US, Russia and the Total Lopsidedness of Prisoner Swaps

Opinion

August 2nd, 4:20am

Serge Schmemann

Serge Schmemann -

Reports are circulating that the United States is negotiating with Russia to exchange two Americans being held in Russian prisons for a notorious arms dealer serving time in America. The deal is totally lopsided: The two Americans — the basketball star Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan, a security company executive — are not criminals and certainly not remotely comparable to Viktor Bout, a notorious purveyor of arms to terrorists once known as the “Merchant of Death.” But if that’s the way to get American citizens out of a Russian prison, do it. The only caveat, an urgent one, would be to include in the deal Marc Fogel, an American teacher sentenced to an absurd 14 years in prison for taking marijuana into Russia. His infractions are similar to the ones Ms. Griner, 31, is charged with. She was detained in February with two hashish oil vape cartridges in her luggage; Mr. Fogel, 61, was carrying 14 vape cartridges of marijuana and some cannabis buds. Both say they need cannabis for dealing with injuries and pain. But for reasons the State Department has not clarified, the US government has designated Ms. Griner and Mr. Whelan as “wrongfully detained” but not Mr. Fogel. Secretary of State Antony Blinken did not mention this third American prisoner during a recent news conference, in which he said he intended to take up the matter of a swap for Ms. Griner and Mr. Whelan with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov of Russia. Mr. Fogel was a popular teacher at the Anglo-American School in Moscow (not a US Embassy employee, according to The Washington Post, as some reports described him) who’d had surgeries on his back and shoulder and a knee replacement and was taking medical marijuana for pain. Ms. Griner, a W.N.B.A. star, testified that she used marijuana on the advice of a doctor. Ms. Griner and Mr. Fogel were arrested on charges related to possession of the marijuana found in their luggage on arrival at the Moscow airport, and both pleaded guilty. Mr. Whelan, a former Marine who worked as director of global security and investigations for BorgWarner and had visited Russia several times, was arrested in 2018 and sentenced to 16 years for spying. He denies the charge. The issue, however, is not whether the three American prisoners are guilty. Nor should efforts to free Americans held in repressive countries be based on their celebrity or the publicity generated by their arrests. The Russian justice system — like those in China and Iran, other countries with which the United States has organized prisoner swaps — is notoriously political, and any American imprisoned in those countries, guilty or not, is likely being held either for propaganda purposes or as hostages to exchange for imprisoned Russians. Such swaps are hardly new, so precedent is not an issue. In a celebrated swap 60 years ago, Rudolf Abel, a Soviet spy, was exchanged for Francis Gary Powers, the American pilot of a downed U-2 spy plane; among the more famous ones that followed was the exchange of the Jewish dissident Natan Sharansky for a Czech caught spying for the Soviet Union. In September 1986, when I was a correspondent in the Soviet Union, a friend and colleague, Nicholas Daniloff, who was a correspondent for US. News and World Report, was framed by a phony dissident and arrested on charges of espionage. By no coincidence, a Soviet employee of the Soviet mission to the United Nations was arrested three days earlier on spying charges. The two were quickly swapped, and at a news conference on his release, Mr. Daniloff said that the K.G.B. was always prepared to nab someone for such an exchange. “They could have chosen Serge Schmemann,” he said, and in fact, the decoy dissident had tried to contact me as well. Most recently, Trevor Reed, a former US Marine held for two years in Russia on what his family described as phony charges of assault, was swapped in April for a Russian pilot convicted of drug trafficking. The swaps are rarely even. Mr. Bout, the Russian who is mooted as the price for freeing the Americans, was notorious in the chaotic years after the collapse of the Soviet Union as an arms dealer to, according to US prosecutors, armed groups and terrorists. Arrested in Thailand in 2008, he was extradited to the United States a couple of years later, charged with supplying arms to Colombian rebels for use against American citizens and officers, among other charges, and sentenced to 25 years in prison, which he has been serving in Illinois. It would be painful for prosecutors and those who suffered in the violence he profited from to release him in exchange for people who should not have been imprisoned at all. Mr. Fogel, if he serves his full sentence in Russia, could well die in prison. It may be that by agreeing to swap prisoners with autocrats, the United States encourages them to grab more hostages. But it is more important that American citizens should know that if they are imprisoned in a country with a dubious legal system, the US government will do all it can to get them back. “I am an American citizen” should carry the full faith and promise of the American government, no matter where in the world those words are spoken. And that is as true for Mr. Fogel as it is for Ms. Griner or Mr. Whelan. The New York Times

from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3793316/serge-schmemann/us-russia-and-total-lopsidedness-prisoner-swaps

Activists Condemn SDF’s Arrest of 16 Journalists in Syria's Raqqa

Arab World

August 1st, 7:01am

London - Asharq Al-Awsat

Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said on Sunday that the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) detained at least 16 journalists in Raqqa on July 30. This came as activists revealed that the Kurdish-led SDF forces have arrested media figures as part of a security campaign in Syria’s northeastern province. They said the SDF arrested several journalists working in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria and in independent media outlets in Raqqa. The SNHR report said the 16 arrested journalists were held by the SDF’s intelligence apparatus on Saturday under the pretext of “espionage.” Meanwhile, activists indicated on their Twitter accounts that a large-scale arrest campaign was launched in Raqqa, targeting media professionals including Ruba Al-Ali, an employee at Hawar Agency, Ammar Al-Khalaf from the Euphrates Heritage Agency and formerly at Hawar, Ammar Haidar, who works at North Press and previously at Hawar, Khaled Al-Hassan in the education committee of the Raqqa Civil Council, and Batoul Al-Hassan in the youth media committee and the “Better Tomorrow” organization, in addition to Abdul Karim Al-Raheel, an employee of the Raqqa Civil Council. According to the Syrian Press Center, the activists said all the detained journalists were from institutions located in the self-styled Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, adding that a number of activists in Raqqa are currently hiding over fears of arrest. SNHR said the SDF follows a policy similar to the Syrian regime forces during arrest operations, which are not based on any prior judicial warrants. It said the SDF kidnap the journalists from roads, markets, and public places, or they raid the headquarters of the media agencies and civil groups. The network expressed fear that the arrested journalists will be subjected to torture during the investigation, and they will be among the forcibly disappeared, similar to the fate of 85 percent of detainees and the disappeared.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3791521/activists-condemn-sdf%E2%80%99s-arrest-16-journalists-syrias-raqqa

Actress Nichelle Nichols, ‘Star Trek’s’ Trail-Blazing Uhura, Dies at 89

Entertainment

August 1st, 6:22am

Asharq Al-Awsat

In this file photo taken on March 2, 2003, US actress Nichelle Nichols attends the 2003 TV Land awards at the Palladium Theater in Hollywood, California. (AFP)

Nichelle Nichols, whose portrayal of starship communications officer Lieutenant Uhura in the 1960s sci-fi TV series "Star Trek" and subsequent movies broke color barriers and helped redefine roles for Black actors, has died at age 89, her family said. Nichols, whose fans included Martin Luther King Jr. and a young Barack Obama, "succumbed to natural causes and passed away" on Saturday night, her son, Kyle Johnson, wrote on Facebook. "Her light however, like the ancient galaxies now being seen for the first time, will remain for us and future generations to enjoy, learn from and draw inspiration," Johnson wrote. The series, which became a pop culture phenomenon, shattered stereotypes common on US television at the time by casting Black and minority actors in high-profile roles on the show. In 1968 she and "Star Trek" star William Shatner broke a cultural barrier when they engaged in US television's first interracial kiss. She had planned to quit "Star Trek" after one season, but King, the 1960s civil rights leader, convinced her to stay because it was so revolutionary to have a Black woman playing an important senior crew member at a time when Black people were fighting for equality in American society. Nichols also helped break color barriers at NASA, whose leaders were "Star Trek" fans. After she criticized the space agency for failing to pick qualified women and minorities as astronauts, it hired Nichols in the 1970s to help in recruiting. Her efforts helped attract, among others, the first woman US astronaut, Sally Ride; the first Black woman astronaut, Mae Jemison; and the first Black NASA chief, Charlie Bolden. Nichols "symbolized to so many what was possible" and "inspired generations to reach for the stars," NASA said on Twitter. Nichols' portrayal of the competent, level-headed Uhura also helped inspire future Black actors, including Oscar winner Whoopi Goldberg. Nichols recalled Goldberg telling her of watching "Star Trek" as a 9-year-old, seeing her playing Uhura, and yelling out to her mother: "Come quick! There's a Black lady on television and she ain't no maid!'" The original "Star Trek" series, tracking the adventures of the crew of the starship USS Enterprise in the 23rd century, ran for only three seasons on the NBC network from 1966 to 1969. But it became hugely popular in syndication in the 1970s, inspiring first an animated series that reunited the cast from 1973 to 1975 and then a succession of feature films and shows. Nichols appeared in six "Star Trek" films ending with "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" in 1991. Uhura deftly handled the starship Enterprise's communications with allied spaceships and alien races while interacting with Captain James T. Kirk (Shatner), Vulcan first officer Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and the starship's helmsman, Sulu (George Takei). Takei wrote on Twitter that he and Nichols "lived long and prospered together," describing her as trailblazing and incomparable. "(My) heart is heavy, my eyes shining like the stars you now rest among." Nichols' best-known scene featured the first scripted interracial kiss on US television, although it was not a romantic one. In an episode called "Plato's Stepchildren," Uhura and Kirk were compelled telekinetically to smooch by aliens toying with the feeble humans. In real life, Nichols disliked Shatner, who she considered arrogant. "She was a beautiful woman & played an admirable character that did so much for redefining social issues both here in the US & throughout the world," Shatner said on Twitter. She felt differently about "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry, who cast her after she had acted in a previous show he produced. Nichols had a romance with him in the 1960s and sang a song called "Gene" at his 1991 funeral. Visit to the White House Obama, the first Black US president, who was 5 years old when the "Star Trek" series made its debut, also was a fan. Nichols visited him at the White House in 2012 and posed for a photo in the Oval Office, with the president smiling and putting his hand on her shoulder while both made a "Star Trek" Vulcan hand gesture meaning "live long and prosper." In a 2011 interview with Smithsonian magazine, Nichols recalled meeting King at a civil rights group's fundraiser. Nichols said she was approached by one of the event's promoters, who told her, "There's someone who wants to meet you and he says he's your biggest fan, so I'm thinking of a young kid. I turn around and standing across the room, walking towards me, was Dr. Martin Luther King with this big smile on his face." After Nichols told King she planned to quit "Star Trek," she said he implored her to stay. She said King told her: "This is a God-given opportunity to change the face of television, change the way we think. We are no longer second-class, third-class citizens. He (Roddenberry) had to do it in the 23rd century but it's the 20th century that's watching.'" She rescinded her resignation. Like other "Star Trek" cast members, she had a hard time finding work due to typecasting after the original series ended. It was during this time when she played a foul-mouthed madam in the film "Truck Turner" (1974) starring Isaac Hayes. She was a recurring character on the television show "Heroes" in 2007. She was born on Dec. 28, 1932 in Robbins, Illinois, trained as a singer and dancer and toured with jazz greats Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton before her acting career took off. Nichols, who was married twice and had one child, suffered a mild stroke in June 2015.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3791451/actress-nichelle-nichols-%E2%80%98star-trek%E2%80%99s%E2%80%99-trail-blazing-uhura-dies-89

These Republican Governors Are Delivering Results, and Many Voters Like Them for It

Opinion

August 1st, 5:15am

Liz Mair

Liz Mair - Liz Mair is the founder and president of Mair Strategies

Republican flamethrowers and culture warriors like Donald Trump and Representatives Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene typically draw an outsize amount of media attention. Americans may conclude from this that there is a striking, and perhaps unfortunate, relationship between extremism and political success. But Republicans aren’t hoping for a red wave in the midterms only because norm-thrashing or scandal sells. The truth is much more banal, yet also important for parties to internalize and better for politics generally: In states across the country, Republican governors are delivering real results for people they are physically more proximate to than federal officials. Now, it’s true that the party that controls the presidency nearly always gets whipped in midterm elections, and inflation would be a huge drag on any party in power. And it’s also true that among those governors are culture warriors like Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas. But people too often overlook the idea that actual results, especially ones related to pocketbook issues, can often be as important as rhetoric. Looked at that way, lots of Republicans — some with high public profiles, and some who fly below the radar — are excelling. Start with the simplest measure: popularity. Across the country, 13 of the 15 most popular governors are Republicans. That list does not just include red states. In fact, blue-state Republican governors like Phil Scott of Vermont, Charlie Baker of Massachusetts and Larry Hogan of Maryland are among the most popular. There are many reasons that G.O.P. governors seem to be succeeding. It’s true that governors can’t take credit for everything. Sometimes they just get lucky. But they do make policy choices, and those made by governors since the start of Covid have made a difference in particular. For example, take a look at the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data on unemployment. In the 10 states with the lowest rates as of June, eight were led by Republican governors. Several governors who don’t make frequent appearances in national news stand out, like Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, Spencer Cox of Utah and Phil Scott of Vermont. Their states have unemployment rates under 2.5 percent, and of the 20 states with the lowest unemployment rates, just four are led by Democrats. States with Republican governors have also excelled in economic recovery since the start of the pandemic. Standouts in this measure include Mr. Abbott and Doug Ducey of Arizona. These results reflect many things — some states have grown and others have shrunk, for example — but are at least in part a result of policy choices made by their elected leaders since the start of the pandemic. For example, governors like Kristi Noem in South Dakota often rejected lockdowns and economic closures. Republican governors were also far more likely to get children back to in-person school, despite intense criticism. Covid policy doesn’t explain everything. Fiscal governance has also made a difference. The Cato Institute’s Fiscal Report Card on America’s governors for 2020 (the most recent edition available), which grades them on tax and spending records, gives high marks to many Republicans. Nearly all of the top-ranked states in this report have Republican governors, like Kim Reynolds of Iowa or Mr. Ricketts. (Some Democratic governors also ranked highly, including Steve Sisolak of Nevada and Roy Cooper of North Carolina.) Some have made their mark with employer-attracting tax cuts, others with spending controls, others with a mixture. Most states mandate a balanced budget, so taxing and spending policies are important for fiscal stability. Low taxes tend to attract and keep employers and employees. Restrained budgets help ensure that taxes can be kept low without sacrificing bond ratings, which may matter if debt-financed spending is needed in a crisis or to try to stimulate businesses to hire more. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas has cut taxes for individuals, reduced the number of tax brackets and cut the corporate income tax rate. Mr. Sununu has restrained spending, vetoed a payroll tax proposal and cut business taxes. Brian Kemp of Georgia, by contrast, actually paused some tax cuts that had been scheduled — and focused almost exclusively on spending restraint, issuing a directive for state agencies to generate budget cuts and keeping 2020 general fund growth to a tiny 1 percent. Even in blue Vermont, Mr. Scott — despite being an odd duck among governors because he is not constrained by a balanced-budget amendment — kept the increase in general fund spendingto an annual average of just 2.4 percent between 2017 and 2020, and he has also cut taxes. He signed a bill to ensure that the federal tax reform instituted under Mr. Trump and limiting state and local tax deductions wouldn’t result in Vermonters getting hammered. He has also cut individual income tax rates, reduced the number of tax brackets and resisted new payroll taxes in favor of voluntary paid leave plans for private-sector employers. Republicans who have a big impact on the day-to-day lives of many Americans — unlike, say, Representative Kevin McCarthy or certainly Mr. Trump, and in terms of the quality of state economies, local job markets and education — are delivering. In our federalist system, a lot of power still sits with states and not the federal government and determines much about citizens’ lives. This is a big reason that Republicans are well positioned heading into the midterms. It should be a warning to Joe Biden and Democrats — and to some of the culture warriors. Cable-news combat over whatever the outrage of the day is may deliver politicians the spotlight. But sound economic policy and focusing on the job, not theatrics, are delivering basic day-to-day results that Americans want, need and will reward. The New York Times

from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3791396/liz-mair/these-republican-governors-are-delivering-results-and-many-voters-them

Oil Drops as Weak China Factory Data Fan Demand Concerns

Business

August 1st, 4:11am

Asharq Al-Awsat

A oil pump is seen at sunset outside Scheibenhard, near Strasbourg, France, October 6, 2017. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann/File Photo

Oil prices dropped on Monday, as weak manufacturing data from China and Japan for July weighed on the outlook for demand, while investors braced for this week's meeting of officials from OPEC and other top producers on supply adjustments. Brent crude futures were down $1.19, or 1.1%, at $102.78 a barrel at 0212 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude was at $97.19 a barrel, down $1.43, or 1.5%. Fresh COVID-19 lockdowns snuffed out a brief recovery seen in June for factory activity in China, the world's largest crude oil importer. The Caixin/Markit manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) eased to 50.4 in July from 51.7 in the previous month, well below analysts' expectations, data showed on Monday. Japanese manufacturing activity expanded at its weakest rate in 10 months in July, data showed on Monday. "China's disappointing manufacturing PMI is the primary factor that pressed on oil prices today," CMC Markets analyst Tina Teng said. "The data shows a surprising contraction of economic activities, suggesting that the recovery of the world-second-largest economy from the covid lockdowns may not be as positive as previously expected, which darkened the demand outlook of the crude oil markets." Brent and WTI ended July with their second straight monthly losses for the first time since 2020, as soaring inflation and higher interest rates raise fears of a recession that would erode fuel demand. ANZ analysts said fuel sales to drivers in Britain were waning, while gasoline demand remained below its five-year average for this time of the year. Reflecting this, analysts in a Reuters poll reduced for the first time since April their forecast for 2022 average Brent prices to $105.75 a barrel. Their estimate for WTI fell to $101.28. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)and allies including Russia, a group known as OPEC+, will meet on Wednesday to decide on September output. Two of eight OPEC+ sources in a Reuters survey said a modest increase for September would be discussed at the Aug. 3 meeting, while the rest said output would likely be held steady.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3791376/oil-drops-weak-china-factory-data-fan-demand-concerns

Paris Faces an Even Colder, Darker Winter Than Berlin

Opinion

August 1st, 3:57am

Javier Blas

Javier Blas -

In the European energy crisis, all of the attention is focused on Germany and gas from Russia. But France and its fleet of struggling nuclear reactors are at least as important. Indeed, the first European city to suffer a blackout as temperatures drop toward the end of the year may well be Paris rather than Berlin. As winter approaches, the outlook in France is increasingly dire. Electricite de France SA, the state-owned utility, is running only 26 of its 57 reactors, with more than half of its chain undergoing emergency maintenance after the discovery of cracked pipes. With atomic reactors generating the lowest share of the country’s power in 30 years, France faces an electricity ‘Waterloo.’ The slump in nuclear availability is forcing France to rely more than ever on gas-fired plants, intermittent wind and hydro as well as imports. That’s pushing up the cost of electricity in the wholesale market for the whole of Europe, with French forward prices surging to almost 1,000% more than their decade-long average through 2020. In the middle of the summer, when French electricity demand hovers around 45 gigawatts per hour, that’s not an insurmountable problem. But on a cold winter evening, when French households can push consumption above 80 or 90 gigawatts, it could be catastrophically expensive. Although the French economy is smaller than Germany’s, Gallic power demand surges well above that of its neighbor during the winter as households there rely more on electricity for heating and hot water. While EDF has promised that at least some of its reactors will be back online in time for the colder months, the company has a nasty habit of over-promising and under-delivering. The severity of the winter could be key: Each degree Celsius the temperature drops below normal, French power demand surges by about 2.5 gigawatts an hour — equivalent to the output of two nuclear power stations. During a late cold snap last April, the French grid was forced to issue a rare orange alert — the second highest — asking households and companies to “moderate their consumption.” Those alerts will become a staple this coming winter, and very likely will escalate to “red alerts” that indicate a risk of blackouts unless families and businesses reduce demand. Electricity traders are taking the risk seriously. In the wholesale market, the benchmark one-year French baseload power contract has jumped to a record high of 507 euros ($512) per megawatt hour, well above German prices of 350 to 370 euros for the parallel contract. French retail consumers are protected for now thanks to a price cap, but businesses are fully exposed. Come winter, it will get much worse. For December, baseload French power is trading above 1,000 euros, almost double German prices, while peakload power — typically in the evenings when families gather for dinner and the heating is on — is changing hands at more than 2,000 euros. In practice, that means traders expect French power demand may be so high relative to supply that so-called hourly prices will bump against the 4,000-euro limit set by the exchange many times in December. The market, aware of what’s coming, is trying to kill consumption ahead of time, in an effort to avert blackouts. It’s a costly way of attempting to force electricity-intensive companies, such as smelters, to plan to shut down in December. The French problem is spilling over into the rest of Europe, including the UK. EDF, long a source of national pride as well as low-cost electricity exports, is having to buy power to meet daily requirements. Earlier this month, the French grid made an emergency request to the British network for extra power — and that was in summer, when demand is low. In the past, EDF only imported electricity on a net basis for a few days a year, if at all. For example, between 2014 and 2016, France didn’t import power on a single day. But as the nuclear troubles mounted, it’s relied increasingly on imports. Last year, it bought electricity from overseas for 78 days. So far this year, it has been forced to do so on a record 102 days. France’s purchases put further pressure on a European electricity and gas market that’s already under stress. If French President Emmanuel Macron wants to help ease the European energy crisis, he needs to focus at home. Fixing EDF should be his top priority — well above his phone conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Paris has taken a first step, announcing the nationalization of the company at a cost of 10 billion euros, although not earlier than September. Puzzlingly, Macron has yet to bring in a new executive team. The company’s chief executive is set to depart, but perhaps not until March 2023. The rest of the senior team, including the executive in charge of nuclear power who has overseen the disastrous performance of the last couple of years, appear to be safe in their jobs for now. Macron also hasn’t curbed the influence of the trade unions within EDF — another perennial issue that’s stymied reform at the company. Time is running out. Paris is delightful in the autumn and the winter; it’ll be much less attractive if the “City of Light” is forced to go dark. Bloomberg

from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3791361/javier-blas/paris-faces-even-colder-darker-winter-berlin

Giant Sequoias Are Built to Withstand Fire, But Not These Fires

Opinion

August 1st, 3:49am

Faye Flam

Faye Flam -

No sooner had one fire in Yosemite been contained than a new one erupted in a different part of the park. This summer’s Western wildfires have brought attention to the risks that climate change brings to America’s national parks and the treasures they contain — like the giant sequoia trees, the largest trees on Earth. In the last two years, fires have consumed nearly 20% of them, according to the Forest Service. The people who know these forests told me the best place to go to understand the fate of these trees is Kings Canyon, a national park a three-hour drive south of Yosemite. What has happened there is unprecedented in natural history. In Kings Canyon, hundreds of giant sequoias have burned to death — even though these trees were built to burn and survive, and rely on fire to reproduce. At the park’s visitor center, I met up with Tony Caprio, a fire ecologist who studies the longstanding relationship between fires and forests. The fire that caused the most trouble as it raged through the park was the KNP complex fire of 2021. A normal lightning strike became a freakish mega-fire, exacerbated human-generated climate change and our misguided attempts to control the natural cycles of fire. Human-generated carbon emissions have contributed to the drying out of the Sierra and other mountain forests by warming the air and reducing snowfall. Since rain tends to run off slopes quickly, snow is crucial for preventing the ground and plant life from drying out. Then there’s fire suppression. “We suppressed fire in those areas for hundred-plus years,” Caprio told me. That meant there was a tremendous amount of fuel on the ground. The drought conditions made that fuel more flammable. When it caught fire, it burned very hot. “This is something that’s probably unprecedented in the history of sequoias.” Standing on a ridge above the area that had burned, Redwood Canyon, he pointed to a healthy grove of the giant trees. These sequoias were saved by “prescribed” burns — planned, small fires done in 2011 and 2012. The clearing of brush and small trees from those fires acted like a wall, protecting the groves from the massive fires that devastated other parts of Redwood Canyon. The giant sequoias thrived for centuries in a normal, natural cycle of fires. The trees have adapted so the cones open and release their seeds when heated by a fire — a fire that in turn clears the ground so that those seeds can reach soil and germinate. Some of the trees in this grove are 3,000, even 3,400 years old. In the back of his pickup, Caprio had a core sample of a tree — a stick more than five feet long that recorded thousands of tree rings. He pointed to a section about eight inches from the outer edge, or present time. That was A.D. 1295, he said, when you could see the tree survived a fire, and then had a growth spurt. The fire happened right at the end of the Medieval warm period, and from the rings it looks to have been the worst fire for several thousand years — but it didn’t kill the tree, and the growth spurt probably resulted from the clearing away of competing plants. We drove partway into Redwood Canyon, and Caprio removed some barriers from the road so we could enter a region that had been closed to tourists because downed trees hadn’t all been cleared. That led to a hiking path through the fire-ravaged area. The first thing I noticed was how many trunks were black. Everything was covered in soot. But this, he assured me, was the healthier part of the area. You just had to crane your neck to see the crowns of the trees, 200 or more feet in the air, covered with live green needles. Cones were falling, sometimes piled up by squirrels. Each one contained hundreds of seeds the size of oatmeal flakes. A tiny fraction of those would sprout, and a tiny fraction of those sprouts would become new trees. After two miles of hiking, we reached the bad part — a place called the Sugar Bowl Grove, where we were suddenly surrounded by a ring of blackened trunks. And now, if we looked up, there were no live, green branches. The fire here got so hot, and so high, that it jumped as if climbing a ladder from smaller trees to the crowns of the giants, and spread from one to another until all were dead. This is something that’s probably unprecedented in the history of sequoias as far as we know, he told me. He was the first person to see the remains, and the one to deliver the bad news to others who worked in the park. “People cried when they saw this,” he said. Something else is going wrong with some of these trees. Bark beetles started killing sequoias — something never seen until 2014. The beetles are native to this area, and until now, no match for the giant trees, with 15-foot diameter trunks, thick leathery bark and resin that blocks the beetles from boring in. But we’re in a prolonged drought amplified by human-generated global warming. Some of the trees are stressed, weakened. Giant sequoias aren’t going to go extinct any time soon. Some of the oldest trees have lived in drier areas for decades and have harder wood that better withstands the beetles’ assault. But they live and reproduce so slowly that whenever they do die, they won’t be replaced for centuries, if ever. Reducing emissions will help more trees survive in the long term. And in the shorter term, prescribed burns can mitigate the threat caused by all those decades of fire suppression and unnatural fuel build up. The downside to prescribed burns is that the smoke won’t stay in the park; it can affect nearby communities. Getting it right isn’t easy: Recent burns in New Mexico got out of control and destroyed hundreds of people’s homes. But there’s always hope. Americans used to be so callous about these natural wonders they would chop them down for lumber. Anything to make money — even if the wood easily shattered and ended up being used for fence posts. So we’re learning. And thanks to controlled burning in the past, the Yosemite fire is coming under control, and the sequoias there survived. On the hike back, Caprio bent down and pointed to a tiny little sprig of green sprouting from the ground. That’s an infant sequoia, he told me. And maybe, someday, it will live to be the next generation of giants. Bloomberg

from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3791351/faye-flam/giant-sequoias-are-built-withstand-fire-not-these-fires