs and private companies, who, in contrast to the government's initial strategy of diffusing technical packages, promoted low-cost technologies in the case of development organizations and contract farming in the case of private companies. Nevertheless, the situation of crisis resulted in considerable losses of harvests, plants and animals, particularly in very dry years (2002-2003, and 2015-2016), when some crops were a complete write-off, but also due to political violence, when livestock and harvests were looted, for example, in the aftermath of the 2008 election. Despite these difficulties, the vast majority of families remained on their properties and tried to cope with the challenging situation. In the resettlement area too, where the government distributed the land of expropriated white farmers, all those farmers who had settled there at the beginning of 2000 remained on their farms and in 2015were joined by new farmers settling on grazing land. Roughly a third of households (29%), however, decided to send a member or two to urban centers, abroad or other farms to search for remunerative employment off the family farm. As it was mostly young male adults who were drawn into leaving the farm for jobs, across all case studies it was common for women, children and the elderly to be left with the task of managing farm operations. Effective responses of the farmers. In response to the situation of crisis, the farmers in the case studies employed a wide range of strategies. Responses included orientation towards livestock, the reduction of the land area under cultivation, the adoption of low-input farming systems, intensification, and on and off-farm diversification, as well as migration, a re-orientation to subsistence farming and the unsustainable exploitation of common resources. Most farmers combined two or more of these responses. Where possible nearly all households (84%) started to buy livestock when a crisis broke, whether cattle or small livestock, the latter being seen as resistant to drought and more easily convertible into cash. To improve food security, many farmers (71%) reduced and concentrated inputs on the most suitable parcels of land to optimize the application of scarce resources. Upon realizing surpluses, some farmers (15%) then included tobacco as a cash crop, or even diversified their production portfolios more strongly (20%). Only traditional dairy farmers (10 %) mostly continued their production because, often belonging to the second or third generation of farmers, they had the knowledge and experience to continue and even intensify production. Also, migration and, relatedly, the transfer of remittances became a central resource for many families (29%). Accordingly, concentration and diversification were closely linked with an orientation to the market. The farmers who produced for markets were well connected with relevant platforms and networks (e.g., tobacco auction floors, milk collection points, the Grain Marketing Board, millers, etc.) and used their surpluses to invest in the farm and grow their asset base. Those farmers who received remittances also invested in farming, often accompanied by a diversification of production. The switch to low-cost technologies and the concentration of production on the most suitable parcels of land massively reduced the dependence on government subsidies. In parallel, many farmers managed to significantly enhance their areal productivity, so that overall production remained stable, despite a significant reduction in the land area under cultivation. Some farmers even managed to increase their gross incomes by intelligently combining on-farm with non-farm strategies. The concentration of farming activities on the most fertile land parcels also allowed fields to be left fallow and promoted other ecologically valuable land-use resources, such as woodlots. This effect was particularly visible in contexts that already showed a high level of degradation. Only 7% of farmers became engaged in unsustainable exploitative activities, but, every tenth household was forced to re-orient itself towards subsistence farming. However, about 75% of households in the case-study sites had somehow found effective ways to cope with crises, implying that the vast majority of farmers substantially changed or strongly adapted their livelihood strategies. While in 2000 most farmers were dedicated to the production of maize and dairy for income generating purposes, in 2016 livelihood strategies were diversified and included the production of food, dairy and cash crops, as well as off-farm employment. Support and resource endowments are critical. The specific choice and quality of farmers' responses varied strongly in accordance with institutional, farm and personal features, except the consistent orientation towards livestock across all farmers and case studies. In particular, a set of four factors had a highly significant positive influence on the successful actions of farmers, based on concentration, market orientation and diversification, namely the availability of farm assets (particularly ownership of cattle), financial support, the level of social organization and formal tenure arrangements. Market orientation was also favored by accessibility. Other factors had a comparatively low influence on farmers' responses, except a preference for diversification by older and female-headed households. Concerning remittance support, higher educational levels and the good financial situation of the households played a moderately positive role. The picture was less clear concerning factors that influenced responses with questionable livelihood outcomes, such as re-orientation towards subsistence farming (lack of assets, low level of education, households headed by females without husbands) and exploitative strategies (male-headed households and households headed by females without husbands). There were also large differences between the case studies in respect of the factors listed above, partly due to important contextual differences. Most strikingly, the better the situation of a case study with regard to accessibility, water availability and social organization, the stronger the external support. In response, more farmers in the favored case studies exploited the opportunities offered to them mainly by tobacco companies and development organizations (irrigation and dairy farming). One exception was the resettlement case study, which, as a contested area, was disregarded by development organizations, despite favorable environmental conditions. Accordingly, in the least favorable case study, "community in impoverished landscape", households were largely left to face their difficult situations alone. They were more likely to re-orient themselves to subsidence farming and switched to small livestock, thereby managing at least to secure their food basis. In particular, these results provide three important suggestions for how farmers can be better supported in crises. First, effective water management is key. There is an urgent need to diffuse in- field water-harvesting techniques and to further optimize appropriate agricultural practices, such as mulching and gravity-fed irrigation. Second, farmers are creative in finding solutions. This includes farming responses, as well as off-farm strategies. Both are effective from a local perspective. However, only the better-off farmers may have the means and capacities for the necessary investments, whereas the challenges may exceed the possibilities of poorer farmers. The proper management of livestock and the use of manure in agricultural production is another important requisite. Third, support measures are critical. However, rather than distributing of costly technology packages, support should take advantage of and promote capacity of farmers to take meaningful decisions. Thus, support should build on the resources and capacities that are available locally and accordingly highlight low-cost strategies and efficient water-use management, stimulate financially attractive options for diversification, and develop existing market opportunities further rather than creating new ones. In this regard, in particular, the frequently observed strategy of farmers to reduce and concentrate inputs on the most suitable land shows an immense potential for optimization. Supporting such promising attempts by farmers to build robust farming systems following their capacities and interests can help achieve development, social equality and sustainability in Sub-Saharan Africa. To operationalize such an approach requires well-trained extension agents working in well-equipped organizations. Also, the provision of tenure security plays a critical role in motivating farmers to invest and develop the land, as well as to turn land into a bankable asset and collateral that enables farmers to secure bank loans for farm improvements. Equally important is investment in research and development regarding basic infrastructure, particularly the maintenance of public infrastructure, such as roads and bridges, which have largely been neglected due to economic hardships. The government can also assist farmers by providing market facilities for small livestock and small grains whose markets are still limited. The private sector has and continues to play an important role in supporting farmers through contract farming arrangements. But they need to consider more intensively weaker farmers who are located far from markets and have to cope with unfavorable situations. Farmers' associations should prioritize programs and actions that support the frequent and most common response of concentration, as well as market participation and diversification of production. Through the local sharing of information and knowledge, they can guide farmers in reducing their dependence on government subsidies and the use of costly inputs such as fertilizers, certified seeds and pesticides. The farmers themselves need to organize themselves better in order to lobby collectively and campaign for technical assistance, credits and secure tenure arrangements. Farmers should intensify crop–livestock integration with livestock, thus equipping farmers with the means to produce much needed inexpensive animal manure to improve soil fertility and to opt for long-term strategies that protect their resource base. Finally, research also has its part to play. More knowledge is needed about farmers' actions and rationalities as a basis for finding more effective ways of consolidating the socio- ecological diversity of Zimbabwe, Sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere, despite the political, economic and climatic challenges that are to be expected in the future.

Against the background of a new Labor Day weekend job report that found zero job net growth for the month of August, Republican candidates held another debate, this time under the auspices of MSNBC, not Fox. It took place in the Reagan library, in Simi Valley, California, with the 1980s Air Force One plane used by Reagan looming behind them as a powerful yet incongruent décor. Texas Governor Rick Perry, who entered the race three weeks ago and has already managed to reshape it, made it a contest between himself and Mitt Romney. Jon Huntsman is now a distant third in the polls, and the rest have been consigned to the back bench. Perry has consolidated support across a large swath of the Republican base, including Tea Partiers and the Evangelical right and already has amassed a war chest of campaign funds from contributors from Texas and across the country. Interestingly enough, Karl Rove, the self appointed kingmaker of the GOP and former GW Bush closest advisor, has come out against Perry, calling some of his views "toxic".As the first fundamental tests of the Republican primary approach, the campaign clearly entered a new stage last Wednesday during a debate that was mainly a duel between two protagonists, while the rest, acting as a Greek chorus reinforcing or challenging their responses, were given very little time by hosts Brian Williams (NBC) and John Harris (Politico). The primary field as first constituted was lackluster and therefore demanded new candidates. Perry seems to have satisfied that demand for the time being. Nevertheless, after the debate there was still some discontent among establishment Republicans, so the race is still fluid and new candidates may jump in before the first deadline in October.Governor Perry, as the front-runner in the latest polls, was not surprisingly the target of most of the others throughout the night. He has executive experience, a commanding demeanor, and a record to run on. Although not completely articulate, and lacking Romney's polished eloquence, he is tough and quick in his retorts, and his rhetoric resounded with the audience, drawing the strongest applause every time. His claim that he has created more jobs in Texas than Obama has managed to create nationally may be a winner with voters, but Texas' record on almost every other issue is unflattering and thus, main ammunition for his opponents. He was reminded, for example, that of all fifty states, Texas is last on education, to which he responded that Texas' problems stem from its long border with Mexico. That probably did not go well with the Hispanic voters watching on Univisión and Telemundo, but Perry doesn't seem to care, since he is riding the wave of anti-Latino feelings around the country. Confronted with the claim that Texas has the largest number of people without health insurance than all other 49 states , he did not give a direct answer but chose instead to mumble something about how "all Texans want is to get the federal government out of their lives". Both Michelle Bachman and Rick Santorum questioned Perry's social conservatism given his policy as governor, for example, to inoculate adolescent girls against HPV, which they portrayed as a government intrusion into the family realm and a license to practice pre-marital sex. And Ron Paul, a congressman from Texas, was a constant goad on the Governor's side, reminding the public that Perry used to be a Democrat and wholeheartedly supported Al Gore on his presidential bid in 1988. Perry defended himself well as he dismissed all the charges against him with one-liners and a disdainful smile. A shrewd politician and experience campaigner, he took the initiative at every turn and was able to steer the conversation to his own record of job creation as governor of Texas, contrasting it mockingly with Romney's as governor of Massachusetts. But Romney appeared unfazed as he joked that Perry could not take credit for everything that has gone well in the State of Texas, including its wealth of oil and gas, its zero state income tax and the (related) fact that main corporations made their headquarters there long before Perry was governor. Massachusetts is a much smaller state and has none of those advantages, he added. There were several quick exchanges like this: both candidates were well prepared to respond with facts and statistics, and the perception was that they both did well, with Perry defending himself aggressively at times and Romney maintaining his smooth and relaxed demeanor, even as he waited for the opportunity to deliver a blow to his new challenger.Host Brian Williams soon gave him that opportunity by asking Perry a question about Social Security, the government pension fund that experts say, will become insolvent in the year 2036 if it is not reformed. Perry's answer, which confirmed similar statements in his recently published book, made all the headlines the next day. He called it a "Ponzi scheme' (implying a criminal enterprise) and added that it was a "monstrous lie" to tell young people under thirty that they would get their Social Security when their time comes for them to retire: they won't. This statement has been reported by the Romney campaign as Perry's Waterloo: no candidate will win an election by making this kind of claim against the "third rail" of politics, a cherished and untouchable public trust; to do so is pure political suicide. Similar claims had prompted Karl Rove's comment about Perry's toxicity and spurred doubts about his electability. Ironically, it is the rhetoric and not the substance that separates the two candidates on this issue: as presidents, both would likely propose some privatization of Social Security, perhaps in the form of personal retirement accounts that can be managed by the workers themselves and would allow them to invest in the stock market. Another of Brian William's questions brought an unexpected burst of applause by the all- Republican audience even before Perry had had a chance to answer it. Williams asked how he could sleep at night knowing his state had applied the death penalty to 234 convicts, the highest rate in the nation, and some of whom were perhaps innocent. Perry said the crimes they had perpetrated deserved it, and that yes, he slept fine at night knowing that the appeals process was thorough and fair. Of course, people are entitled to their views on the death penalty, and quotes from the Bible have been used to justify it. But it is sad and even incongruous to see a purportedly well educated middle class audience of a purportedly Christian nation cheer the notion. Patti Davis, President Reagan's daughter, later said to an interviewer it was almost" blasphemous" to celebrate the death penalty at the Reagan library, given the fact that her father had approached the issue with a heavy heart and burden to his conscience, albeit accepting it as a necessary evil. Mitt Romney appeared poised, fluent on the economy and self confident. It may help him knowing that he has 250 billion dollars in his own personal account, and that he has outpaced all other candidates so far in fundraising. He seems to be the choice of the business elite and of urban and suburban Republicans (60% of his donors come from big cities and their surroundings). On the other hand, Perry's supporters say that through his ten years as governor of Texas, Perry has laid the groundwork to raise all the money he might need for a national election. He has a donor network that can "bundle" millions. Texas places no limits on how much donors can give to political campaigns, even as federal law limits donations to the derisory amount of $2,500 per person. Still, some critics say Perry would need to capture a broader donor base to compete in a national election. Michelle Bachman's adventure into the Republican primary may be coming to an end as her star fades and Tea Partiers and Evangelicals transfer their support to Rick Perry. Her campaign is in disarray over fundraising and strategy. Ed Rollins, a veteran GOP operative who managed Reagan's 1984 campaign, resigned as her advisor after Bachman could not be persuaded to focus on campaigning in Iowa only (where the first primary caucus will take place and where she won a straw poll a few weeks ago), instead of trying to run a national campaign. She hasn't been able to raise enough money outside Iowa and that limits her campaign's choices. Perry has taken her thunder. It doesn't help that the Congress woman keeps repeating her Manichean views on every single issue, insisting for example again during this debate, that it was wrong for the US to intervene in Libya because there was no national interest involved in the region, a position that nobody in the GOP establishment shares, especially now that Qaddafi is all but defeated.On Thursday, after two changes in schedule were forced on the White House (one due to the GOP debate on Wednesday, the other due to the opening of the NFL season shown at prime time on Thursday night), President Obama delivered his much awaited jobs creation speech. He unveiled a $ 447 billion plan, a mixture of tax cuts and new spending programs. It includes extending cuts in payroll taxes to individuals and employers, new infrastructure spending, a new mortgage refinancing program, retraining for the unemployed and tax credits to businesses that employ those who have been out of a job for over six moths. He also talked about a private-public infrastructure bank and emphasized that all this new spending would be coupled with more cuts in the deficit later. This was an attempt at a new marketing of the President's measures to stimulate the economy: he was more specific, more conciliatory and avoided using the word "stimulus" that has gotten so much bad press since most people think the initial package did not help the economy one bit.The President spoke with new confidence and conviction; he sounded re-energized and optimistic, and evoked in the public memories of "Obama the candidate". The next morning he was on the road to sell his plan to voters first in Virginia, speaking to 9,000 people gathered at the University of Richmond. Virginia, Ohio and North Carolina are the three states the President strategically chose to visit. Obama won all three in the 2008 election but they each voted Republicans to their legislatures in last year's mid-term elections. The Republican response in Congress was cautiously positive. Indeed, even as Obama's numbers in the polls continue to drop (44% approval rate of his person, with 59% disapproving of his handling of the economy, is the latest), approval of Congress is at an all time low of 13%. A change is tone has registered as Republicans realize that their do-nothing strategy has gone too far and it is time to stop playing the political game and address economic recovery in earnest. It is indeed refreshing, after the acerbic debt ceiling fights, to hear House majority leader Eric Cantor say it's time to build consensus and work together. Their brinkmanship has infuriated their constituents and put at risk all the gains made in last year's mid-term elections.It remains to be seen whether the electorate's disgust with excessive conflict and confrontation within the DC belt also extends to the presidential primary. Will voters choose the bold and aggressive governor from Texas who better reflects their anger with his provocative language (he wants to cut the "head off the snake" (meaning the federal government's interference with states policies), or the cooler, more cerebral, more conciliatory (indeed, in some ways, more Obama-like) candidate from Massachusetts that wants moderation and speaks to the middle class? In this head-to-head contest between Perry and Romney, one can assume people will ultimately choose the one they see can solve their problems, end the paralysis and get the country moving again. But the country's social fabric is torn by unemployment, anger and frustration with government and hopelessness about the future. As the more aggressive candidate, Perry may well be the one that embodies the spirit of the times.In his first national appearance, the Texan did not make any major mistakes. He has dislodged Romney from top in national polls, but not in New Hampshire, where Romney still leads by a wide margin. From now on, the calendar will drive the candidates' strategies. If Perry wins Iowa and Romney New Hampshire, it will definitely become a two person race going forward into South Carolina, where Baptists most likely will choose a Texan Evangelist over a New Englander Mormon. That might interrupt Romney's momentum. Then comes Florida, where there is a big number of Tea Partiers and an even larger number of retirees. The vote of these two groups will be decisive. Perry could lose the retirees on his Social Security attacks, which were mainly addressed to young voters who don't vote in primaries. But there is plenty of time to adjust his views and rectify his blunders so as to become more electable.Cocky, dark and handsome, a cross between Johnny Cash and John Wayne, Perry has a formidable presence that makes a good impression on voters. Blunt and direct in his speech, with a distinct Southern accent, his peculiar kind of charisma compensates for his lack of polish. He is tough and rugged, doesn't back down, and appeared solid in his philosophy of "detax, deregulate and delitigate". He is clearly the candidate that can win the Mid-West and the Deep South. The question is whether he will withstand the deeper scrutiny of a presidential race he entered late, and whether he can refine his arguments and still be reassuring. Romney still appears as the more electable candidate in a national election and the one that can more easily confront Obama. But he has two main weak points: his religion (he is a Mormon, a religion that has a bad name among other Christian denominations) and the Massachusetts health care law he signed when he was governor, that his rivals claim is a replica of what they disdainfully call "Obamacare", which all candidates, including Romney, have avowed to repeal as soon as they get to the White House. Will the race become a two-man contest from this point on? Americans should not hold their breath; there is still talk about new candidates entering the race: Sarah Palin and Rudy Giuliani seem to be waiting on the sidelines, ready to jump into the race at any time if prompted to do so by the polls or by the GOP establishment. The current survivors may still be challenged by others with more staying power and reality show experience.Senior Lecturer, Department of Political Science and Geography Director, ODU Model United Nations Program Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia

A senior Democratic lawmaker recently said that its easier to back Israeli government policy, in many instances at the expense of the Palestinians, because pro-Israel lobbyists have a relatively more influential presence on Capitol Hill. "The Palestinians have very legitimate claims" and have been "subject to brutal injustice," Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, said in a meeting with constituents on October 23. But he added, pro-Israel groups — including J Street and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) — make many members of Congress reflexively pro-Israel simply because it is "the path of least resistance." While polling shows that most Americans consider themselves pro-Israel, their support is not entirely unconditional when it comes to how the Israelis are waging the war against Hamas in Gaza.A recent survey of likely American voters found that 61% support the call for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, where weeks of intense bombing by the Israel Defense Forces have caused widespread devastation. Despite this widespread support, only 14% of the U.S. House of Representatives have come out publicly in favor of a ceasefire.But pro-Israel groups make significant campaign contributions, visit members of Congress frequently, and pressure them to back the activities of the Israeli government, critics who spoke with RS say. Rep. Himes held an online meeting to discuss the Israel-Palestine conflict with constituents on October 23, led by the Connecticut chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. According to a recording of the event obtained by Responsible Statecraft, when asked about his tendency to reflexively begin his statements with support for Israel, Himes responded with several answers, one of which addressed the near-constant presence of pro-Israel lobbyists:"[I]n this office, I get 6-8 visits a year by AIPAC, which is a fairly right-wing pro-Israeli group, and J Street, which is a left-leaning pro-Israeli group. I have never had a visit — never once, I've been doing this for 15 years — by a pro-Palestinian group. And again, I'm not criticizing anybody, I'm just sort of explaining the facts as they appear. And I think, therefore, the path of least resistance for an awful lot of members of Congress is to be reflexive the way you were concerned about. And the reason I would love to talk more about that is because, you know, the Palestinians have very legitimate claims, and in times and places have been subject to brutal injustice, and yet there is nobody telling their story."Himes pointed to the influence of AIPAC to help explain the lopsided support for Israel in congress: "AIPAC has been doing this for 60 years. They come in and they sit in the office, and they say, you know, 'Here's three things that we would really like you to consider doing, are you going to do it?' And I'm not saying AIPAC is good or bad, I'm just saying that I know what is effective in educating members of Congress, and honestly it breaks my heart that there isn't a Palestinian group that comes in and says, 'Look, let us tell you what our aspirations are, let us tell you some stories, let us tell you what the settlers are doing outside of, you know, Ramallah.'""I'd be curious to know what he means by 'path of least resistance,'" Foundation for Middle East Peace President Lara Friedman told Responsible Statecraft. "Does he mean, 'this is the path that gets me rewarded in terms of campaign support,' or, on the other hand, 'how I avoid other possible negative consequences like someone giving massive support to my primary opponent?'"Rep. Himes has not traditionally received much financial support from pro-Israel groups. However, last year saw the most campaign spending by pro-Israel donors of any congressional cycle in the last 30 years. Amid this wave of money, the largest contributor to Himes' campaign committee in 2022 was AIPAC. The group has recently clashed publicly with several critics in Congress, ranging from Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wisc.) to Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.). Next year, AIPAC-affiliated groups are expected to spend upwards of $100 million on primary elections in an effort to oust Democratic lawmakers they view are insufficiently supportive of Israel or too vocal about Palestinian rights. The influence of this campaign spending is well-known among congressional insiders. "Any member of Congress knows that AIPAC is associated indirectly with significant amounts of campaign spending if you're with them, and significant amounts against you if you're not with them," former Rep. Brian Baird (D-Wash.) told The New Yorker in 2014. "When key votes are cast, the question on the House floor, troublingly, is often not 'What is the right thing to do for the United States of America?' but 'How is AIPAC going to score this'"?In his congressional votes and public statements, Rep. Himes has charted a course in between his party's biggest supporters and biggest critics of Israel. He explained during the Oct. 23 meeting his reasons for not supporting the calls for a lasting ceasefire. "Unless somebody can convince me that there is an alternative mechanism for bringing these terrorists that perpetrated this grave, grave crime against Israel… to justice, I will not do that," Himes said in reference to Hamas's attacks on October 7. Yet the congressman also opposed the move to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) for her advocacy on the issue."My theme has been two-fold," said Himes, "which is that we will support Israel in the face of this disgusting attack, and number two, that we need to make sure that the Israeli response is moderated, that they abide by the laws of armed conflict, that they come off of their rhetoric of leveling Gaza, of a siege, and that everything be done with an eye towards what is right from a humanitarian standpoint."The eight-term congressman attended Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to a joint session of Congress in 2015 where he bashed President Obama's diplomacy with Iran and received a standing ovation. But Rep. Himes had harsh words for the controversial leader during the Oct. 23 constituent meeting."This problem will not go away until there is a two-state solution," he said. "Very sadly, the current Israeli prime minister has been doing pretty much everything he can to make that an impossibility. And, of course, that's a part of the reason why the rage and anger rose to the levels that it did" prior to Hamas's Oct. 7 attacks. More than two months after the attacks, members of Congress are increasingly voicing concern about Israel's bombardment of Gaza and President Biden called Israel's bombing campaign "indiscriminate," positions that appear to have become more acceptable weeks after the call in which Himes referred to pro-Israel positions as the "path of least resistance."Friedman credits that shift, at least partially, to growing engagement by voters concerned about the civilian death toll in Gaza."Constituent engagement matters, especially since the Gaza war started," said Friedman. "Members are now talking about ceasefire and other things we didn't hear in the first few weeks. Members are starting to show a bit more empathy and concern for what is happening in Gaza."Rep. Himes' office did not respond to requests for comment.

Last week I was honored to be moderator for a discussion with Greg Lukianoff and Rikki Schlott on their new book "Canceling the American Mind" at the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco.  Link here, if the embed above doesn't work Here are my questions. I shared them with Greg and Rickki ahead of time, so the actual questions are a bit shorter. But this may give you some interesting background, and I think they're good questions to ponder in general. 1) The book is full of great stories. Perhaps you can help everyone get a sense of the book with one or two of the most informative cancellation stories. 2) I notice a progression in your work. "Coddling" has moved to "canceling" and is moving to "censorship."  People think of  "canceling" as a social phenomenon, twitter pile-ons. But, as you show in the book, it has now moved on to organized institutional censorship, in universities, scientific societies and publications,  medicine and medical schools, journalism, media and tech, publishing, psychotherapy, law schools, and corporations, which not only punish transgressors but enforce ideological conformity. I'd like you to choose a few stories, explain some of these mechanisms,— for example "DEI" bureaucracies, speech surveillance, curriculum mandates, and so on. 3) There is an important distinction between free speech and academic freedom. It is one thing to censor and fire people for political tweets, but entirely another that whole lines of research are censored — covid, sex and biology, race and policing are examples. And the spread of censorship to the formerly hard sciences seems more damaging than just how much of a lost cause the humanities are. Yet academic freedom in research and teaching is not absolute. If you're hired to research and teach cosmology, the university is right to say you can't do lots of creationism, and the right to invest in what it thinks are promising fields.  I don't like "where do you draw the line" discussions, but I would like your thoughts on academic freedom. It also strikes me that we find your stories so compelling simply because the things people are censored for seem so reasonable, and their censorship so ridiculous. Yet the ideologues think we're ridiculous. It's not clear that academic freedom is the central issue, rather than just how ridiculous and politicized most universities have become in their teaching and research priorities. Perhaps free speech and academic freedom are  necessary but not sufficient to fix universities.4) A softball: Free speech is all well and good but surely "hate speech and disinformation must be regulated." —usually stated in that maddening subject-free passive voice, leaving who and how unsaid.5) Censorship now infects the government. Since you wrote the book, the twitter files and the savage Missouri V. Biden injunction have come out, detailing how the government got tech companies to silence its political critics. A notable example includes the Great Barrington declaration signatories who turned out to be right about masks, vaccine mandates, lockdowns, and school closures.  I fear that social media and AI regulation are really all about censoring political speech, which now includes scientific discourse. Are you?6) You also wrote the book before the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel. Campuses and much of Europe exploded with pro-Hamas protests. University leaders, used to denouncing every small injustice in the world, issued muddles. Long-time donors are rebelling. Well, they say, don't you believe in freedom of speech and academic freedom? If we want to go on a campus rampage with "kill the jews" signs, that's freedom of speech. If we want to run an exercise in class where we make Jewish students stand apart, that's academic freedom.   Follow up: In my view, the main lesson is not the hilarious hypocrisy, or a pointless "where do you draw the line" on free speech.  The real question is why universities have chosen to admit, hire, and promote so many people who, given free speech, choose to use it on murderous anti-semitism? How do you process these events?7) Your book valiantly tries to balance "left" and "right." I want to push us to a more nuanced view, which may help to defuse partisan sentiments. It's not really "left" and "right," as most people on each side still support free speech.  [Greg pushed back hard on that, which was very interesting.] Rather there is a small, but influential minority of each that is the enemy of free speech. And let's get past whose "fault" it is.a) Let's start with the left. I think of the free speech enemies as the totalitarian progressives, sometimes called "woke," but I try to avoid that charged term. Who do you see the as enemies of free speech on the left, what do they want, and what dangers they pose? b) Now on the right. I was surprised to learn how much cancellation is coming from the right.  Who are they? In your book, I count some ham handed anti-woke politicians, some traditional book-banning social conservatives, a smattering of "national conservatives," "common good conservatives" and a vortex of Trump supporters rallying around his peccadillos. But I shouldn't put words in your mouth. Who are they and what do they want?c) You try to be even handed, but I want to push you on that. The anti-speech forces on the left have won the long march through the institutions. You describe a string of selection mechanisms starting in grade school to enforce left-wing ideological conformity. They're on the advance. On the right you describe have ham-handed "anti-woke" legislators, and what you call a "fringe theory from the Opus Dei wing of the conservative movement." The the left has Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Stanford.  You cite right-wing cancellations at Collin College, University of Rhode Island, Montana State and University of Kentucky. Is not the present danger to freedom really mostly from the small minority of left-wing activists, and the crowd of bien-pensants who go along with them?8) I have to admit I'm a bit disappointed about your "cures."  Maybe depressed is the right word — if you two don't have magic bullets, we're in real trouble. You outline a radical restructuring of universities, which is great, but not who is going to take over universities to do it. You emphasize nice rules for a better rhetoric: free speech, logic and evidence, ignore what someone said about another topic, no ad-hominem attacks, and so on. But the opponents of free speech ignore traditional enlightenment rhetoric for a reason. The far left says that logic and evidence are colonialist white supremacist racist thinking; we don't have to listen to evil people. And faced with their latest ideological word salad, it's hard to see what there is to discuss on a factual basis anyway. The far right says, we are faced with a Maoist / Bolshevik cultural revolution, aimed at seizing power. There's no free speech in a war. Voluntarily abiding by better rhetoric doesn't seem likely. Neither side likes your "free speech culture." 9) Let's close with another softball. As you note, free speech is a rare and recent idea. Censorship for political or religious reasons has been the norm in human societies.  In your words, why is freedom of speech and thought so crucial? 

Federal prosecutors unveiled charges against Sen. Bob Menendez (D–N.J.) on Friday that read like a combination of James Bond and The Sopranos. The indictment accuses Menendez of accepting bribes for a variety of favors, from helping local businessmen stay out of jail to green-lighting arms deals with the Egyptian military. Prosecutors allege that Menendez's wife Nadine Arslanian was paid, in the classic Sopranos style, through a no-show job at an Egyptian meat company. The FBI found hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and gold at Arslanian's suburban home.The senator and his co-defendants pleaded not guilty during a Wednesday court hearing. He claimed at a Monday press conference that the indictment was a "limited set of facts framed by the prosecution to be as salacious as possible." While Menendez has stepped down from his post as head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he vowed on Monday to stay in the Senate "on behalf of the 9 million people who call New Jersey home." However, a growing chorus of Democrats — including both national and New Jersey officials — has demanded that Menendez step down from his seat in light of the charges.The combination of local wheeling-and-dealing with international intrigue is nothing new in New Jersey politics. While the state is often known for its weird ambient smells, Mafia families, and party beaches, New Jersey also hosts some of New York City's wealthiest suburbs. Many well-organized diasporas have roots there, and many powerful foreigners park their money there. The career of a New Jersey politician is often intertwined with foreign policy.FBI agents raided Arslanian's home in Englewood Cliffs, 15 minutes away from the exclusive country club where Nikki Haley spoke to pro-Israel donors last week. The nearby town of Englewood had previously been the center of an international incident in 2009, when Libyan ruler Muammar Qadhafi was preparing to address the United Nations. The Libyan foreign ministry owns a mansion in Englewood for its UN ambassador, and sudden construction led to rumors Qadhafi was staying there.Qadhafi's next-door neighbor would have been Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, a prominent pro-Israel activist with ties to settlers in the Palestinian territories. The rabbi waged a high-profile campaign to ward off Qadhafi, using his column in the Jerusalem Post to complain about the construction workers' treatment of his trees. Shmuley threatened to sue the Libyan foreign ministry so that "Libyan money will go toward peaceful projects like planting trees rather than blowing up planes," and offered to host Qadhafi himself if Libya recognized Israel.The Libyan delegation ended up renting property in suburban New York from Donald Trump, who took the money and kicked them out. Qadhafi was so enraged by his treatment that he scattered unsecured nuclear materials across a Libyan airfield. Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who lives close to the Trump property, had to talk Qadhafi down. All politics is local politics, as they say.Menendez started his political career within the Cuban community of Hudson County, the region of New Jersey just across from midtown Manhattan. The large Cuban diaspora there, traumatized by Fidel Castro's revolution, turned to militant anticommunist politics. The Weehawken Duelling Grounds, where Aaron Burr shot Alexander Hamilton in 1804, now features a statue of Cuban national poet José Martí and a monument to Assault Brigade 2506, a force sent by the CIA to overthrow Castro during the Bay of Pigs incident in 1961.

The monument to the fallen from the CIA's Assault Brigade 2506, which fought against Fidel Castro's government at the Bay of Pigs. Photo: Matthew PettiDuring the Monday press conference, Menendez implied that he was also one of the many fleeing Communism. He called himself the "son of Cuban refugees," and said that the cash found by the FBI was "from my personal savings account, which I have kept for emergencies, and because of the history of my family facing confiscation in Cuba." But Menendez was born in New Jersey years before Castro's revolution, to a family of working-class immigrants who had left Cuba under the previous, capitalist dictatorship. Menendez's Senate office did not respond to a question about what confiscation his family faced.Menendez was surrounded by the politics of the anticommunist emigres nonetheless. In the 1970s, when Menendez was on the Union City school board, several rival Cuban-American guerrilla groups held rallies and ran extortion rackets. Union City brothers Guillermo and Ignacio Novo were convicted of killing Chilean leftist politician Orlando Letelier with a car bomb in Washington; their convictions were overturned on appeal. Menendez himself helped raise money for the legal defense fund of Eduardo Arocena, a Union City guerrilla leader convicted of murdering a Cuban diplomat in New York and organizing other bomb attacks, in the 1980s.Since branching out into statewide politics, Menendez cultivated ties with other diaspora groups. He's member of the Friends of the Irish National Caucus and the Armenian Caucus, and has touted Arslanian's Lebanese-Armenian roots. The senator is sure to show up at Hindu holiday festivals, and once condemned Time Magazine for making fun of Hindu believers in New Jersey. Rabbi Shmuley, himself a Republican, praised Menendez for being a non-Jewish friend of Israel. A local Greek diaspora newspaper simply described Menendez as "our guy."

Aerial photo of Englewood Cliffs just across the river from New York City. Photo: Matthew PettiThese diaspora ties have sometimes landed Menendez in legal trouble. The senator was indicted in 2015 for a scheme that involved Dominican-American doctor Salomon Melgen's attempts to score a contract in the Dominican Republic. (Menendez escaped jail time after a mistrial was declared in 2018, and successfully pressured the Trump administration to grant Melgen clemency.) Friday's indictment similarly involved immigrant businesspeople in Menendez's social circles.Two of the alleged bribe-givers were Lebanese-American real estate developer Fred Daibes and Egyptian-American meat merchant Wael Hana, whom Arslanian was friends with in the past. Like many things in New Jersey politics, the alleged favors to his associates mixed the local and the global. Menendez allegedly tried to protect Daibes and another local businessman, José Uribe, from fraud charges. He also allegedly tried to help Hana maintain his monopoly on halal meat exports to Egypt — a monopoly that caught the attention of Egyptian media in 2019.The most explosive accusations involve Menendez's contacts with Egyptian military and intelligence officers that he met through Hana. Menendez allegedly passed on sensitive data about U.S. Embassy staff and ghost-wrote a letter on behalf of an Egyptian general asking for military aid. Prosecutors also claimed that the Egyptians bribed Menendez to make sure American arms sales to Egypt went through smoothly.Menendez allegedly asked Arslanian to tell Hana that he had approved the sale of 10,000 tank ammunition rounds and 46,000 target practice rounds to Egypt, for use against the Sinai insurgency. Arslanian forwarded the senator's text message to Hana, who forwarded it to an Egyptian army officer, who responded only with a 👍 emoji, according to the indictment.The indictment also includes a photo of Menendez and Arslanian at the house of an unnamed "senior Egyptian intelligence official," whom researcher Amy Hawthorne identified as Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel. Menendez, on his return from Egypt, allegedly googled "how much is one kilo of gold worth." Hana also allegedly helped pay off the mortgage on Arslanian's Englewood Cliffs home. He returned to the United States and was arrested at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City on Tuesday.On Friday, news reporters showed up in Englewood Cliffs, looking for the Mercedes-Benz convertible that Menendez had allegedly bought with Uribe's bribe money. One reporter seemed surprised to see that Arslanian's house — the place where so much cash and gold were hidden — was an average-sized suburban bungalow. But looks are deceiving. Englewood Cliffs is an expensive area, and Arslanian's house is worth about $1.1 million.New Jersey, in a nutshell: global power hidden in plain sight.A version of this article first appeared on the author's Substack page, "Matthew's Notebook."