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Free Malaysia Today
2 days ago
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
US intel chief denounces ‘warmongers' after Hiroshima visit
US intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard visited Hiroshima ahead of the 80th anniversary of the world's only atomic bombings. (AP pic) WASHINGTON : US intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard warned Tuesday after a trip to Hiroshima that 'warmongers' were pushing the world to the brink of nuclear war, in an extraordinary, if veiled, pitch for diplomacy. Gabbard did not specify her concerns, but Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly brandished the spectre of nuclear war as he cautions Europe and the US against support for Ukraine. Gabbard, a former congresswoman who has faced criticism in the past for her views on Russia, posted a video of grisly footage from the world's first nuclear attack and of her staring reflectively at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. On Aug 6, 1945, the US obliterated Hiroshima, killing 140,000 in the explosion and by the end of the year from the uranium bomb's effects. Three days later, a US plane dropped a plutonium bomb on Nagasaki, leaving around 74,000 people dead by the end of the year. Japan surrendered on Aug 15. 'This one bomb that caused so much destruction in Hiroshima was tiny compared to today's nuclear bombs,' Gabbard said. 'A single nuclear weapon today could kill millions in just minutes.' 'As we stand here today closer to the brink of nuclear annihilation than ever before, political elites and warmongers are carelessly fomenting fear and tensions between nuclear powers,' she said. 'Perhaps it's because they are confident that they will have access to nuclear shelters for themselves and for their families that regular people won't have access to.' Taking a tone more customary for a politician or activist than the director of national intelligence, Gabbard said: 'So it's up to us, the people, to speak up and demand an end to this madness.' Japanese media reports said the comments were 'extremely rare' for an incumbent US government official, and at odds with Washington's past justification of the bombings. Yoshimasa Hayashi, Japan's top government spokesman, declined to comment directly on Gabbard's video. But he said an 'accurate understanding' of the destruction and suffering caused by atomic bombs would 'serve as the basis for various efforts toward nuclear disarmament'. 'It's important for Japan to continue its realistic, pragmatic efforts with the United States to realise a nuclear-free world, based on the belief that the carnage in Hiroshima and Nagasaki must not be repeated,' Hayashi said. Gabbard's remarks come as aides to President Donald Trump voice growing frustration with Putin, who has refused US-led, Ukraine-backed calls for a temporary ceasefire. Secretary of state Marco Rubio, whom Gabbard criticised before the two entered Trump's cabinet, has warned that the US could walk away from diplomacy over the Ukraine conflict if there are no positive signs. Gabbard, a former Democrat, faced a heated confirmation hearing but ultimately prevailed after Democrats and some Republicans questioned her past statements, including some supportive of Russian positions. She has said that the EU and Washington should have listened to Russian security concerns about Ukraine joining Nato. Gabbard's visit to Hiroshima comes ahead of the 80th anniversary of the world's only atomic bombings. The US has never apologised for the attacks.
Bloomberg
2 days ago
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Gabbard Warns Global Nuclear Annihilation Is Closer Than Ever
Tulsi Gabbard, the US director of national intelligence, released a video Tuesday warning that the world is closer to nuclear war than ever and accusing unnamed political elites of trying to foment conflict between world powers. Gabbard didn't cite any countries by name but her remarks echoed longtime claims by Russian officials and, more recently, by far-right commentators in the US who have warned that a Ukrainian drone attack on Russia's strategic bomber fleet earlier this month made nuclear war more likely.
Mail & Guardian
2 days ago
- Business
- Mail & Guardian
Moeletsi Mbeki criticises ‘ruling political elites' for ‘milking' South Africa's economy
Political analyst Moeletsi Mbeki has indicted South Africa's 'ruling political elites' for contributing to the country's economic dysfunction Political analyst Moeletsi Mbeki has indicted South Africa's 'ruling political elites' for contributing to the country's economic dysfunction by milking state coffers, while urging the private sector to get involved in finding a solution. Speaking at a Xubera Institute for Research and Development forum near Durban last Friday, 'South Africa has one problem — and please don't listen to Mbeki highlighted the minerals sector as providing a stark illustration of the economy's systemic failure. With minerals accounting for 60% of South Africa's exports, the ongoing war between the Minerals Council, representing major producers, and Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe, showed a self-destructive pattern of political interference that threatened the nation's economic lifeline, Mbeki warned. 'Why is the minister of mines fighting the mining industry instead of working with the mining industry?' he asked, referring to the dispute that started with a review of the 2018 Mbeki traced the roots of the current economic crisis to the country's fundamental power 'Before that date, political power rested with property owners — the owners of mines, banks and supermarkets. What happened was a transfer of political power from people who owned property to people who don't own assets,' he said. 'The new rulers don't have land, don't have mines, don't have banks, don't have shops. So where do they live off? They live off the state.' As a result, the political elite were 'milking' the state coffers with the public sector wage bill having ballooned to an unprecedented 17% of GDP — the highest globally. By comparison, developed economies allocate just 10% to public sector wages. The government collects about R2 trillion annually, Mbeki said, with 84% immediately consumed by two line items — public sector wages and debt servicing. This leaves virtually nothing for infrastructure, development or economic expansion. He noted that the International Monetary Fund had repeatedly warned about the unsustainability of South Africa's public sector spending. 'The department of finance [the treasury] a year or so ago, revealed that more than 55 000 public sector employees, including politicians and ministers, more than 55 000 of them earn more than a million rands a year. If you walk into the national parliament, you walk in there and fall asleep, which many of them do. You earn R1.2 million. But without doing anything, just walking in,' he said. 'There aren't many businesses that are profitable that give a livelihood to one individual of a million rands a year … The controllers of political power use their political power to enrich themselves through the public service. They are milking, literally milking, the whole economy to pay themselves fabulous salaries.' Mbeki said the business elite, which employs 75% of people in South Africa, was finding itself increasingly paralysed as it faced the threat of expropriation without compensation and had adopted a survival strategy of minimal investment. According to the latest data from Statistics South Africa, youth unemployment is about 65% and the expanded unemployment rate, which includes discouraged job seekers, stands at 44.1% — a ticking time bomb of social instability. 'When you have such a large population that's not working, then that's a recipe for disaster, and many of these non-working people are young people under the age of 35, so you're sitting on a time bomb,' Mbeki said. South African Reserve Bank data shows that private sector fixed investment has declined for seven consecutive quarters, with business confidence at its lowest levels in decades. The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry's business confidence index has been below the neutral 50-point mark for 36 consecutive months. 'If you own an asset, and you have a threat of your assets being seized without compensation, what will you do? You invest as little as possible just to keep your business ticking,' Mbeki said. About R1 trillion was sitting idle in current accounts, with businesses refusing to invest because of political uncertainty, he said. South Africa's policies on land and property, including the recently signed Despite joining President Cyril Ramaphosa's ANC in a government of national unity last year, the former main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) has maintained its opposition to such legislation, launching court challenges to both the Ramaphosa defended the policies in parliament last month, arguing that racial redress after apartheid was not a hindrance to economic growth, but an essential step towards broadening black participation in the economy to spur growth. Mbeki said he believed the ANC would not actually implement the 'This is all posturing. They haven't got the guts to do it. They think it will win them the election, but Trump has called their bluff, so now we saw them shivering in front of Trump in the White House … that's what happens when you bluff,' he said. He was referring to Mbeki said 68% of South Africans live in urban areas and depend on commercial farmers for food security. Responding to a question from a man in the audience about land redistribution, he said: 'If we take the land from the present commercial farmers and give it to my brother's family there, they can't produce to feed the population. 'They haven't got the capital, they haven't got the skills, they haven't got all the things that you need to be able to run a productive commercial farm in South Africa today. That is reality we have to live with.' He said agricultural exports were also important to the economy because they accounted for about 15% of the country's total exports. Mbeki said the political landscape offered little hope with parties such as ActionSA and the DA offering no substantive economic solutions. 'The DA is a middle-class party, like the ANC is a middle-class party, like ActionSA is a middle-class party. Doesn't matter whether you're white or black, they're a middle-class party and they defend the interests of the middle classes,' he said. 'They haven't changed the structure of the economy. They haven't come up with a strategy for overcoming the 40% unemployment that we're sitting with in this country. 'We have to bring down the standard of living of the public sector employees and we have to dilute the power of the propertyless political elite. That has to be diluted with the power of the workers, the power of the poor and the power of the capitalist. They have to dilute the power of the middle class that is now dominant in our political system.' Drawing a comparison with South Korea, Mbeki highlighted the opportunity cost of South Africa's political model. In 1950, the two countries were economically comparable. Today, the Korean economy is nearly three times the size of South Africa's. 'Korea invested in its human resources. Their life expectancy is nearly 80, ours is 61. That's what investing in human capital means,' he said. Mbeki dismissed the notion that some white South Africans longed for a return of apartheid. 'Apartheid will never come back in South Africa. The notion that white people want apartheid back is totally not true … A huge part of the white population did not support apartheid,' he said. Mbeki urged business to get involved in politics to rescue the economy. 'We need more active political activity from the owners of capital in South Africa, because without their participation, as I showed, they control most of the skilled labour force in this country, without their labour force, without their management skills, we can't have both calls like this one.' 'Property owners have to intervene in the political system and become political participants. This is one of the problems we have in South Africa — that the owners of capital only act when we're on the edge of the precipice.' Xubera Institute for Research and Development founder Xolani Dube said the country was facing a catastrophe and people had been 'zombified' into not confronting it. 'Possibly those who crafted this catastrophe were fully aware of the people they are dealing with — they are dealing with people who are docile. So, what Xubera is trying to do is to conscientise people about the issues facing our country,' Dube said. 'Unfortunately, the more we discuss, others are digging the grave for us so, in a way, we have submerged in this hollow grave and unfortunately we are dragging our kids into this grave. And when we rise, we rise for our own selfish issues, but not the issues that bind us all. That's the sad part.' He said the country's economic situation was due to the government's previous bad decisions. 'It's the sins of our fathers that we are now dealing with. It's poor policy decisions — R600 billion that was spent on bailing out state- owned entities. This is the type of situation that we've inherited that we now need to deal with,' he said. 'But you now have a multi-party government in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, not a one-party dominant government, and it means there's more accountability, but you are never going to change the inherited system overnight. 'It's going to take time to turn it around but I would suggest that we're in an exciting and vibrant political situation with challenges. We understand those challenges but we need to collectively start taking an active interest in politics and in political parties.'
