The Weekly Wrap for Saturday, 10 August 2019

Talking points Hong Kong's lawyers, bankers and politicians join the fray. PHOTO: AFP Hong Kong protests morphed into a wider pro-democracy movement Boris Johnson was accused of intentionally fumbling Brexit talks Israel may have inadvertently colonised the moon with tardigrades Deadly dengue outbreaks tore through Bangladesh and Philippines Monsanto's 'intelligence centre' targeted journalists and activists African swine flu spread through Eastern European piggeries  Fossil hunters discovered a new dinosaur hiding in plain sight A scientist baked bread from 4,500-year-old Egyptian yeast Uber haemorrhaged $5b in the last quarter Your Amazon Alexa might be made by Chinese schoolchildren  Deep Dive Monday was a dark and historic day. PHOTO: Reuters. All nations manufacture various fictions. Sometimes these fictions are woven into people's sense of individual identity (like American exceptionalism or British imperialism). In other cases, they become tools for building national cohesion. One such fiction has been India's promised referendum for Kashmiri self-rule. For seven decades India convinced itself (and much of the world) that the accession of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) would one day be ratified through a plebiscite. But that fiction was dispelled on Monday.   Muzzling Kashmir    The residents of Indian-administered Kashmir are no strangers to New Delhi's heavy-handed security policies: they share their lives with three-quarters of a million soldiers. As such, the extra 30,000 Indian troops that were deployed across the restive region last week did not raise too many eyebrows. But on Sunday evening it became clear that the operation had a keener edge: a strict curfew was imposed, and the streets emptied. Word soon broke that pilgrims and tourists had been evacuated from popular Hindu religious sites like the Sree Amarnath cave temple. The following morning, Kashmiris woke up isolated from the world. Mobile phones across the region buzzed once – a message from their service provider announced that the central government was shutting down the networks indefinitely – then remained silent. Schools were closed. The wifi networks stopped working. As did the television news channels. Those who braved the streets and checkpoints carried the news that local politicians had been placed under arrest. Hundreds more have been arrested, but this is no regular counter-insurgency sweep.   Articles 370 and 35A    As troops gave orders from behind roadblocks in Srinagar, politicians in New Delhi were busy making history. India's President Ram Nath Kovind had revoked the orders that underpinned Articles 370 and 35A of the Indian constitution. The first had granted J&K an unusual degree of legislative and bureaucratic autonomy, the second defined precisely who benefited from that autonomy. The pair of articles were the carrots that accompanied the sticks of the Indian army in the chaotic years of the late 1940s. One provision held that only Kashmiris would be allowed to own land in J&K, a sweetener to dissuade a sizeable portion of the population who had preferred to be under Pakistani rule.  A series of bills shot through the Lok Sabha, then the Rajya Sabha – far faster than one would assume given the gravity of the situation. In a single day, J&K lost its autonomy and was downgraded from a State to a Union Territory – to be ruled from New Delhi. More laws cleaved another new Union Territory, Ladakh, in the east. And to be fair, the Ladakhis are ecstatic about this delineation; the nominally-Buddhist, Tibetan-language-speaking Ladakhis have often played third fiddle to the Muslims and Hindus of J&K.   "A new era has begun"    So proclaimed India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a rare public address on Thursday night. The PM told the country that J&K's erstwhile autonomy had given rise a subversive culture. Ironically, the events of this past week would justify subversion by any reasonable standard. Having already dissolved the state government last year, New Delhi had now removed the only avenue of legal dissent that Kashmiris could call on. There will be much congratulation and back-slapping in New Delhi over this neat trick. But for millions of Kashmiris – whose streets are flooded with soldiers from thousands of kilometres away – it is an ultimate betrayal. And that is to say nothing of the boon that it will be for the recruiters of pro-independence militants. The inevitable protests have already claimed a handful of lives. India's nuclear-armed neighbour/antagonist (and useful foil) responded with predictable alarm. Since Partition, Pakistan and India have fought three wars over the disputed territory and they exchange unpleasantries (usually in the form of artillery shells) on a weekly basis. Majority-Muslim Pakistan considers itself the spiritual guardian of Kashmiri Muslims who've not exactly had an easy run under Indian rule. It must be noted that Islamabad's way of exercising this guardianship has largely consisted of funding, training and arming bomb-throwers on its side of the Line of Control. India's other nuclear-armed neighbour/antagonist, China, has also denounced the move. In many ways this latest episode is par for the course. In the bloody chaos of Partition – the displacement of millions upon millions of people – and the accession of hundreds of independent kingdoms was won at the barrel of the gun. In J&K promises were made that were never destined to be honoured – now at least there is some clarity around that. In Modi, Hindu nationalists have found their champion. Onerous cow butchery laws have been imposed on Muslim communities. J&K has been neutered; its property rights and autonomy extinguished. Before long the Ayodhya temple dispute will be resolved, and it won't be in the favour of Muslims. India is gradually realising its potential as a state for Hindus. And before our very eyes a new fiction is taking shape. Worldlywise Renminbi breaks the rules. PHOTO: Bloomberg The global economy groans Last week US President Donald Trump announced that America was appending further tariffs to Chinese exports as early as September 1st. These were in fact the same tariffs that had been threatened earlier in the year and then shelved after promises of trade talks. Now they're back, and they have prompted a response from Beijing that sent shockwaves through markets. On Monday, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) set its parity rate at less than 7 Yuan per USD, the lowest this rate has been in over a decade. Western commentators have long held that the 7:1 parity was a redline; anything below it is purported to be evidence of currency manipulation. And so, Washington has labelled China a currency manipulator, and sparked a lot of feigned surprise and hurt from PBOC's governor, Yi Gang. Applying a narrow lens to this decision, a weaker Chinese Yuan equates to cheaper Chinese exports. This artificially strengthens the USD, making American exports less attractive. With Beijing opening up this new front in the trade war, it will be nearly impossible for Trump to 'win'. But such a move also carries significant risks for China's own economy, not to mention the wider Asian markets. Already a handful of central banks across Asia are cutting interest rates to insulate themselves from further spillover. Thankfully this was just a warning shot from Beijing. Late in the week PBOC allowed the Yuan to rise to a more comfortable level. But it's clear that any hopes of meaningful trade talks before the 2020 U.S. elections have all but disappeared.  Cattle, coffee and soy farms are replacing the Amazon. PHOTO: Andre Penner / AP Slashed, burned and tilled If the stuttering global economy isn't enough to worry about, how about a looming planet-wide food crisis? The annual plea from the world's leading scientists – the United Nations International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report – was released this week. The news is predictably appalling: climate change is rapidly degrading the very soil that supports our species. A clear picture has emerged – we cannot keep farming and eating the way we do. Humanity is in the grip of a vicious cycle: slash-and-burn land-clearing replaces our remaining carbon-sink forests with crops, which increase emissions from industrial agriculture, which amplifies the damage of natural disasters, acidification, erosion and climate heating. Expanding deserts and damaged land will dangerously diminish our agricultural output and likely lead to mass food shortages. One only needs to look to Syria to see what happens when adverse climactic conditions force subsistence farmers off their land and into the cities. And it goes without saying that the populations most exposed to these kinds of food shortages are those worst-equipped to manage them. Many of you have been reading this column long enough (thank you!) to have seen the last few IPCC reports covered in The Wrap. As such, we'll take this opportunity to ask: whether you have changed your life in ways that lessen your impact on the Earth's dwindling resources? (Please reply to this email with your strategies!) Perhaps you've purchased a reusable coffee cup, gone vegetarian, or switched to an electricity provider that owns wind farms. All good and fine things, but what about your bank's investment portfolio, or your local politician's voting record? One of the great conceits of the modern world is that individual action will suffice in the face of regulatory and industrial inaction. It won't. As David Attenborough said, on this challenge "we cannot be radical enough". The Best of Times Looks good, saves time. PHOTO: AFP Let those leaves decompose in the backyard The positive stories couldn't come quick enough this week. But This piece is just the ticket: a tip that will help you save the world without actually doing much at all! The 'ungardening' movement is simple: it encourages anyone with a garden to let it run wild with native plants. Allowing native plants to grow and grow and grow will not only endear you to bees (a rare and distinct honour) and other pollinators, it'll also free up your spare time! But please recycle your lawnmowers responsibly.   Need a way to reduce your unconscious biases?  Here's another quick fix: use gender-neutral pronouns. A new study has found that using non-gendered terms reduces one's reliance on stereotypes and actually improves your perception of women and LGBT+ people. How easy is that? The Worst of Times Hate in the U.S.A. PHOTO: AFP Massacres in El Paso and Dayton On average, there has been a mass shooting (in which four people been killed or injured) every day in 2019. What's left to be said?   Delete Facebook Amongst all the other tripe on social media, we can now reveal that the proliferation of pseudoscience health advice has now reached a truly preposterous (read: dangerous) level.  Weekend Reading Quote of the week "We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives." – America has lost one of its greatest writers. Vale, Toni Morrison.    Headline of the week Men less likelu to recycle because they are worried people will think they're gay, study claims – The Independent (we are doomed)   Special mention The handsome, stately, and extinct parrot.   Some choice long-reads   The Economist tracks the impact of the Hong Kong protests as they ripple through the wider international community,   Businessweek finds out just how hard it is to hide from Silicon Valley (you need a LOT of privacy gadgets), and   Financial Times explores how a 21-year-old Russian YouTuber is facing eight years in jail for encouraging peace protests. EDITOR'S NOTE: It's a tale as old as chippies themselves: you are enjoying your frites sur la plage (this has a nicer ring than beach chips) when a flock of seagulls descends upon you. What do you do? Fret no more... Our species' unquenchable thirst for knowledge has led a team of researchers to the seaside to discover what will deter those feathered brigands. According to their study: simply stare at them. Finally, some news you can use. Tom Wharton @trwinwriting