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Same Old Politics Will Not Solve Iraq Water Crisis

15 April 2020

Georgia Cooke

Project Manager, Middle East and North Africa Programme

Dr Renad Mansour

Senior Research Fellow, Middle East and North Africa Programme; Project Director, Iraq Initiative

Glada Lahn

Senior Research Fellow, Energy, Environment and Resources Programme
Addressing Iraq’s water crisis should be a priority for any incoming prime minister as it is damaging the country’s attempts to rebuild. But successive governments have allowed the problem to fester.

2020-04-15-Iraq-Water

Punting in the marshes south of the Iraqi city of Ammarah. Photo by Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/Getty Images.

Historically, Iraq lay claim to one of the most abundant water supplies in the Middle East. But the flow of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers has reduced by up to 40% since the 1970s, due in part to the actions of neighbouring countries, in particular Turkey, upstream.

Rising temperatures and reduced rainfall due to climate change are also negatively impacting Iraq’s water reserves. Evaporation from dams and reservoirs is estimated to lose the country up to 8 billion cubic metres of water every year.

A threat to peace and stability

Shortages have dried up previously fertile land, increasing poverty in agricultural areas. Shortages have also served to fuel conflict: communities faced with successive droughts and government inertia proved to be easy targets for ISIS recruiters, who lured farmers into joining them by offering money and food to feed their families. Economic hardship for those whose livelihoods relied upon river water has also driven rural to urban migration, putting significant strain on already over-populated towns and cities, exacerbating housing, job and electricity shortages, and widening the gap between haves and have-nots.

But scarcity isn’t the most crucial element of Iraq’s water crisis – contamination is. Decades of local government mismanagement, corrupt practices and a lack of regulation of dumping (it is estimated up to 70% of Iraq’s industrial waste is dumped directly into water) has left approximately three in every five citizens without a reliable source of potable water.

In 2018, 118,000 residents of Basra province were hospitalised with symptoms brought on by drinking contaminated water, which not only put a spotlight on the inadequacies of a crumbling healthcare system but sparked mass protests and a subsequent violent crackdown.

The water crisis is also undermining the stability of the country’s federal governance model, by occasionally sparking disputes between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government, as well as between governorates in the south.

The crisis is both a symptom and a cause of poor governance. Iraq is stuck in a cycle whereby government inaction causes shortages and contamination, which result in economic losses, reduced food supply, increased prices and widespread poor health. This in turn leads to increasing levels of poverty, higher demand on services and civil unrest, increasing the pressure on a weak, dysfunctional system of government.

What can be done?

The first priority should be modernising existing water-management infrastructure - a relic of a time when the problem was an excess rather than a shortage of water (the last time Iraq’s flood defences were required was 1968). Bureaucratic hurdles, widespread corruption and an endless cycle of other crises taking precedent prevent good initiatives from being implemented or scaled up.

Diversifying energy sources to improve provision is crucial. Baghdad has a sewage treatment plant that originally ran on its own electricity source, but this capacity was destroyed in 1991 and was never replaced. The city continues to suffer from dangerous levels of water pollution because the electricity supply from the grid is insufficient to power the plant. Solar energy has great potential in sun-drenched Iraq to bridge the gaping hole in energy provision, but successive governments have chosen to focus on fossil fuels rather than promoting investment to grow the renewables sector.

Heightened tension with upstream Turkey could turn water into another cause of regional conflict. But, if approached differently, collaboration between Iraq and its neighbour could foster regional harmony.

Turkey’s elevated geography and cooler climate mean its water reserves suffer 75% less evaporation than Iraq’s. Given that Turkey’s top energy priority is the diversification of its supply of imported hydrocarbons, a win-win deal could see Turkey exchange access to its water-management infrastructure for delivery of reduced cost energy supplies from Iraq.

German-French cooperation on coal and steel in the 1950s and the evolution of economic integration that followed might provide a model for how bilateral cooperation over one issue could result in cooperation with other regional players (in this case Iran and Syria) on a range of other issues. This kind of model would need to consider the future of energy, whereby oil and gas would be replaced by solar-power exports.

These solutions have been open to policymakers for years and yet they have taken little tangible action. While there are leaders and bureaucrats with the will to act, effective action is invariably blocked by a complex and opaque political system replete with vested interests in maintaining power and wealth via a weak state and limited services from central government.

Breaking the cycle

To break this cycle, Iraq needs a group of professional and able actors outside of government to work with willing elements of the state bureaucracy as a taskforce to pressure for action and accountability. Publishing the recommendations from a hitherto withheld report produced in the aftermath of Basra’s 2018 heath crisis would be a great start.

In time, this taskforce could champion the prioritisation of water on the national agenda, the implementation of infrastructure upgrades, and hold more productive conversations with neighbour states.

With such a high degree of state fragmentation and dysfunction in Iraq, looking to the central government to provide leadership will not yield results. Engagement with a coalition of non-state actors can begin to address the water crisis and also open a dialogue around new models of governance for other critical issues. This might even be a starting point for rewriting the tattered social contract in Iraq.

This piece is based on insights and discussion at a roundtable event, Conflict and the Water Crisis in Iraq, held at Chatham House on March 9 as part of the Iraq Initiative.




same

Same Old Politics Will Not Solve Iraq Water Crisis

15 April 2020

Georgia Cooke

Project Manager, Middle East and North Africa Programme

Dr Renad Mansour

Senior Research Fellow, Middle East and North Africa Programme; Project Director, Iraq Initiative

Glada Lahn

Senior Research Fellow, Energy, Environment and Resources Programme
Addressing Iraq’s water crisis should be a priority for any incoming prime minister as it is damaging the country’s attempts to rebuild. But successive governments have allowed the problem to fester.

2020-04-15-Iraq-Water

Punting in the marshes south of the Iraqi city of Ammarah. Photo by Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/Getty Images.

Historically, Iraq lay claim to one of the most abundant water supplies in the Middle East. But the flow of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers has reduced by up to 40% since the 1970s, due in part to the actions of neighbouring countries, in particular Turkey, upstream.

Rising temperatures and reduced rainfall due to climate change are also negatively impacting Iraq’s water reserves. Evaporation from dams and reservoirs is estimated to lose the country up to 8 billion cubic metres of water every year.

A threat to peace and stability

Shortages have dried up previously fertile land, increasing poverty in agricultural areas. Shortages have also served to fuel conflict: communities faced with successive droughts and government inertia proved to be easy targets for ISIS recruiters, who lured farmers into joining them by offering money and food to feed their families. Economic hardship for those whose livelihoods relied upon river water has also driven rural to urban migration, putting significant strain on already over-populated towns and cities, exacerbating housing, job and electricity shortages, and widening the gap between haves and have-nots.

But scarcity isn’t the most crucial element of Iraq’s water crisis – contamination is. Decades of local government mismanagement, corrupt practices and a lack of regulation of dumping (it is estimated up to 70% of Iraq’s industrial waste is dumped directly into water) has left approximately three in every five citizens without a reliable source of potable water.

In 2018, 118,000 residents of Basra province were hospitalised with symptoms brought on by drinking contaminated water, which not only put a spotlight on the inadequacies of a crumbling healthcare system but sparked mass protests and a subsequent violent crackdown.

The water crisis is also undermining the stability of the country’s federal governance model, by occasionally sparking disputes between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government, as well as between governorates in the south.

The crisis is both a symptom and a cause of poor governance. Iraq is stuck in a cycle whereby government inaction causes shortages and contamination, which result in economic losses, reduced food supply, increased prices and widespread poor health. This in turn leads to increasing levels of poverty, higher demand on services and civil unrest, increasing the pressure on a weak, dysfunctional system of government.

What can be done?

The first priority should be modernising existing water-management infrastructure - a relic of a time when the problem was an excess rather than a shortage of water (the last time Iraq’s flood defences were required was 1968). Bureaucratic hurdles, widespread corruption and an endless cycle of other crises taking precedent prevent good initiatives from being implemented or scaled up.

Diversifying energy sources to improve provision is crucial. Baghdad has a sewage treatment plant that originally ran on its own electricity source, but this capacity was destroyed in 1991 and was never replaced. The city continues to suffer from dangerous levels of water pollution because the electricity supply from the grid is insufficient to power the plant. Solar energy has great potential in sun-drenched Iraq to bridge the gaping hole in energy provision, but successive governments have chosen to focus on fossil fuels rather than promoting investment to grow the renewables sector.

Heightened tension with upstream Turkey could turn water into another cause of regional conflict. But, if approached differently, collaboration between Iraq and its neighbour could foster regional harmony.

Turkey’s elevated geography and cooler climate mean its water reserves suffer 75% less evaporation than Iraq’s. Given that Turkey’s top energy priority is the diversification of its supply of imported hydrocarbons, a win-win deal could see Turkey exchange access to its water-management infrastructure for delivery of reduced cost energy supplies from Iraq.

German-French cooperation on coal and steel in the 1950s and the evolution of economic integration that followed might provide a model for how bilateral cooperation over one issue could result in cooperation with other regional players (in this case Iran and Syria) on a range of other issues. This kind of model would need to consider the future of energy, whereby oil and gas would be replaced by solar-power exports.

These solutions have been open to policymakers for years and yet they have taken little tangible action. While there are leaders and bureaucrats with the will to act, effective action is invariably blocked by a complex and opaque political system replete with vested interests in maintaining power and wealth via a weak state and limited services from central government.

Breaking the cycle

To break this cycle, Iraq needs a group of professional and able actors outside of government to work with willing elements of the state bureaucracy as a taskforce to pressure for action and accountability. Publishing the recommendations from a hitherto withheld report produced in the aftermath of Basra’s 2018 heath crisis would be a great start.

In time, this taskforce could champion the prioritisation of water on the national agenda, the implementation of infrastructure upgrades, and hold more productive conversations with neighbour states.

With such a high degree of state fragmentation and dysfunction in Iraq, looking to the central government to provide leadership will not yield results. Engagement with a coalition of non-state actors can begin to address the water crisis and also open a dialogue around new models of governance for other critical issues. This might even be a starting point for rewriting the tattered social contract in Iraq.

This piece is based on insights and discussion at a roundtable event, Conflict and the Water Crisis in Iraq, held at Chatham House on March 9 as part of the Iraq Initiative.




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[ Royalty ] Open Question : Why do males often name their male kids the same name, and a number, but females do not do the same for their daughters?

(I am in the USA). There was 8 Henry s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_VIII_of_England




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[ Politics ] Open Question : When will the democrats be arrested for being trators to SAmerica by conspiring with chine to make trump looik bad?




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Two Views of the Same News Find Opposite Biases

You could be forgiven for thinking the television images in the experiment were from 2006. They were really from 1982: Israeli forces were clashing with Arab militants in Lebanon. The world was watching, charges were flying, and the air was thick with grievance, hurt and outrage.




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Potato mushroom walnut sesame salad

A new take on that old favourite, potato salad. The sesame and miso adds interest, while the walnuts add taste and crunch. So substantial it could be a meal in itself.





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Sesame, honey, ginger and soy grilled salmon with lime

Atlantic Salmon is Australia's most popular farmed fish and is a healthy weekly staple for many people. This recipe offers a marinade more commonly thought of for chicken however is simply delicious with salmon. Enjoy with a fresh local limes, which are in season from early April to mid September.




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Greek sesame crusted feta wih honey

250g Greek feta cheese 2 eggs 1 tsp. of smoked paprika 1 tsp. of freshly ground pepper 1/2 cup plain flour, enough to coat the feta 60g sesame seeds Sunflower oil for frying 4 tbsps. of local honey




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Emmert: Unlikely all schools will start seasons at same time

NCAA President Mark Emmert says the coronavirus is making it unlikely all schools will be ready to begin competing in college sports at the same time. Emmert appeared with Dr. Brian Hainline, the NCAA's chief medical officer, in an interview shown on the NCAA's official Twitter account Friday night. Major football conference commissioners have stated their goal is for all 130 teams in 10 conferences across 41 states to begin the season at the same time.




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Die Selbstverdauung des Magens / von Bernhard Samelson.

Jena : Verlag von Gustav Fischer, 1879.




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The different forms of flowers on plants of the same species / by Charles Darwin.

London : J. Murray, 1877.




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How can the smoker and the nonsmoker be equally free in the same place? George Bernard Shaw / Biman Mullick.

[London?], [199-?]




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Reese Witherspoon and I Wear the Same Comfy Hoka One One Sneakers to Run Errands 

Once you try them, you’ll never want to wear anything else




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Not All Cherry Blossoms Are the Same

View these vivid illustrations by Japanese artist Kōkichi Tsunoi of the varieties of trees presented to the United States in 1912




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The same beautiful threads

“Listening to their testimonies, I’ve begun to envision their stories as a collection of clues, a series of scenes revealing the fingerprints of something—or Someone—beyond our deepest imagination,” says Chris. “The people I talked with hail from a variety of backgrounds—atheist German to Cambodian Buddhist—but the tapestries of their lives reveal the same beautiful threads, pointing unmistakably to a Designer.“




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David Torrance: How Brexit vote has left the SNP making the same historical error

“Scotland”, declared a young Alex Salmond in May 1975, “knows from bitter experience what treatment is in store for a powerless region of a common market.”




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Boris Johnson: UK needs 'same spirit of national endeavour' to defeat virus as WW2 veterans showed to defeat Hitler

BORIS Johnson has said Britain needs the "same spirit of national endeavour" to defeat the coronavirus as Second World War veterans demonstrated to topple Adolf Hitler.




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Different Paths to the Same Goal: College and Career Readiness

Two recent studies of Teach to One: Math highlight the tension in math between grade-level-based accountability systems and approaches to instruction that enable more personalized paths to college and career readiness.




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"I don't think we'll ever be the same." Tori Amos on politics, grief and the pandemic

RIGHT now, Tori Amos says, the big thing is to resist despondency. “That is an illness,” she tells me near the end of our conversation. “That is cancerous. And it can spread through your whole being and you don’t even realise. You’re in a mental war and you don’t know how to get out of it, and you do have to have words with yourself.”




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Disparities in Health Insurance Among Children With Same-Sex Parents

Health insurance is associated with improved health for children, but gay and lesbian parents face barriers to adding their children to private health insurance. Little is known about the extent to which insurance disparities exist for children with same-sex parents.

Children with same-sex parents are less likely to have private health insurance. When children live in states in which legal same-sex marriage, civil unions, domestic partnerships, or second-parent adoptions are available, disparities in private insurance diminish for children with same-sex parents. (Read the full article)




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Report: iPhone, iPad, Mac to Run the Same Apps by 2021

Apple is thought to be planning a merger of its app platforms, which means a developer can develop an app once and have it automatically run on iPhone, iPad, and Mac without any extra work. The initiative is called 'Marzipan.'




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Boys' and Girls' Brains the Same When It Comes to Math

Boys and girls start out on the same biological footing when it comes to math, according to the first neuroimaging study of math gender differences in children.




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Vouchers Are Not the Same as 'School Choice'




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Life will never be the same

As families devastated by the recent fire in a Bangladesh slum rebuild their lives, the team helps, and individuals tell their stories.




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Delaware Health Officials Issue Warning after 2 Deaths Involve Same Stamp on Packets of Heroin

NEW CASTLE (May 28, 2018) – Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) Secretary Dr. Kara Odom Walker is warning people in active substance use in Delaware that two people have died from suspected overdoses in a 24-hour period that involve heroin packets with the same stamp. DHSS is not identifying the stamp so people […]




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Seek Treatment, Access to Naloxone: Three Suspected Heroin Overdose Deaths in Sussex Co. Involving Same Packet Stamp

NEW CASTLE (March 13, 2019) – Health and public safety officials are urging people in active use of heroin or other opioids and their families to seek immediate treatment and acquire the overdose-reversing medication naloxone on hand in the wake of three suspected heroin overdose deaths in five days in Sussex County involving the same […]




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IPL 13 fate: We are at same place, don’t have an answer right now, says Sourav Ganguly

The world's richest cricket board has not yet pledged any donations to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Ganguly said he will have a discussion with secretary Jay Shah to figure out the best possible option.




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Buchi (Sesame Seed Balls) with Cheese Filling

Buchi (Sesame Seed Balls) with Cheese Filling appeared first on CASA Veneracion

Sweet bean paste is the traditional filling for the Chinese pastry jian dui, known as buchi in the Philippines and sesame seed balls among native English speakers. In this indulgent version, the filling is cheese. I’ve wanted to make this popular Chinese snack for a long time. But the thought alone of making the bean …

Buchi (Sesame Seed Balls) with Cheese Filling was written by Connie Veneracion and originally published in CASA Veneracion.




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Force cell equivalence between same-footprint and same-functionality hard-macros in Conformal LEC

For a netlist vs. netlist LEC flow we have to solve the following problem:

- in the RTL code we replicate a large array of N x M all-identical hard-macros, let call them MACRO_A

- MACRO_A is pre-assembled in Innovus and contains digital parts and analog parts (bottom-up hierarchical flow)

- at top-level (full-chip) we instantiate this array of all-identical macros

- in the top-level place-and-route flow we perform ecoChangeCell to remaster the top row of this array with MACRO_B

- MACRO_B is just a copy of the original MACRO_A cell containing same pins position, same internal digital functionality and also same digital layout, only slight differences in one analog block inside the macro

- MACRO_A and MACRO_B have the same .lib file generated with the do_extract_model command at the end of the Innovus flow, they only differ in the name of the macro

- when performing post-synthesis netlist vs post-place-and-route we load .lib files of both macros in Conformal LEC

- the LEC flow fails because Conformal LEC sees only MACRO_A instantiated in the post-synthesis netlist and both MACRO_A and MACRO_B in the post-palce-and-route netlist

Since both digital functionality and STD cells layout are the same between MACRO_A and MACRO_B we don't want to keep track of this difference already at RTL stage, we just want to perform this ECO change in place-and-route and force Conformal to assume equivalence between MACRO_A and MACRO_B .

Basically what I'm searching for is something similar to the add_instance_equivalences Conformal command but that works between Golden and Revised designs on cell primitives/black-boxes .

Is this flow supported ?

Thanks in advance

Luca




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How to check a cluster of same net vias spacing, with have no shape or cline covered

 

Hi all,

I have a question regarding the manufacture : how to check a cluster of same net vias spacing, with have no shape or cline covered




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Different Extracted Capacitance Values of the Same MOM Cap Structures Obtained from Quantus QRC Filed Solver

Hello,

 

I am using Virtuoso 6.1.7.

 

I am performing the parasitic extraction of a MOM cap array of 32 caps. I use Quantus QRC and I enable field solver. I select “QRCFS” for field solver type and “High” for field solver accuracy. The unit MOM cap is horizontally and vertically symmetric. The array looks like the sketch below and there are no other structures except the unit caps:

Rationally speaking, the capacitance values of the unit caps should be symmetric with respect to a vertical symmetry axis that is between cap16 and cap17 (shown with dashed red line). For example,

the capacitance of cap1 should be equal to the capacitance of cap32

the capacitance of cap2 should be equal to the capacitance of cap31

etc. as there are no other structures around the caps that might create some asymmetry.

Nevertheless, what I observe is the following after the parasitic extraction:

As it can be seen, the result is not symmetric contrary to what is expected. I should also add that I do not observe this when I perform parasitic extraction with no filed solver.

Why do I get this result? Is it an artifact resulting from the field solver tool (my conclusion was yes but still it must be verified)? If not, how can something like this happen?

 

Many thanks in advance.

 

Best regards,

Can





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Electric cars and solar inverters compete for the same parts

Electric vehicles and solar tend to get lumped together as partners in the climate-friendly push to phase out fossil fuels. Now they’re competing head-to-head for high-tech components that have been in short supply.




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Principios para vivir poderosamente

La enseñanza bíblica en profundidad de John MacArthur lleva la verdad transformadora de la Palabra de Dios a millones de personas cada día.




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Think services, not only manufacturing -- by Matthias Helble, Sameer Khatiwada, Ben Shepherd

To offset the declining benefits of manufacturing, governments must increase the productivity of the services sector. This will boost growth and offer employment opportunities.




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ATSAME51G18A

ATSAME51G18A




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ATSAME51G19A

ATSAME51G19A




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A lazy cave salamander didn't move from the same spot for 7 years

Olm are salamanders that spend all their lives in pitch-black caves, and it turns out they don’t move very much – sometimes lurking in the same spot for years




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Farming and art arose in New Guinea at same time as Europe and Asia

New archaeological finds show that New Guinea developed sophisticated cultural practices around the same time as they were emerging in Europe and Asia




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Breast Cancer Risks Not Same for Hispanic Women

Title: Breast Cancer Risks Not Same for Hispanic Women
Category: Health News
Created: 4/26/2010 8:10:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 4/26/2010 12:00:00 AM




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Intermixed Dimethyl-Sulfoxide-Based Nonadhesive Liquid Embolic Agents Delivered Serially via the Same Microcatheter for Cerebral AVM Treatment [INTERVENTIONAL]

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:

Conventional nonadhesive liquid embolic agents currently are the criterion standard for endovascular embolization of cerebral AVMs. However, inadequate distal penetration into the nidus and unstable proximal plug formation are the major limitations of this approach and of the currently available embolic materials. The aim of this study was to evaluate the hypothetic efficacy of combining liquid embolic agents with different properties and viscosities for use in endovascular embolization of cerebral AVMs.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

From March 2018 to March 2019, sixteen patients with cerebral AVMs (12 women, 4 men; age range, 33–61 years) underwent endovascular embolization with combined liquid embolic agents delivered serially via a single microcatheter. The procedure consists of initial embolization with PHIL 30%, followed by Menox 18 through the same microcatheter. According to the Spetzler-Martin scale, 11 (68.75%) AVMs were grades I–II, 4 (25%) were grade III, and 1 (6.25%) was grade IV. Angiographic, technical, and clinical outcomes were analyzed independently.

RESULTS:

Combined PHIL and Menox embolization through the same microcatheter via 21 pedicles was performed in these 16 patients. Once the length of the reflux reached approximately 2 cm, PHIL 30% was switched to Menox 18. Antegrade flow and distal penetration of the serially applied liquid embolic agents were observed in all 16 cases. The ability to completely control the flow of the materials and avoid any dangerous proximal reflux was noted in all performed embolizations. The estimated average size reduction of the treated AVMs was 85%, ranging from 50% to 100%. Complete embolization was achieved in 10/16 or 62.5% of the cases. There was no procedure-related complication during or after the embolization. No mortality or postprocedural clinical worsening was seen. Clinical success and complete obliteration were confirmed with at least 1 follow-up angiography in 10/16 patients.

CONCLUSIONS:

Serial delivery of nonadhesive liquid embolic agents via the same microcatheter was safe and effective in our study and may be a potential technique for routine AVM treatment. However, further investigations are required to validate the safety and the efficacy of the method.




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Police called to same house 30 times in one month over lockdown breaches

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Boris Johnson issues stirring VE Day statement calling for 'same spirit of national endeavour' during coronavirus pandemic

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SWASTIKA masks at grocery store in same town as man in KKK hood...


SWASTIKA masks at grocery store in same town as man in KKK hood...


(Third column, 1st story, link)


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Dancing on Ice’s first same-sex partnership is a milestone we should celebrate

H from Steps brought tears to the judges’ eyes with his performance. Now, more than ever, we must cherish these moments of LGBTQ visibility

One of the most peculiar aspects of realising that you are LGBTQ is the loneliness. Your immediate family is unlikely to belong to the minority you may feel you have been arbitrarily parachuted into. You may be fortunate that they have supportive attitudes; many are not. The odds are that you have heard derogatory terms about LGBTQ people thrown around the playground not once or twice but like confetti. On TV and film screens, on advertising billboards, in magazines and in books, society’s expectations about settling down with someone of a different gender will bellow at you. You may struggle to come out to yourself, let alone anyone else, and fear judgment and rejection.

That is why major cultural events, such as the first same-sex performance on ITV’s Dancing on Ice last night, are so important: they can be lifelines for the closeted, whether they are aged 13 or 78. Acceptance for LGBTQ people struggling with their sexuality is like water to a sponge: anything that showcases and values our existence has a profound impact. That’s why H from Steps – one half of the couple – told the judges that it was emotional, in part because “it means so much to so many people and the world is ready for this”. It’s why the actor John Barrowman broke down in tears “because of seeing two men who represent someone who is like me and to skate as well as you did”. What’s all the fuss, the usual suspects will cry, but it matters precisely because society, and particularly currently emboldened bigots, makes such a fuss about anyone who deviates from a heterosexual norm.

Continue reading...




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Manchester United wanted Alphonso Davies but 'did not have same vision' as Bayern Munich

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The world stopped another Chernobyl by working together. Coronavirus demands the same | Serhii Plokhy

The pandemic reminds me of a different invisible enemy. Once again, coordinated action is the only effective response

Deja vu. In recent days I’ve had that sense more than once. Every time I come home, remove my mask and wash my hands, I start thinking whether it is safe to keep on wearing the clothes that I had on outside. What if they are contaminated by the virus? Well, I can change clothes, but what if the particles have already jumped somewhere else, and are now in my home? Some would call it paranoia. I call it deja vu. I recognise those thoughts and remember the feelings.

That is because I first experienced them more than 30 years ago, in May 1986, on a trip to Kyiv, then the capital of Soviet Ukraine. It was a few weeks after the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear reactor, and I was in the city – about 100km from the disaster area – on a business trip. We already knew that there was radiation in the air. Water trucks were spraying the streets, foreign students were leaving the city, and overseas broadcasters like the BBC were telling us to stay inside. But our own government was sending confusing and distressing messages: there is absolutely no danger, but make sure you keep children inside, and pregnant women too. Oh, and close your windows when you are at home.

Continue reading...