Journal articles on the topic 'Greece Foreign elations United States'

<p>This paper traces the evolution and outcome of the US opening to the Greek Center triggered by the May 1958 parliamentary elections. It focuses on the role which that opening played in the liberal awakening that took shape under the banner of the Center Union (CU) party, founded in September 1961. After John F. Kennedy assumed the US presidency (January 1961), New Frontier liberals, including Andreas Papandreou, son of CU leader George Papandreou, pushed more aggressively for this opening, which was validated by the Center Union's rise to power in November 1963, the same month as the Kennedy assassination. During the Johnson Administration, US liberal policies in Greece were tested and found wanting, as Cold War fears trumped the US embrace of reform and change in Greece. The American retreat drove US policies towards bankruptcy, culminating in an uneasy acceptance<em> </em>of the 1967 Greek military dictatorship, wreaking permanent damage on Greek-US relations.</p>

Due to the fact that the tradition of close relation between the Orthodox Church and the state has formed since the time of the Byzantine Empire, the reflection of foreign policy ambitions of the Greek government on the foreign activity of the Patriarchate of Constantinople seems absolutely justifiable. In the early XX century, North America was a center of Greek migration, and simultaneously, the territory of proliferation of the authority of the Russian Orthodox Church; therefore, the United States spark particular interest in this case. The Patriarch of Constantinople attempted to dispute the jurisdictional affiliation of the United States by issuing the corresponding tomos. This article is dedicated to interaction between the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Russian Orthodox Church in the territory of the United States during the 1908 &ndash; 1924. The author explores the influence of Greece upon the relationship between the two Orthodox jurisdictions in North America. The activity of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in the United States is compared to political events of Greece. The history of Orthodoxy in the United States in the first quarter of the XX century is highly researched however, the actions of church organizations are not always viewed from the perspective of the foreign policy of the countries involved. The conclusion is made on the possible influence of the Greek governmental forces on the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which in turn, stepped into the jurisdictional conflict with the Russian Orthodox Church.

This article examines Australian responses to the imposition of stringent national origins quotas in the United States during the 1920s. Following the introduction of the American quota system, many Australians worried that large numbers of undesirable southern and eastern European migrants would make their way toward Australian ports. Widespread calls for preemptive restrictions forced the Australian government to finally implement a range of measures designed to limit immigration from Italy, Greece, Albania, Yugoslavia, and Malta. More broadly, this article argues that American quotas often inadvertently engendered a wide range of indirect and unintentional consequences around the world that scholars of migration and American foreign relations might explore in greater depth. It concludes by suggesting some opportunities for individual and collaborative research into the international effects of the United States’ notorious national origins quota system.

In this article, adapted from a speech delivered at a conference on reparative history, the author challenges the dominant view of the progressive radicalism of the postwar Attlee government by exposing the brutality of its imperial adventures. Examining British involvement in Vietnam, Indonesia, Greece, Malaya, Kenya, India, Palestine, Iran and Korea, the piece paints a very different and bloody historical narrative from the dominant one. It argues that the welfare state was accompanied by the creation of the warfare state and that it was the Labour Party which cemented the ‘special relationship’ with the United States, which today the vast majority of the parliamentary Labour Party would still like to see hold sway in terms of foreign policy and questionable foreign interventions.

ABSTRACT On March 2, 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously rejected certain Washington State regulations of oil tankers, clarified the federal interest in regulating interstate navigation, and remanded to lower courts certain other state regulations for a determination of their validity in light of the “considerable federal interest at stake.” On December 12, 1999, the oil tanker Erika broke up and caused over 10,000 tons of oil to wash up on France's coast. The ultimate impact of this incident, and the extent of the reaction of the European Community (EU), remains to be seen. These two events epitomize the ongoing international struggle between the benefits of uniformity and the political imperatives brought on by maritime casualties. This paper will discuss the impact of both. The Intertanko decision clarified that the United States is to speak with one voice on matters of foreign affairs and foreign policy, including international maritime affairs. The international implications of the case were of such great importance that fourteen foreign governments, including the United Kingdom, Norway, Greece, and Japan, filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to overturn Washington State regulations on the grounds that the regulations at issue were incompatible with the principles of uniformity and reciprocity that have long been agreed by the United States and other maritime nations as key to adopting, implementing, and enforcing effective international standards and regulations for ships, including shipboard measures for protecting the marine environment. This paper will first discuss the impact of the Intertanko decision on the role of individual states. It will then address the participation of foreign governments in the legal system of the United States to further international goals, including issues considered significant enough to compel fourteen governments to participate as amici in the Supreme Court's consideration of the case. It will also address the continuing threat to uniformity resulting from notorious spills, including the Erika disaster and the EU reaction thereto. Finally, the paper will suggest steps that must be taken at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and other international bodies to ensure continuing preservation of uniform international regulation of shipping.

The article examines the role of the Cyprus issue in the bilateral relations between Greece and the USSR in 1956-1960. It is based on primal archival research realised at the Constantine Karamanlis Archive (AKK) and at the Diplomatic and Historical Archive of the Greek Foreign Ministry (DIAYE) in Athens. The analysis of the recently declassified documents relate to the events which took place in 1954, when the Soviet Union supported the Greek claims for self-determination of the Cypriot people in the United Nations on the basis of the anti-colonial principles. This contributed to the impressive increase in trade between Greece and the USSR, especially after the unofficial visit of the Soviet Foreign Minister D.T. Shepilov to Athens in 1956. Against the backdrop of the deterioration of the international situation in 1957, Kremlin heavily criticized NATOs decision to deploy the US Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles (IRBMs) in Europe and applied diplomatic pressures to NATO member-states including Greece. The shift from tensions to a peaceful offensive strategy, characteristic of the Soviet diplomacy towards Greece, proved to be a double-edged sword for Moscow in the long term. The author concludes that both countries exploited the Cyprus issue for their benefit. Thus, Moscow managed to take advantage of the Greek discontent with the NATO allies as a means of increasing its own prestige in the region, while the Greek governments capitalized on the Soviet tactics in order to increase its political leverage in confronting NATO on Cyprus.

Corruption as a threat to national security has already penetrated into almost all the most important spheres of life. The sports sector is no exception. The first evidence of corruption in the field of sports dates back to three hundred years before our era, when the athletes of Ancient Greece, at the behest of coaches, awarded the victory for the appropriate fee. The sport has evolved over the years. At present, it is difficult to imagine life without sports in general and sports competitions in particular. With the development of sports, corruption has also developed in it. This circumstance provoked a reaction from the international community and individual states. Thus, various international legal acts were adopted, and articles aimed at combating corruption in the field of sports were supplemented by the criminal legislation of a number of countries. The United States of America was one of the first to establish responsibility for corruption in the sports sector (§ 224 of section 18 of the Code of Laws, criminal codes of the states). In 2017, the Penal Code of the Federal Republic of Germany was supplemented with paragraphs 265c “Fraud in sports betting” and 265d “Manipulation of professional sports competitions”.

The results of Khrushchev&apos;s foreign policy can be considered, albeit not in everything and even more modest than planned, on the whole quite successful. To resolve the 2nd Berlin crisis (1958–1963), Khrushchev in 1960 reduced the Soviet ground forces by a third, thereby trying to encourage the United States to reduce its military presence in Europe. However, at the Paris Summit of the heads of the 4 powers (1960), due to the active opposition of France and Germany, he failed to push through an agreement on West Berlin on Soviet terms. Mao Zedong, who himself dreamed of leadership among socialist countries after Stalin&apos;s death, took advantage of the convenient situation to start a conflict with Moscow. In such an environment, Khrushchev escalated the Berlin crisis by threatening to conclude a peace treaty with the GDR and block Western powers&apos; access to West Berlin (at the same time he conducts command and staff exercises “Storm”, 5–15.10.1961, together with the armies of the ATS countries). He hoped that the United States would not dare to start a war because of West Berlin, and this, in turn, would help to break off Western European states from NATO, showing them that the United States is not a reliable defender for them. His plan partially succeeded: in 1966, France will withdraw from NATO. In order to divert the attention and forces of the United States from West Berlin, the USSR has been actively creating distracting situations around the world since 1961. One of these situations was the Caribbean crisis, which almost led to a nuclear war (1962) and was a heavy defeat for the USSR, which had to fulfill all the conditions of the United States, but in return received Kennedy&apos;s promise to remove missile bases from Turkey. It will be possible to remove them only in 1963 in exchange for Turkey&apos;s support in its war with Greece over Cyprus. From Iran, due to the harsh Anglo-American pressure on the Shah, the USSR was able to achieve only an obligation not to deploy foreign missiles on its territory, but not to withdraw from the Baghdad Pact, nevertheless, the latter&apos;s activities were paralyzed. Under Brezhnev, despite the rejection of Khrushchev&apos;s tactics of nuclear bluff, the main directions and strategic goals of foreign policy remained the same as under Khrushchev: ensuring security on the western and southern borders of the USSR by splitting the opposing military blocs and establishing ties with Western European countries, especially France, improving relations with Turkey, Iran and Pakistan, linking them economically. The program of naval construction and the permanent presence of the Soviet Navy in all oceans, begun in 1959, continued.

The article deals with the European aspects of the US foreign policy in the 2nd half of the 20th century. It also includes studies of the transatlantic relations of the described period and the exploration of an American influence on European integration processes. It is determined that the United States has demonstrated itself as a partner of the Western governments in the post-war reconstruction and further creation of an area of US security and prosperity. At the same time, it is noted that the American presidents have differently shaped their administrations’ policies towards Europe. The greatest supporter of the European integration processes was President Eisenhower. Among other things, the US President believed that Europe would become a key ally of the United States, thus, he considered the union of Sweden, Greece, Spain and Yugoslavia as a solid foundation for building a “United States of Europe”. After Eisenhower administration, European affairs, to a lesser extent, were taken up by such Presidents as Johnson, Carter, Reagan and Clinton. Showing no personal interest, Kennedy, Nixon and Bush-Sr. were forced to support the transatlantic dialogue, understanding the inevitability of European integration and the need for the United States to cooperate with the new consolidated actor. The United States aimed to strengthen its position in the European space, moving to that purpose by using NATO mechanisms and applying the policies of American protectionism against the communist threat. The main competitor of the United States for strengthening national positions in Europe was France led by General de Gaulle, who believed that the affairs of Europe should be resolved by European governments without the American intervention. However, NATO continued to serve as a springboard for the U.S. involvement in European affairs. At the end of the 20th century, through the close links between the EU and NATO, the USA received new allies from Central and Eastern European countries. It is concluded that after the end of World War II, Europe needed an assistance that the United States willingly provided in exchange for the ability to participate in European issues, solving and partly controlling the integration processes. The study found that, despite the varying degree of the American interest in transatlantic affairs, Europe has consistently been remaining a zone of national interest for the United States.

In the modern world, gastronomic tourism is gaining popularity as an alternative to all the usual holidays. Gastronomic tourism is a type of tourism-related to acquaintance with the production, technology of preparation and tasting of national dishes and drinks, as well as with the culinary traditions of the peoples of the world. A gastronomic journey is a way of expressing a traveller’s understanding of a country. There are well-known gastronomic destinations in the world, including Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Belgium, Portugal, the United States (especially California in the Napa and Sonoma Valley), Brazil, Peru, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, Chile, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia, Bali, China, or Singapore. Gastronomy tourists include the following categories: tourists who are tired of ordinary tourism; tourists who want to make a difference in their diet; gourmets; tourists whose work is related to cooking and eating; representatives of travel companies are interested in organizing their own gastronomy. The top 5 popular gourmet tours in the world are analyzed. Some popular destinations for tasty trips, namely, countries with specific national cuisine (Italy, France, Japan, China, Thailand); regions that are famous for their products (in France, for example, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, have become innovators in the wine industry); the most famous restaurants of the country that are famous for their cuisine, marked by Michelin stars and International ratings (in Italy – “La Pergola” (Rome), Japan – Koji (Tokyo), England – Fet Duck (Bray) and others); enterprises that have become world leaders in the production of various products (Swiss chocolate factory “Alprose”, German breweries “Ettal” and “Andeks”, Swiss cheese factory “Gruyere”). Top 10 countries by number of Michelin starred restaurants are highlighted. Current gastronomic tours abroad are characterized. The results of the Gastronomic Tourism Forum in Spain, which will positively influence the development of gastronomic tourism in the world, are analyzed.

Centaurea solstitialis L. (yellow starthistle), family Asteraceae, an invasive weed in California and the western United States, is targeted for biological control. In the summer of 2003, an epidemic of unknown etiology on dying C. solstitialis plants was observed near Kozani, Greece (40°22′07″N, 21°52′35″E, elevation, 634 m). Plants had necrotic light brown leaf spots on the lower leaves and the decurrent leaf bases along the stems. Often, necrotic lesions extended along the stems to the capitula. Virtually all plants in a solid stand of C. solstitialis (approximately 0.5 ha) showed disease symptoms. Diseased plants were collected, air dried, and sent to the quarantine facility of the Foreign Disease-Weed Science Research Unit (FDWSRU), USDA/ARS, Fort Detrick, MD. On the basis of culture growth (45-cm diameter after 2 weeks at 25°C on malt extract agar), fungal morphology (1), and comparison with 21 internal transcribed spacer sequences in GenBank, the putative causal organism was identified as Cladosporium herbarum (Pers.:Fr.) Link. (teleomorph = Davidiella tassiana (De Not.) Crous & U. Braun). Sixteen C. solstitialis plants in the rosette stage and 16 plants in the bolted stage were inoculated with an aqueous suspension of spores (106 conidia ml-1) and placed in an environmentally controlled chamber at 25°C with 8 h of dew and 12 h of light daily. Plants in the rosette stage were resistant, but the fungus was very aggressive on bolted plants. Within 4 to 6 days of inoculation, necrosis developed on leaves and stems and then spread up the stems to the capitula, often resulting in plant death. The fungus also infected developing flowers. Cladosporium herbarum was reisolated from each of the 16 bolted C. solstitialis plants in two separate tests at the FDWSRU and from all bolted inoculated plants at the European Biological Control Laboratory (EBCL) in Greece. In the greenhouse at the EBCL, the pathogen readily spread to (and was isolated from) another 10 noninoculated C. solstitialis plants in close vicinity to the inoculated C. solstitialis plants. Results of host range tests will establish if this isolate of Cladosporium herbarum has the potential as a biological control agent of C. solstitialis in the United States and does not pose a threat to other Centaurea spp. used in horticulture. A voucher specimen has been deposited with the U.S. National Fungus Collections (BPI 863446). Live cultures are being maintained at the FDWSRU and EBCL, Greece. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a disease caused by Cladosporium herbarum on C. solstitialis. Reference: (1) M. H. M. Ho et al. Mycotaxon 72:115, 1999.

Many critics of Donald Trump argue that Donald Trump’s Grand Strategy is an absence of Grand Strategy or that his foreign and security policy is driven by impulses and tactical approach. However, such policy leaves us with practical consequences which mean that we have to follow this sort of a Donald Trump approach to foreign affairs and politics in general. The best guide in that sense would be the 2017 U. S. National Security Strategy idea of principled realism which is the most important written strategic statement of the Trump administration up to this date. If Trump’s approach “is guided by outcomes not ideology” and if “prosperity depend on strong, sovereign nations that respect their citizens at home and cooperate to advance peace abroad”, then the U. S. policy to Western Balkans has to be considered in that context. The Prespa agreement between Greece and North Macedonia is one form of that approach put in practice. Having in mind Belgrade–Pristina negotiations and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s future as well, the main thesis of this paper is that we may expect some kind of unusual approach from the United States to this region, different from the framework that was set up in the 1990s. That will have consequences both for the region and for the outside great powers, especially the European Union.

The article is devoted to the policy of the 39th President of the USА from the Democratic Party, Jimmy Carter, regarding the Cyprus problem. The foreign policy aspects of the Cyprus issue, such as negotiations with Greece, Turkey, Cyprus leaders, the development of peacekeeping projects and diplomatic maneuvers of US officials, are considered. Attention is also paid to less obvious details of the politics of the Democratic Party. The role of the Cyprus issue in the pre-election campaign of 1976 is analyzed, since the Cyprus problem remained unsolved as a result of the activities of the Republican Party. This argument was successfully used in election criticism of the opponents. An important aspect of the activities of the democratic party was the search for support from the ethnic communities of the United States, among which the American Greeks represented one of the most influential lobby. In connection with this, the connection of J. Carter with the American Greeks in the context of his policyaimed at resolving the Cyprus problem is traced. A gradual loss of popularity of the American president is shown, as one of the consequences of the unresolved Cyprus issue.

Silybum eburneum Coss. & Durieu. (ivory thistle) and S. marianum (L.) Gaertn. (milk thistle) are dominant, invasive weeds in northern Tunisia (1). S. marianum is also invasive in the United States and targeted for biological control. The smut fungus Microbotryum silybum Vánky & Berner is a naturally occurring pathogen of S. marianum in Greece (2) but not in Tunisia or the United States. To assess the safety of the fungus for biological control in the United States, plants related to S. marianum were evaluated for susceptibility to M. silybum in the quarantine facility of the Foreign Disease-Weed Science Research Unit (FDWSRU), USDA/ARS, Fort Detrick, MD. Because of the close genetic relationship of S. eburneum to S. marianum, both were tested for susceptibility under greenhouse conditions at the FDWSRU. All inoculations were done by placing 5 mg of teliospores of M. silybum in the central whorl of rosettes with three to five true leaves. Individual plants in soil-filled pots were placed in a controlled chamber at 16°C with 10 h of light daily. Photon flux density in the chamber was 34 μmol·m-2·s-1 supplied by three 1.8-m long 115W fluorescent tubes and three 52W incandescent bulbs. The central whorl was misted with distilled water twice daily for 2 weeks and the temperature was then lowered to 8°C for 6 weeks. The plants were transferred to a greenhouse bench at 22 to 25°C with 14 h of light daily. Photon flux density on the bench was 620 μmol·m-2·s-1 provided by two 500W sodium vapor lamps, one 1,000W metal halide lamp, and incidental sunlight. After approximately 7 weeks, plants of each species had fully developed capitula that flowered normally, produced no flowers, or formed abnormal flowers. Abnormal capitula contained powdery masses of teliospores in the ovaries of the florets. In contrast to systemic infections that were observed in the field (2), different branches of bolted plants bore both diseased and normal capitula. In turn, diseased capitula of both species were either completely diseased (all florets filled with teliospores) or partially diseased. Four of ten S. marianum plants and six of nine S. eburneum plants were diseased. Pathogenicity tests were repeated four times with similar results. In Greece, field inoculation of S. marianum with 5 mg of teliospores produced an average of 89% diseased plants with an average of 250 g of teliospores produced per plant. A similar level of disease is possible for S. eburneum under field conditions. Teliospores from smutted ovaries of both plant species conformed to the description for M. silybum (2). Both species are annual plants that reproduce solely by seeds. Since M. silybum prevents seed production, this fungus has great potential as a biological control agent in the United States and Tunisia. A voucher specimen has been deposited with the U.S. National Fungus Collections (BPI 863477). Nucleotide sequences for the internal transcribed spacer region are available in GenBank (Accession No. AY285774). To our knowledge, this is the first report of M. silybum parasitizing S. eburneum. References: (1) G. Pottier-AlaPetite. Flore de la Tunisie: Angiospermes-Dicotylédones, Gamopétales, Tunis, 1981. (2) K. Vánky and D. Berner. Mycotaxon 85:307, 2003.

One major side-effect of the current process of economic and culturalglobalization seems to be that our world is becoming multireligious. Inparticular, this results from the accelerated spread of Islam. There arealready six million Muslims in the United States, virtually all of themAmerican citizens, with an impressive and growing infrastructure. InEurope, due to labor migration, foreign students, war refugees, and asylumseekers, the number of Muslims is around four million in France,perhaps three million in the United Kingdom, and 2.5 million inGermany. Altogether, including Bosnia-Hercegovina, there may beabout twenty million Muslims in western and central Europe today.Due to its structural tolerance vis-A-vis “peoples of the book,” theMuslim world has always been multireligious. Islam expanded into formerlyChristian temtories-the Near East, North Africa, Spain,Byzantium, the Balkans-without eliminating the Christian communities.Nowhere is this more evident than in Cairo, Damascus, and Istanbul,and in countries like Greece and Serbia. This situation was facilitated bythe fact that the Qur’an contains what may be called an “IslamicChristology.”Coexistence with the large Jewish populations within theMuslim empire-aside from the Near East in Muslim Spain,and subsequentlyin North Africa and the Ottoman Empire-was facilitated, inturn, by the extraordinary focus of the Qur’an on Jewish prophets in generaland Moses in particular! On this basis, Islamic jurisprudence developedthe world’s first liberal law called al-siyar for the status of religiousminorities (al-dhimmi).~In the Western world, developments were entirely different. Here, religiousintolerance became endemic, even between Christian churches; ...

Centaurea solstitialis L. (yellow starthistle [YST]), family Asteraceae, an invasive weed in California and the western United States is targeted for biological control. During the spring of 2004, an epidemic of dying YST plants was found near Kozani, Greece (40°22′07″N, 21°52′35″E, 634 m elevation). Rosettes of YST had small, brown leaf spots on most of the lower leaves. In many cases, these spots coalesced and resulted in necrosis of many of the leaves and death of the rosette. Along the roadside where the disease was found, >100 of the YST plants showed disease symptoms. Diseased plants were collected, air dried, and sent to the quarantine facility of the Foreign Disease-Weed Science Research Unit (FDWSRU), USDA, ARS, Fort Detrick, MD. Diseased leaves were surface disinfested and placed on moist filter paper in petri dishes. Conidiophores and conidia were observed after 48 h. The fungal isolate, DB04-011, was isolated from these diseased leaves. Pathogenicity tests were performed by spray inoculating the foliage of 20 4-week-old YST rosettes with an aqueous suspension of 1 × 106 conidia per ml. Conidia were harvested from 2-week-old cultures grown on modified potato carrot agar (MPCA). Inoculated plants were placed in an environmental chamber at 23°C with 8 h of daily light and continuous dew for 48 h. Inoculated and control plants were moved to a 20°C greenhouse bench and watered twice per day. After 7 days, leaf spots were observed first on lower leaves. After 10–12 days, all inoculated plants showed typical symptoms of the disease. No symptoms developed on control plants. The pathogen, DB04-011, was consistently isolated from symptomatic leaves of all inoculated plants. Disease symptoms were scattered, amphigenous leaf spots in circular to subcircular spots that were 0.2 to 7 mm in diameter and brownish with distinct dark green margins. Intraepidermal stromata, 14 to 77 μm in diameter and pale yellow to brown, were formed within the spots. Conidiophores that arose from the stromata were straight, subcylindrical, simple, 70 to 95 × 2.8 to 4 μm, hyaline, smooth, and continuous or septate with conidial scars that were somewhat thickened, colorless, and refractive. Primary conidia were subcylindrical, slightly obclavate or fusiform, ovoid, 21 to 49 × 5 to 7.5 μm, 0 to 5 septate, hyaline, smooth, had a relatively rounded apex, and the hilum was slightly thickened. Conidial dimensions on MPCA were 11.2 to 39.2 × 4.2 to 7 μm (average 25.5 × 5.5 μm). Koch's postulates were repeated two more times with 20 and 16 plants. On the basis of fungal morphology, the organism was identified as a Cercosporella sp., (1,2; U. Braun and N. Ale-Agha, personal communication). To our knowledge, this is the first report of this genus of fungus parasitizing YST. Results of host range tests will establish if this isolate of Cercosporella has potential as a biological control agent of YST in the United States. A voucher specimen has been deposited with the U.S. National Fungus Collections (BPI 844247). Live cultures are being maintained at FDWSRU and European Biological Control Laboratoryt (EBCL), Greece. References: (1) U. Braun. A Monograph of Cercosporella, Ramularia and Allied Genera (Phytopathogenic Hyphomycetes) Vol. 1. IHW-Verlage, Eching-by-Munich, 1995. (2) U. Braun. A Monograph of Cercosporella, Ramularia and Allied Genera (Phytopathogenic Hyphomycetes) Vol. 2. IHW-Verlage, 1998.

Italian thistle (Carduus pycnocephalus L.), family Asteraceae, is a common weed in Greece. It is also a problematic invasive weed in the western United States and a target of biological control efforts. In May 2005, smutted capitula of Italian thistle were found in an abandoned field in Halkiades, Greece. A total of 38 smutted plants, representing approximately 20% of those plants present, were found in a portion of the field that was lightly infested with Italian thistle. In most cases, capitula of all diseased flowers were smutted. In one or two cases, capitula on some branches of the plants were smutted, whereas capitula on other branches were healthy. Diseased capitula were noticeably more globose than healthy ovoid capitula, and diseased capitula did not open completely. When diseased capitula were split open, the ovaries in all florets within the capitula were filled with powdery masses of smut teliospores. Diseased capitula were collected, air dried, and sent to the quarantine facility of the Foreign Disease-Weed Science Research Unit (FDWSRU), USDA/ARS, Fort Detrick, MD. Teliospores within the capitula were extracted and observed microscopically. Teliospores of isolate DB05-014 were relatively uniform in shape and size, globose, 12.0 to 17.3 × 12.3 to 18.0 μm (mean 14.5 × 15.1 μm), violet tinted pale to medium yellowish-brown; wall reticulate appearing as coarse, radiate wings on the spore margin, 5 to 7 polyangular meshes per spore diameter, muri, 0.7 to 2.0 μm high in optical median view appearing as gradually narrowing blunt spines, 0.5 to 1 μm wide at their basis; in scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the meshes were subpolygonal, wall and interspaces were finely verruculose. Teliospores were more globose and slightly smaller than the description of Microbotryum cardui (A. A. Fischer Waldh.) Vánky (2), but the mean sizes were within the described range. When compared with teliospores of M. cardui on C. acanthoides, the numbers of polyangular meshes per spore diameter were within the range of the description using SEM, but the muri were about one-half of the height of those described. Nucleotide sequences for the internal transcribed spacers (ITS 1 and 2) and 5.8S ribosomal region (GenBank Accession No. AY280460) were aligned with sequences of other smut fungi using the BLAST algorithm of the National Center for Biotechnology Information. The closest alignment of DB05-014 was with M. scorzonerae (590 of 627 bp identities or 94% with 2% gaps). No sequences of M. cardui were available for comparison, but only M. cardui has been reported on Carduus spp. (1,2). Another smut reported on a Carduus sp. is Thecaphora trailii (1). DB05-014 is a likely variant of M. cardui from a previously unknown host. Italian thistle is an annual plant that reproduces solely by seeds (achenes). Because of the lack of seed production on smutted plants and the systemic nature of the disease, this fungus has great potential as a biological control agent for Italian thistle in the United States. A voucher specimen has been deposited with the U.S. National Fungus Collections (BPI 871812). To our knowledge this is the first report of a Microbotryum sp. parasitizing C. pycnocephalus. References: (1) K. Vánky. European Smut Fungi. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart, Germany, 1994. (2) K. Vánky and D. Berner. Mycotaxon 85:307, 2003.

This paper analyzes the materials of the symposium held by the RAND Corporation from 16 to 20 April 1962. Its purpose was to generalize the experience of past combat conflicts, which could contribute to an effective fight against insurgents in future conflicts. Twelve military officers of the armies of the United States, Britain, France and Australia participated in this symposium. All of them took part in counter-guerrilla operations around the world - Algeria, China, Greece, Kenya, Laos, Malaya, Oman, South Vietnam and the Philippines. Their rich experience formed the basis of this symposium. The goals and objectives of the symposium, the features of the materials and the biographies of the participants are consecrated in details in the paper. The questions discussed at the meeting are discussed in details. They are characteristics and examples of guerrilla warfare; primary objectives of counterinsurgency and some effective organizational and operational approaches; tactics and techniques of counter-guerrilla warfare; principles and techniques of political action; psychological warfare and civil actions; intelligence and counterintelligence: problems and techniques of intelligence-gathering, and the importance of communications; British campaign in Kenya; selection of personnel for counterinsurgency; special role of the advisor; winning the Counterguerrilla War. The conclusion of the paper shows a special significance of the materials of this symposium for the study of military thought during the Cold War, and especially the influence of the colonial experience of European empires on US foreign policy.

The purpose of this article is to analyze the dynamics of tourist streams between Ukraine and other countries of the world, as well as to identify the factors that influence the development of international tourism most of all. Research methodology. The most important statistical indicators that characterize tourist streams are the number of Ukrainians who visited other countries for tourist purposes and the number of tourists - citizens of other countries, who arrived in Ukraine. In our study of the tourist streams of Ukraine the mathematical indicator that reflects the features of tourist streams and their socio-economic importance for the development of international tourism in the country, namely the coefficient of tourist exchanges, was used. Selected for the research were the countries visited by more than 50 thousand tourists from Ukraine for at least 2 years in a row. The total number of the tourists includes persons who travelled for official, tourism, and private purposes (without vehicle servicing personnel and servicemen). Results of the research. Most tourists from Ukraine go to neighboring countries, namely to Russia, Moldova, Belarus, Poland, Romania, Hungary, and Turkey. Turkey is a popular holiday destination among Ukrainians, because it's close to Ukraine and can provide tourists with a good service. It is necessary to take into account the fact that a large number of Ukrainians work abroad, mainly in Europe, as well as in Russia. When these people leave for a foreign country, they can state their visit is private, not working; therefore, they are mistakenly defined as tourists. The donor countries of tourists who come to Ukraine are (the coefficient tends to "1") Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and the United States. The countries for which Ukraine is a donor of tourists are the (coefficient tends to "-1") United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Cyprus, Spain, Greece, Austria, Turkey, and Poland. Scientific novelty. For the first time, the coefficient of tourist exchanges of Ukraine in relation to 29 countries of the world for 2012 and 2017 was calculated. The donor countries of tourists coming to Ukraine, as well as the countries for which Ukraine is a donor of tourists were identified. Practical significance. It is to reveal the fact that Ukraine is a donor country for tourists. Given the fact that Ukraine is rich in tourist resources, over time, using the experience of tourist countries around the world, it can change this status and receive more foreign tourists.

In this paper, CiteSpace and NVivo software were used for the knowledge graph visualization and content analysis of highly cited papers in the research literature on reclaimed water utilization policy in CNKI and WOS. The results showed the following: there was an upward trend in the number of papers on reclaimed water policy, papers in both databases attached great importance to research on this topic, and the research prospects for this topic are broad. The UK, Greece, Italy, the United States, and France have great influence in the field of reclaimed water utilization policy research. The international influence of China’s research on the topic needs to be improved. There is a lack of communication and cooperation among the subjects of reclaimed water utilization policy research, and a cooperative network with close and benign interactions has not yet been formed. The research hotspots of the topic in China are mainly focused on regional governance, with insufficient attention paid to policy and management, while foreign countries pay more attention to policy and management. Behavior guidance policy and black and smelly water will become research hotspots for domestic policies, while public perception, demand, drinking water, and carbon will become research hotspots for international policies. Domestic research on reclaimed water use policy in highly cited papers focused on water environment and ecological security management, while international research focused on the background of reclaimed water use policy and its implementation, with the main intention of optimizing the ascension path and making international research policies thematically stronger. The attitudes of domestic and foreign researchers regarding reclaimed water utilization policies are mainly rational and emotional, indicating that current policies have a degree of applicability. However, there are also obvious problems that will need to be addressed and improved, and there are substantial development prospects. In the future, research on reclaimed water utilization policies in China should strengthen top-level design, improve the policy system, and increase the supervision of policies to achieve optimization.

In early October of 2005, dying Salsola tragus L. (Russian thistle, tumbleweed), family Chenopodiaceae, plants were found along the Aegean Sea at Kryopigi Beach, Greece (40°02′29″N, 23°29′02″E, elevation 0 m). All of the 30 to 40 plants in the area were diseased and approximately 80% were dead or dying. All plants were relatively large (approximately 1 m tall × 0.5 m diameter), and living portions of diseased plants were flowering. Dying plants had irregular, necrotic lesions extending the length of the stems. Leaves of these plants were also necrotic. Lesions on stems and leaves were dark brown and usually coalesced. Diseased stem pieces were taken to the European Biological Control Laboratory, USDA, ARS at the American Farm School in Thessaloniki, Greece. There, diseased stem pieces were surface disinfested for 15 min with 0.5% NaOCl and placed on moist filter paper in petri dishes. Numerous, waxy subepidermal acervuli with black setae were observed in all lesions after 2 to 3 days. Conidiophores were simple, short, and erect. Conidia were one-celled, hyaline, ovoid to oblong, falcate to straight, 12.9 to 18.0 × 2.8 to 5.5 μm (mode 16.1 × 4.5 μm). These characters conformed to the description of Colletotrichum gloeosporioides (Penz.) Penz. & Sacc. in Penz. (2). Conidia were placed on modified potato carrot agar and axenic cultures from these isolations were sent to the quarantine facility of the Foreign Disease-Weed Science Research Unit, USDA, ARS, Fort Detrick, MD for testing. On the basis of DNA sequences, two variants within S. tragus have been described in California and named “Type A” and “Type B” (1). Conidia were harvested from 14-day-old cultures grown on 20% V8 juice agar, and healthy stems and leaves of 18 30-day-old plants of S. tragus Type A and 10 Type B plants were spray inoculated with an aqueous conidial suspension (1.0 × 106 conidia/ml plus 0.1% non-ionic surfactant). Three control plants of each type were sprayed with water and surfactant only. Plants were placed in an environmental chamber (18 h of dew in darkness at 25°C). After 1 day, all plants were transferred to a greenhouse (20 to 25°C, 30 to 50% relative humidity, and natural light augmented with 12-h light periods with 500-W sodium vapor lights). Lesions developed on stems of inoculated Type A plants after 5 days. After 14 days, all inoculated Type A plants were dead. Lesions on Type B plants were small and localized; all plants were diseased but no plants died. No symptoms occurred on control plants. C. gloeosporioides was reisolated 14 to 21 days after inoculation from stem pieces of all inoculated plants of both types of S. tragus. This isolate of C. gloeosporioides is a destructive pathogen on S. tragus Type A and is a potential candidate for biological control of this weed in the United States. To our knowledge, this is the first report of anthracnose caused by C. gloeosporioides on S. tragus in Greece. A voucher specimen has been deposited with the U.S. National Fungus Collections, Beltsville, MD (BPI 871126). Nucleotide sequences for the internal transcribed spacers (ITS 1 and 2) were deposited in GenBank (Accession No. DQ344621) and exactly matched sequences of the teleomorph, Glomerella cingulata. References: (1) F. Ryan and D. Ayres. Can. J. Bot. 78:59, 2000. (2) B. C. Sutton. Page 15 in: Colletotrichum Biology, Pathology and Control. J. A. Bailey and M. J. Jeger, eds. CAB International Mycological Institute, Wallingford, UK, 1992.

The article studies diasporas of states that turn into a valid actor in terms of international relations and more of ten become subjects and objects of public diplomacy. Governments of states are trying to adjust efficient communication and cooperation with their diasporas facilitating the institutionalization of their associations through the establishment of government agencies embracing the issues of interaction between the government and diaspora. Diasporas are of a special importance for small countries due to the lack of resources the country might use for carrying out their foreign policy and organizing diplomatic missions. For example, diasporas of Israel, Greece, Armenia etc. in the USA significantly influence the formation of politics of the United States toward their historical motherlands contributing to the development of bilateral relations. The author states that the diaspora studies peaked in the late 1990s, when researchers studied the characteristics of the diaspora as a social entity, and raised the issue of the limits of the diaspora. The Irish, Armenian and Jewish diasporas are classic examples of how the diaspora can represent and promote the interests of its homeland in the American government, while functioning as full-on diplomatic actors in bilateral relations. The paper notes that researchers of the diaspora's role in public diplomacy are paying much attention to China and India, due to their audacious initiatives to institutionalize relations with the diasporas, in order to obtain the potential benefits diasporas can bring for bilateral relations (particularly economic ones) as mediators and catalysts. These initiatives include the establishment of ministries and government agencies to engage and coordinate work with the diasporas. Thus, part of the state apparatus works exclusively with the communities of its country abroad. In China and India, the affairs of diaspora are meddled with on subnational levels with the participation of provincial and local governments. Their diaspora ministries and agencies conduct conferences on diaspora issues within the respective countries and send missions and delegations abroad to organize communication with their diasporas. Diasporas are primarily perceived as a source of information and advice, as well as a means of civic engagement for embassies and ministries/ departments.The author draws the following conclusion: first, today states involve diasporas in fulfillment of their diplomatic targets in terms of public diplomacy to promote national interests and reaching their personal goals; second, the notion of diaspora and diplomacy have been significantly widened lately and third, representatives of different diasporas often address diplomatic practice in official way by appointing honorary consuls or in an unofficial way through the activities of citizens-diplomats. Keywords: public diplomacy, diaspora, diaspora diplomacy, diaspora associations, receiving state, sending state.

The development of medical films containing active substances immobilized on polymeric carriers become significantly popular in the world. Medical films belong to the application forms and designed for injection of active pharmaceutical ingredients through the skin, periodontal tissue, the mucous membrane of the mouth. There are transdermal therapeutic systems, including buccal, dental and oral films. Pharmaceutical manufacturers present a wide range of medicinal films containing various active ingredients on the world market. The purpose of our study was to conduct a comparison of the range of medicines in the form of medical films registered in the pharmaceutical markets of Ukraine, USA, and Poland. The object of the study was information on registered drugs in Ukraine, the USA, and Poland. The applied methods of study include generalization, systematization, and comparative analysis. The range of medicinal films presented in the pharmaceutical markets of Ukraine, the USA, and Poland is analyzed. It is found that as of November 2019, there were 24 medicinal films registered in Ukraine, 70 medicinal films in Poland, and 104 medicinal films in the USA. Medicines in the form of transdermal therapeutic systems or patches have been registered in the pharmaceutical market of Ukraine. No buccal and oral drug films have been registered. In the Ukrainian market medicinal films are exclusively represented by foreign manufacturers from Germany (65%), Ireland (10%), Belgium (10%), Greece (5%), United Kingdom (5%), and the United States (5%). The largest range of medical films is presented in the USA: 89.2% transdermal films, 7.8% – buccal films, 2.9% – oral films. In the Polish market, transdermal therapeutic systems also account for the largest share, with only 3% of the range being buccal films. In this study, we found that the active substances such as fentanyl, buprenorphine, estradiol, nicotine, nitroglycerin, rivastigmine, rotigotine, testosterone, scopolamine, oxybutynin, and others are most often introduced into drug films. It is found that in the US market the share of domestic manufacturers of medical films is 55.79%. Ukrainian pharmaceutical manufacturers do not offer medical films, which is a prerequisite for the development of those domestic dosage forms.

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is projected high-standard and inclusive free trade agreement which is being conversed between the United States (US) and European Union (EU). Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is a chain of trade negotiations operating between EU and US. The TTIP is mainly about decreasing the regulatory obstacles to trade to open up a way for bigger businesses such as environmental legislation, food safety, sovereign powers of the individual nations and also banking regulations. The US and EU are two of the most integrated countries when it comes to economy globally. It is as a result of their trade in services, investments and the high commercial presence in each other's financial prudence. These two regions support each other when it comes to the economy, and that's why they are good trading partners in products and services. The EU and U.S trade and investment partnership which is sometimes referred to as transatlantic economy has a significant global relationship and creates a mutually beneficial understanding between the two states (Hoekman and Kostecki, 2009). The TTIP is one of the largest trade and investment partnership in the world and also the most significant because of its absolute size. It has many for example the European Union has 28 member states which include: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Belgium, Austria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Denmark, Finland. Greece, Ireland, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Lithuania, Romania, Spain, Latvia, Sweden, Portugal and United Kingdom are also part of the partnership. The initial negotiations on TTIP which was to become the first largest bilateral free trade and investment partnership agreement were earlier supported by a paramount and independent study of the Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR). The study by CEPR was called Reduction of the Transatlantic Barriers to Trade and investment. The negotiations were mainly to provide independent advice to the two negotiators based on the additional research. Despite, TTIP being one of the largest trade and investment partnership, it has created both negative and positive impacts on the two states. There are benefits t being enjoyed by the member states such as job creation and home growth. The EU depends on the US exports; they can get investments from the US and also import the goods and services they require (Khanna, Palepu, and Sinha, 2005). Other positive impacts of the TTIP includes; upholding and promoting human rights, governing in a transparent manner that can hold to account individuals in authority and also has markets that can be open to free and reasonable competition and is well-regulated market areas. TTIP also protects the people and the planet through their international rules. For example, the rules look at everyone's health, their condition at workplaces, the endangered species around them and the entire environment. There are also challenges that have come out from TTIP in the field of politics and economics, poor labor standards, workers' rights and security of their workplaces, democracy, and state authority. Foreign shareholder protection, public health and the environment as a whole, health care, consumer safety and food security, climate change and environment protection, banking regulation and privacy and many others. Some competitors challenge the TTIP on slowness in services than in goods leading to difficulty in opening markets in service areas.

Background and objectives: To explore the ethical and legal complexities arising from the controversial issue of surrogacy, particularly in terms of how they affect fundamental rights of children and parents. Surrogacy is a form of medically-assisted procreation (MAP) in which a woman “lends” her uterus to carry out a pregnancy on behalf of a third party. There are pathological conditions, such as uterine agenesis or hysterectomy outcomes, that may prevent prospective mothers from becoming pregnant or carry a pregnancy to term; such patients may consider finding a surrogate mother. Many issues relating to surrogacy remain unresolved, with significant disagreements and controversy within the scientific community and public opinion. There are several factors called into play and multiple parties and stakeholders whose objectives and interests need to somehow be reconciled. First and foremost, the authors contend, it is essential to prioritize and uphold the rights of children born through surrogacy and heterologous MAP. Materials and methods: To draw a parallel between Italy and the rest of the world, the legislation in force in twelve European countries was analyzed, eleven of which are part of the European Union (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Greece, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Lithuania, Czech Republic and Portugal) and three non-members of the same (United Kingdom, Ukraine and Russia), as well as that of twelve non-European countries considered exemplary (United States, Canada, Australia, India, China, Thailand, Israel, Nigeria and South Africa); in particular, legislative sources and legal databases were drawn upon, in order to draw a comparison with the Italian legislation currently in force and map out the evolution of the Italian case law on the basis of the judgments issued by Italian courts, including the Constitutional and Supreme Courts and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR); search engines such as PubMed and Google Scholar were also used, by entering the keywords “surrogacy” and “surrogate motherhood”, to find scientific articles concerning assisted reproduction techniques with a close focus on surrogacy. Results: SM is a prohibited and sanctioned practice in Italy; on the other hand, it is allowed in other countries of the world, which leads Italian couples, or couples from other countries where it is banned, to often contact foreign centers in order to undertake a MAP pathway which includes surrogacy; in addition, challenges may arise from the legal status of children born through surrogacy abroad: to date, in most countries, there is no specific legislation aimed at regulating their legal registration and parental status. Conclusion: With reference to the Italian context, despite the scientific and legal evolution on the subject, a legislative intervention aimed at filling the regulatory gaps in terms of heterologous MAP and surrogacy has not yet come to fruition. Considering the possibility of “fertility tourism”, i.e., traveling to countries where the practice is legal, as indeed already happens in a relatively significant number of cases, the current legislation, although integrated by the legal interpretation, does not appear to be effective in avoiding the phenomenon of procreative tourism. Moreover, to overcome some contradictions currently present between law 40 and law 194, it would be appropriate to outline an organic and exhaustive framework of rules, which should take into account the multiplicity of interests at stake, in keeping with a fair and sustainable balance when regulating such practices.

Background and objectives: To explore the ethical and legal complexities arising from the controversial issue of surrogacy, particularly in terms of how they affect fundamental rights of children and parents. Surrogacy is a form of medically-assisted procreation (MAP) in which a woman “lends” her uterus to carry out a pregnancy on behalf of a third party. There are pathological conditions, such as uterine agenesis or hysterectomy outcomes, that may prevent prospective mothers from becoming pregnant or carry a pregnancy to term; such patients may consider finding a surrogate mother. Many issues relating to surrogacy remain unresolved, with significant disagreements and controversy within the scientific community and public opinion. There are several factors called into play and multiple parties and stakeholders whose objectives and interests need to somehow be reconciled. First and foremost, the authors contend, it is essential to prioritize and uphold the rights of children born through surrogacy and heterologous MAP. Materials and methods: To draw a parallel between Italy and the rest of the world, the legislation in force in twelve European countries was analyzed, eleven of which are part of the European Union (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Greece, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Lithuania, Czech Republic and Portugal) and three non-members of the same (United Kingdom, Ukraine and Russia), as well as that of twelve non-European countries considered exemplary (United States, Canada, Australia, India, China, Thailand, Israel, Nigeria and South Africa); in particular, legislative sources and legal databases were drawn upon, in order to draw a comparison with the Italian legislation currently in force and map out the evolution of the Italian case law on the basis of the judgments issued by Italian courts, including the Constitutional and Supreme Courts and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR); search engines such as PubMed and Google Scholar were also used, by entering the keywords “surrogacy” and “surrogate motherhood”, to find scientific articles concerning assisted reproduction techniques with a close focus on surrogacy. Results: SM is a prohibited and sanctioned practice in Italy; on the other hand, it is allowed in other countries of the world, which leads Italian couples, or couples from other countries where it is banned, to often contact foreign centers in order to undertake a MAP pathway which includes surrogacy; in addition, challenges may arise from the legal status of children born through surrogacy abroad: to date, in most countries, there is no specific legislation aimed at regulating their legal registration and parental status. Conclusion: With reference to the Italian context, despite the scientific and legal evolution on the subject, a legislative intervention aimed at filling the regulatory gaps in terms of heterologous MAP and surrogacy has not yet come to fruition. Considering the possibility of “fertility tourism”, i.e., traveling to countries where the practice is legal, as indeed already happens in a relatively significant number of cases, the current legislation, although integrated by the legal interpretation, does not appear to be effective in avoiding the phenomenon of procreative tourism. Moreover, to overcome some contradictions currently present between law 40 and law 194, it would be appropriate to outline an organic and exhaustive framework of rules, which should take into account the multiplicity of interests at stake, in keeping with a fair and sustainable balance when regulating such practices.

Sanctions have a long history, which spans over two thousand years. In fact, the first recorded cases of sanctions go as far back as ancient Greece. In the Middle Ages, such measures were formalized in legislation and were called repressalia. Under their current name, sanctions came to be known after World War I: the power to deploy sanctions was described in the League of Nations' Covenant. After the establishment of the United Nations, such measures were included into the Chapter VII of the UN Charter. Traditionally, sanctions are seen as a foreign policy tool falling between diplomacy and military force and applied in response to the undesirable actions of a certain state. Unlike diplomatic intervention efforts, sanctions have a more pronounced economic effect and are seen as more likely to bring the desired change in the target state's behaviour on the international arena. Unlike military force, sanctions are a less costly alternative and they also carry less risk of further escalation of the conflict. Lately, the topic of international sanctions has gained much urgency worldwide and has been actively discussed in the academic circles. The debates mostly centre around the impact of sanctions on the target's economy and their appropriateness as a foreign policy tool. There is, however, a perceived shortage of studies providing a comprehensive analysis of sanctions' impact on the regional, national and international levels as well as the specific tools of sanction policy and their effectiveness. More inquiry is needed into the challenges faced by target countries as well as the whole international community in relation to sanctions. The papers included in this special issue can be divided into three groups. The first group deals with the theory and methodology of sanctions studies. A.A.Pobedin in his paper 'Reconsidering Contemporary Classifications of Sanctions in the Light of the Russia Sanctions Regime' systematizes the approaches to the classification of international economic sanctions and proposes a qualitative model that can be used to examine specific sanctions regimes. The second group of studies includes the papers analyzing specific sanctions episodes. Special attention is given to comparative analysis of sanctions in different countries. I.V.Lazanyuk and D.Mambu Diu investigate the development of the Angolan economy under the pressure of sanctions. The authors focus on the role and mechanisms of the sanctions adopted by Western countries against Angola and some other African states. O.S.Sukharev and E.N.Voronchikhina compare the development of Iran and Russia during their respective sanctions episodes by looking at the dynamics of each country's macro-indicators. L.L.Bozhko in her paper 'Challenges of Anti-Russia Sanctions for Metals and Mining Enterprises in Kazakhstan' considers the problem from the perspective of Kazakhstan, which is not targeted by sanctions but is nevertheless affected by them because of its close trade ties with Russia. The study aims to identify and describe the strategies and models of behaviour used by Kazakhstani companies to avoid the risks of secondary sanctions. The third group comprises articles discussing the impact of sanctions on specific economic sectors and regions of Russia. I.S.Belik, N.V.Starodubets, A.I.Yachmeneva, and K.A. Prokopov estimate the potential losses incurred by Russian metal exporters due to the introduction of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism in the EU and the sanctions pressure. S.A.Balashova and T.Musin analyze the problems and prospects of the Russian cloud computing market under sanctions. Since further dynamics of the market is surrounded with uncertainty related to the behaviour of the key drivers and the possible introduction of new sanctions, several scenarios are built for the development of the Russian cloud market and implementation of cloud technologies. E.A. Zakharchuk considers three scenarios of economic development of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District, the largest oil and gas region of Russia, under sanctions. The article estimates the impact of the sanctions on specific areas of Yamal, especially the development of new hydrocarbon deposits in the Arctic. M.Y.Ilyushkina, A.V.Stepanov, G.N.Valiakhmetova, and A.S.Burnasov describe the tendencies and prospects of development of Russian industrial regions under sanctions. They focus on the case of Sverdlovsk region, which has a high concentration of mining and manufacturing (heavy engineering) enterprises.

Disciplinary behavior increases children's responsibility and self-control skills by encouraging mental, emotional and social growth. This behavior is also related to school readiness and future academic achievement. This study aims to look at read aloud with the media of large books in improving disciplinary behavior during early childhood. Participants were 20 children aged 5-6 years. By using qualitative methods as a classroom action research, data collection was carried out by observation, field notes, and documentation. The results of pre-cycle data showed that the discipline behavior of children increased to 42.6%. In the first cycle of intervention learning with ledger media, the percentage of children's discipline behavior increased to 67.05%, and in the second cycle, it increased again to 80.05%. Field notes found an increase in disciplinary behavior because children liked the media which was not like books in general. However, another key to successful behavior of the big book media story. Another important finding is the teacher's ability to tell stories to students or read books in a style that fascinates children. The hope of this intervention is that children can express ideas, insights, and be able to apply disciplinary behavior in their environment. Keywords: Early Discipline Behavior, Read aloud, Big Book Media References Aksoy, P. (2020). The challenging behaviors faced by the preschool teachers in their classrooms, and the strategies and discipline approaches used against these behaviors: The sample of United States. Participatory Educational Research, 7(3), 79–104. https://doi.org/10.17275/per.20.36.7.3 Anderson, K. L., Weimer, M., & Fuhs, M. W. (2020). Teacher fidelity to Conscious Discipline and children’s executive function skills. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 51, 14–25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2019.08.003 Andriana, E., Syachruroji, A., Alamsyah, T. P., & Sumirat, F. 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AbstractThomas Niles served as a United States foreign service officer from 1962 to 1998. His service included three terms as ambassador: to Canada, the European Community, and Greece. He reflects here on the continuities in the diplomatic profession, and, in particular, on embassies, during a period of notable historic change. While many of the protocols and responsibilities of embassies remained more or less the same as they had been for over a century, there were hints that those, too, were about to change in unforeseen ways, even calling into question the central role of embassies as representing and serving the nation-state, as the other articles in this issue discuss. Nevertheless, to this ambassador, at least, even dramatic changes in technology, politics, and culture rarely happen all at once; and the institutions and the people adapting to them may be more cautious or durable than they sometimes appear in retrospect.

Purpose. The purpose of the study was to analyze world experience and international practice of regulating natural lighting at schools and innovative solutions in this field. Results and discussions. The article presents the list of regulations of European countries regarding standard requirements for daylight and artificial lighting in residential and public buildings. The Daylight Factor (DF), which is the equivalent of the Russian natural illumination coefficient, varies from 0.8 to 5 per cent in different countries. The article describes lighting and insolation requirements for the daylight factor, light coefficient, combined discomfort indicator, light transmission coefficient, and light flux distribution in residential and public buildings, including comprehensive schools, in such countries as the United Kingdom, Germany, Greece, Poland, USA, Sweden, Cyprus, Netherlands, and Japan. The list of rated parameters of daylight both in the Russian Federation and in foreign countries is identical. At the same time, the requirements for natural lighting (DF, duration of insolation) in European standards are more stringent. The impact of daylight on schoolchildren’s health and performance was the subject of research in Sweden and the United States. Their authors concluded that studying in classrooms without daylight could disrupt the basic hormonal background, affect the ability of children to concentrate attention and interact with each other, influence growth and the number of days missed due to illness. Сonclusions. The analysis of international data proving the importance of daylight in forming optimal conditions for education and eyesight of schoolchildren and preventing health disorders enabled us to conclude on the necessity to launch scientific research into mathematical models of health risks for schoolchildren.

<p class="MainText">In last decades a special attention has been paid to intercultural communication and its development in societies all around the world. A number of cultural anthropologists describe it as an informal face-to-face verbal/oral interaction between individuals representing different cultures (Asante-Gudykunst, 1989:14; Prosser, 1978:102). In addition, in a number of scientific papers one can read that this subtype of human communication can have its key success only if it is based on the premise of the equal use of different languages and of their respect. Article 2:3 of the Lisbon Treaty itself states that the European Union “shall respect its rich cultural and linguistic diversity, and shall ensure that Europe's cultural heritage is safeguarded and enhanced” (OJEU, 2007:11). The truth is that intercultural communication, as one part of communication in general, is a necessity for successfully bridging the gap between different cultures and languages.</p><p class="MainText">In the European Union intercultural exchange and communication among the European nations are the imperative for a united international (economical, political, social etc.) cooperation in which foreign language learning has a special social and political priority. However, inside the borders of the European Union there is a large group of official languages which are lesser used and, consequently, not widely learnt (e.g. Polish, Hungarian, Lithuanian, Catalonian, Welsh etc.). In the Balkans all official national languages together with other spoken minority ones belong to this group according to Ferguson`s sociolinguistic classification. Viewing intercultural communication as a profound social phenomenon, Singer (1998:41) undoubtedly pointed out that when different groups encounter one another, a common problem is that people think differently. According to the theories of cognitive anthropology, this always occurs because of the existence of either slightly or completely different cultural models in societies. To be achieved a deeper and comprehensive intercultural communication and its effectiveness, which both involve reduction in a large measure of uncertainty and anxiety related to otherness and building a new perceptive scheme about others, learning lesser used languages, such as Greek in Serbia and Serbian in Greece, is considered a categorical request for any further constructive development of relations and cooperation between different nations within and outside the European Union. </p>

The purpose of the article is to analyze the Olympic ceremonial costume of the XVIII Winter Olympic Games "Nagano-1998" and set the components demonstratively symbolizing the national identity in the design of clothing of the Olympic ceremonial costume. Methodology. Heuristic methods in art analysis were used to solve the set tasks, namely: visual observation; description; an attempt to establish components demonstratively symbolizing national identity in the design of Olympic ceremonial costume clothing; logical generalization of the obtained results. Scientific Novelty. According to the results of the art analysis of the Olympic ceremonial costume of foreign teams participating in the competitions (USA, China, Greece) of the XVIII Winter Olympic Games "Nagano-1998", one of the determinants of artistic and informational identification of the Olympic ceremonial costume was established for the first time and its components, which demonstratively symbolize a national identity in the design of clothing. Conclusions. Art analysis of the Olympic ceremonial costume, the reflection of socio-political influences of the historical context on its formality and informational compliance with the principles enshrined in the Olympic Charter [5, p. 11–12] competitions, give us reason to establish for the first time a demonstrative symbolization of the national identity of the design of clothing of the Olympic ceremonial costume as one of the determinants of artistic and informational identification. Given the ceremonial guidelines for identity in costume, which have been followed by all teams since 1936, the most important manifestation in this period (1998) is the semiotic accent in costume. Expression of their state independence, national identity, as well as the importance and identity of their culture at the turn of the era, with the help of such demonstratively symbolizing national identity in the design of Olympic ceremonial costume components, such as 1) Construction - the formation of the suit and the material used are tectonically displayed on the figures of athletes. By designing items of clothing, a visual image is built, which allows obtaining a silhouette identifying result; 2) Sign - stylization of the sign/signs is done by applying a pattern, graphic elements, combinations of graphic elements, embroidery, and possibly other creative innovative stylizations on clothes and accessories. Signs visually identify athletes, allow you to read the underlying meanings of the semantic information content of the costume; 3) Color – appealing to the colors of the national flag and reproducing with the help of color images of well-known objects of cultural heritage are the most popular methods of identifying the country during the Olympic parade. However, when choosing a color and its outflow, its compliance with the values in the host country and the prevailing trends overtime is taken into account. 3) Color – appealing to the colors of the national flag and reproducing with the help of color images of well-known cultural heritage sites are the most popular methods of identifying the country during the Olympic parade. However, when choosing a color and shade of color, its compliance with the values in the host country and the prevailing trends of the time is taken into account. It is worth noting that the visual image that translates national identity can be obtained by combining these components in the design, both together and separately, which was found during the art analysis of the Olympic ceremonial costumes of sports teams of the United States, China, and Greece. Key words: design, costume, Olympic ceremonial costume, identity, identification, symbolization, demonstration.

Parity between the sexes, harmony between the religions, balance between the cultural differences: these principles all hinge upon the idealistic concept of all things in our human society being equal. In this issue of M/C Journal the notion of ‘equal’ is reviewed and discussed in terms of both its discourse and its application in real life. Beyond the concept of equal itself, uniting each author’s contribution is acknowledgement of the competing objectives which can promote bias and prejudice. Indeed, it is that prejudice, concomitant to the absence of equal treatment by and for all peoples, which is always of concern for the pursuit of social justice. Although it has been reduced to a brand-name of low calorie sugar substitute in the Australian supermarket and cafe set, the philosophical values and objectives behind the concept of equal underpin some of the most highly prized and esteemed ideals of western liberal democracy and its ideas on justice. To be equal in the modern sense means to be empowered, to enjoy the same entitlements as others and to have the same rights. At the same time, the privileges associated with being equal also come with responsibilities and it these that we continue to struggle with in our supposed enlightened age. The ideals we associate with equal are far from new, since they have informed ideas about citizenship and justice at least from the times of Ancient Greece and perhaps more problematically, the Principate period of the Roman Empire. It was out of the Principate that the notion primus inter pares (‘first among equals’) was implemented under Augustus in an effort to reconcile his role as Emperor within the Republic of Rome. This oxymoron highlights how very early in the history of Western thought inevitable compromises arose between the pursuit of equal treatment and its realisation. After all, Rome is as renowned for its Empire and Senate as it is for the way lions were fed Christians for entertainment. In the modern and postmodern world, the values around the concept of equal have become synonymous with the issue of equality, equal being a kind of applied action that has mobilised and enacted its ideals. With equality we are able to see more clearly the dialectic challenging the thesis of equal, the antitheses of unequal, and inequality. What these antitheses of equal accentuate is that anything to do with equality entails struggle and hard won gains. In culture, as in nature, things are rarely equal from the outset. As Richard Dawkins outlined in The Selfish Gene, “sperms and eggs … contribute equal number of genes, but eggs contribute far more in the way of food reserves … . Female exploitation begins here” (153). Disparities that promote certain advantages and disadvantages seem hard-wired into our chemistry, biology and subsequent natural and cultural environments. So to strive for the values around an ideal of equal means overcoming some major biological and social determinants. In other words, equality is not a pursuit for the uncommitted. Disparity, injustice, disempowerment, subjugations, winners and losers, victors and victims, oppressors and oppressed: these are the polarities that have been the hallmarks of human civilization. Traditionally, societies are slow to recognise contemporary contradictions and discriminations that deny the ideals and values that would otherwise promote a basis of equality. Given the right institutional apparatus, appropriate cultural logic and individual rationales, that which is unequal and unjust is easily absorbed and subscribed to by the most ardent defender of liberty and equality. Yet we do not have to search far afield in either time or geography to find evidence of institutionalised cultural barbarity that was predicated on logics of inequality. In the post-renaissance West, slavery is the most prominent example of a system that was highly rationalised, institutionalised, adhered to, and supported and exploited by none other than the children of the Enlightenment. The man who happened to be the principle author of one of the most renowned and influential documents ever written, the Declaration of Independence (1776), which proclaimed, “all men are created equal”, was Thomas Jefferson. He also owned 200 slaves. In the accompanying Constitution of the United States, twelve other amendments managed to take precedence over the abolition of slavery, meaning America was far from the ‘Land of the Free’ until 1865. Equal treatment of people in the modern world still requires lengthy and arduous battle. Equal rights and equal status continues to only come about after enormous sacrifices followed by relentless and incremental processes of jurisprudence. One of the most protracted struggles for equal standing throughout history and which has accompanied industrial modernity is, of course, that of class struggle. As a mass movement it represents one of the most sustained challenges to the many barriers preventing the distribution of basic universal human rights amongst the global population. Representing an epic movement of colossal proportions, the struggle for class equality, begun in the fiery cauldron of the 19th century and the industrial revolution, continued to define much of the twentieth century and has left a legacy of emancipation perhaps unrivalled on scale by any other movement at any other time in history. Overcoming capitalism’s inherent powers of oppression, the multitude of rights delivered by class struggle to once voiceless and downtrodden masses, including humane working conditions, fair wages and the distribution of wealth based on ideals of equal shares, represent the core of some of its many gains. But if anyone thought the central issues around class struggle and workers rights has been reconciled, particularly in Australia, one need only look back at the 2007 Federal election. The backlash against the Howard Government’s industrial relations legislation, branded ‘Work Choices’, should serve as a potent reminder of what the community deems fair and equitable when it comes to labor relations even amidst new economy rhetoric. Despite the epic scale and the enormous depth and breadth of class struggle across the twentieth century, in the West, the fight began to be overtaken both in profile and energy by the urgencies in equality addressed through the civil rights movement regarding race and feminism. In the 1960s the civil rights and women’s liberation movements pitted their numbers against the great bulwarks of white, male, institutional power that had up until then normalised and naturalised discrimination. Unlike class struggle, these movements rarely pursued outright revolution with its attendant social and political upheavals, and subsequent disappointments and failures. Like class struggle, however, the civil rights and feminist movements come out of a long history of slow and methodical resistance in the face of explicit suppression and willful neglect. These activists have been chipping away patiently at the monolithic racial and sexist hegemony ever since. The enormous achievements and progress made by both movements throughout the 1960s and 1970s represent a series of climaxes that came from a steady progression of resolute determination in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. As the class, feminist and civil rights movements infiltrated the inner workings of Western democracies in the latter half of the twentieth century they promoted equal rights through advocacy and legislative and legal frameworks resulting in a transformation of the system from within. The emancipations delivered through these struggles for equal treatment have now gone on to be the near-universal model upon which contemporary equality is both based and sought in the developed and developing world. As the quest for equal status and treatment continues to advance, feminism and civil rights have since been supplanted as radical social movements by the rise of a new identity politics. Gathering momentum in the 1980s, the demand for equal treatment across all racial, sexual and other lines of identity shifted out of a mass movement mode and into one that reflects the demands coming from a more liberalised yet ultimately atomised society. Today, the legal frameworks that support equal treatment and prevents discrimination based on racial and sexual lines are sought by groups and individuals marginalised by the State and often corporate sector through their identification with specific sexual, religious, physical or intellectual attributes. At the same time that equality and rights are being pursued on these individual levels, there is the growing urgency of displaced peoples. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) estimate globally there are presently 8.4 million refugees and 23.7 million uprooted domestic civilians (5). Fleeing from war, persecution or natural disasters, refugee numbers are sure to grow in a future de-stabilised by Climate Change, natural resource scarcity and food price inflation. The rights and protections of refugees entitled under international frameworks and United Nations guidelines must be respected and even championed by the foreign States they journey to. Future challenges need to address the present imbalance that promotes unjust and unequal treatment of refugees stemming from recent western initiatives like Fortress Europe, offshore holding sites like Naru and Christmas Island and the entire detention centre framework. The dissemination and continued fight for equal rights amongst individuals across so many boundaries has no real precedent in human history and represents one of the greatest challenges and potential benefits of the new millennium. At the same time Globalisation and Climate Change have rewritten the rule book in terms of what is at stake across human society and now, probably for the first time in humanity’s history, the Earth’s biosphere at large. In an age where equal measures and equal shares comes in the form of an environmental carbon footprint, more than ever we need solutions that address global inequities and can deliver just and sustainable equal outcomes. The choice is a stark one; a universal, sustainable and green future, where less equals more; or an unsustainable one where more is more but where Earth ends up equaling desolate Mars. While we seek a pathway to a sustainable future, developed nations will have to reconcile a period where things are asymmetrical and positively unequal. The developed world has to carry the heavy and expensive burden required to reduce CO2 emissions while making the necessary sacrifices to stop the equation where one Westerner equals five Indians when it comes to the consumption of natural resources. In an effort to assist and maintain the momentum that has been gained in the quest for equal rights and equal treatment for all, this issue of M/C Journal puts the ideal of ‘equal’ up for scrutiny and discussion. Although there are unquestioned basic principles that have gone beyond debate with regards to ideas around equal, problematic currents within the discourses surrounding concepts based on equality, equivalence and the principles that come out of things being equal remain. Critiquing the notion of equal also means identifying areas where seeking certain equivalences are not necessarily in the public interest. Our feature article examines the challenge of finding an equal footing for Australians of different faiths. Following their paper on the right to free speech published recently in the ‘citizen’ issue of M/C Journal, Anne Aly and Lelia Green discuss the equal treatment of religious belief in secular Australia by identifying the disparities that undermine ideals of religious pluralism. In their essay entitled “Less than Equal: Secularism, Religious Pluralism and Privilege”, they identify one of the central problems facing Islamic belief systems is Western secularism’s categorisation of religious belief as private practice. While Christian based faiths have been able to negotiate the bifurcation between public life and private faith, compartmentalising religious beliefs in this manner can run contrary to Islamic practice. The authors discuss how the separation of Church and State aspires to see all religions ignored equally, but support for a moderate Islam that sees it divorced from the public sphere is secularism’s way of constructing a less than equal Islam. Debra Mayrhofer analyses the unequal treatment received by young males in mainstream media representations in her paper entitled “Mad about the Boy”. By examining TV, radio and newspaper coverage of an ‘out-of-control teenage party’ in suburban Melbourne, Mayrhofer discusses the media’s treatment of the 16-year-old boy deemed to be at the centre of it all. Not only do the many reports evidence non-compliance with the media industry’s own code of ethics but Mayrhofer argues they represent examples of blatant exploitation of the boy. As this issue of M/C Journal goes online, news is now circulating about the boy’s forthcoming appearance in the Big Brother house and the release of a cover of the Beastie Boys’ 1986 hit “Fight for Your Right (to Party)” (see News.com.au). Media reportage of this calibre, noticeable for occurring beyond the confines of tabloid outlets, is seen to perpetuate myths associated with teenage males and inciting moral panics around the behaviour and attitudes expressed by adolescent male youth.Ligia Toutant charts the contentious borders between high, low and popular culture in her paper “Can Stage Directors Make Opera and Popular Culture ‘Equal’?” Referring to recent developments in the staging of opera, Toutant discusses the impacts of phenomena like broadcasts and simulcasts of opera and contemporary settings over period settings, as well as the role played by ticket prices and the introduction of stage directors who have been drawn from film and television. Issues of equal access to high and popular culture are explored by Toutant through the paradox that sees directors of popular feature films that can cost around US$72M with ticket prices under US$10 given the task of directing a US$2M opera with ticket prices that can range upward of US$200. Much has been written about newly elected Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s apology to the Stolen Generations of Aboriginal Australians whereas Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson’s Apology has been somewhat overlooked. Brooke Collins-Gearing redresses this imbalance with her paper entitled “Not All Sorrys Are Created Equal: Some Are More Equal than ‘Others.’” Collins-Gearing responds to Nelson’s speech from the stance of an Indigenous woman and criticises Nelson for ignoring Aboriginal concepts of time and perpetuating the attitudes and discourses that led to the forced removal of Aboriginal children from their families in the first place. Less media related and more science oriented is John Paull’s discussion on the implications behind the concept of ‘Substantial Equivalence’ being applied to genetically modified organisms (GMO) in “Beyond Equal: From Same But Different to the Doctrine of Substantial Equivalence”. Embraced by manufacturers of genetically modified foods, the principle of substantial equivalence is argued by Paull to provide the bioengineering industry with a best of both worlds scenario. On the one hand, being treated the ‘same’ as elements from unmodified foods GMO products escape the rigours of safety testing and labelling that differentiates them from unmodified foods. On the other hand, by also being defined as ‘different’ they enjoy patent protection laws and are free to pursue monopoly rights on specific foods and technologies. It is easy to envisage an environment arising in which the consumer runs the risk of eating untested foodstuffs while the corporations that have ‘invented’ these new life forms effectively prevent competition in the marketplace. This issue of M/C Journal has been a pleasure to compile. We believe the contributions are remarkable for the broad range of issues they cover and for their great timeliness, dealing as they do with recent events that are still fresh, we hope, in the reader’s mind. We also hope you enjoy reading these papers as much as we enjoyed working with their authors and encourage you to click on the ‘Respond to this Article’ function next to each paper’s heading, aware that there is the possibility for your opinions to gain equal footing with those of the contributors if your response is published. References Dawkins, Richard. The Selfish Gene. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1976.News.com.au. “Oh, Brother, So It’s Confirmed – Corey Set for House.” 1 May 2008. 3 May 2008 < http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story/0,26278,23627561-10229,00.html >.UNHCR – The UN Refugee Agency. The World’s Stateless People. 2006. 2 May 2008 < http://www.unhcr.org/basics/BASICS/452611862.pdf >.

A same-but-different dichotomy has recently been encapsulated within the US Food and Drug Administration’s ill-defined concept of “substantial equivalence” (USFDA, FDA). By invoking this concept the genetically modified organism (GMO) industry has escaped the rigors of safety testing that might otherwise apply. The curious concept of “substantial equivalence” grants a presumption of safety to GMO food. This presumption has yet to be earned, and has been used to constrain labelling of both GMO and non-GMO food. It is an idea that well serves corporatism. It enables the claim of difference to secure patent protection, while upholding the contrary claim of sameness to avoid labelling and safety scrutiny. It offers the best of both worlds for corporate food entrepreneurs, and delivers the worst of both worlds to consumers. The term “substantial equivalence” has established its currency within the GMO discourse. As the opportunities for patenting food technologies expand, the GMO recruitment of this concept will likely be a dress rehearsal for the developing debates on the labelling and testing of other techno-foods – including nano-foods and clone-foods. “Substantial Equivalence” “Are the Seven Commandments the same as they used to be, Benjamin?” asks Clover in George Orwell’s “Animal Farm”. By way of response, Benjamin “read out to her what was written on the wall. There was nothing there now except a single Commandment. It ran: ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS”. After this reductionist revelation, further novel and curious events at Manor Farm, “did not seem strange” (Orwell, ch. X). Equality is a concept at the very core of mathematics, but beyond the domain of logic, equality becomes a hotly contested notion – and the domain of food is no exception. A novel food has a regulatory advantage if it can claim to be the same as an established food – a food that has proven its worth over centuries, perhaps even millennia – and thus does not trigger new, perhaps costly and onerous, testing, compliance, and even new and burdensome regulations. On the other hand, such a novel food has an intellectual property (IP) advantage only in terms of its difference. And thus there is an entrenched dissonance for newly technologised foods, between claiming sameness, and claiming difference. The same/different dilemma is erased, so some would have it, by appeal to the curious new dualist doctrine of “substantial equivalence” whereby sameness and difference are claimed simultaneously, thereby creating a win/win for corporatism, and a loss/loss for consumerism. This ground has been pioneered, and to some extent conquered, by the GMO industry. The conquest has ramifications for other cryptic food technologies, that is technologies that are invisible to the consumer and that are not evident to the consumer other than via labelling. Cryptic technologies pertaining to food include GMOs, pesticides, hormone treatments, irradiation and, most recently, manufactured nano-particles introduced into the food production and delivery stream. Genetic modification of plants was reported as early as 1984 by Horsch et al. The case of Diamond v. Chakrabarty resulted in a US Supreme Court decision that upheld the prior decision of the US Court of Customs and Patent Appeal that “the fact that micro-organisms are alive is without legal significance for purposes of the patent law”, and ruled that the “respondent’s micro-organism plainly qualifies as patentable subject matter”. This was a majority decision of nine judges, with four judges dissenting (Burger). It was this Chakrabarty judgement that has seriously opened the Pandora’s box of GMOs because patenting rights makes GMOs an attractive corporate proposition by offering potentially unique monopoly rights over food. The rear guard action against GMOs has most often focussed on health repercussions (Smith, Genetic), food security issues, and also the potential for corporate malfeasance to hide behind a cloak of secrecy citing commercial confidentiality (Smith, Seeds). Others have tilted at the foundational plank on which the economics of the GMO industry sits: “I suggest that the main concern is that we do not want a single molecule of anything we eat to contribute to, or be patented and owned by, a reckless, ruthless chemical organisation” (Grist 22). The GMO industry exhibits bipolar behaviour, invoking the concept of “substantial difference” to claim patent rights by way of “novelty”, and then claiming “substantial equivalence” when dealing with other regulatory authorities including food, drug and pesticide agencies; a case of “having their cake and eating it too” (Engdahl 8). This is a clever slight-of-rhetoric, laying claim to the best of both worlds for corporations, and the worst of both worlds for consumers. Corporations achieve patent protection and no concomitant specific regulatory oversight; while consumers pay the cost of patent monopolization, and are not necessarily apprised, by way of labelling or otherwise, that they are purchasing and eating GMOs, and thereby financing the GMO industry. The lemma of “substantial equivalence” does not bear close scrutiny. It is a fuzzy concept that lacks a tight testable definition. It is exactly this fuzziness that allows lots of wriggle room to keep GMOs out of rigorous testing regimes. Millstone et al. argue that “substantial equivalence is a pseudo-scientific concept because it is a commercial and political judgement masquerading as if it is scientific. It is moreover, inherently anti-scientific because it was created primarily to provide an excuse for not requiring biochemical or toxicological tests. It therefore serves to discourage and inhibit informative scientific research” (526). “Substantial equivalence” grants GMOs the benefit of the doubt regarding safety, and thereby leaves unexamined the ramifications for human consumer health, for farm labourer and food-processor health, for the welfare of farm animals fed a diet of GMO grain, and for the well-being of the ecosystem, both in general and in its particularities. “Substantial equivalence” was introduced into the food discourse by an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report: “safety evaluation of foods derived by modern biotechnology: concepts and principles”. It is from this document that the ongoing mantra of assumed safety of GMOs derives: “modern biotechnology … does not inherently lead to foods that are less safe … . Therefore evaluation of foods and food components obtained from organisms developed by the application of the newer techniques does not necessitate a fundamental change in established principles, nor does it require a different standard of safety” (OECD, “Safety” 10). This was at the time, and remains, an act of faith, a pro-corporatist and a post-cautionary approach. The OECD motto reveals where their priorities lean: “for a better world economy” (OECD, “Better”). The term “substantial equivalence” was preceded by the 1992 USFDA concept of “substantial similarity” (Levidow, Murphy and Carr) and was adopted from a prior usage by the US Food and Drug Agency (USFDA) where it was used pertaining to medical devices (Miller). Even GMO proponents accept that “Substantial equivalence is not intended to be a scientific formulation; it is a conceptual tool for food producers and government regulators” (Miller 1043). And there’s the rub – there is no scientific definition of “substantial equivalence”, no scientific test of proof of concept, and nor is there likely to be, since this is a ‘spinmeister’ term. And yet this is the cornerstone on which rests the presumption of safety of GMOs. Absence of evidence is taken to be evidence of absence. History suggests that this is a fraught presumption. By way of contrast, the patenting of GMOs depends on the antithesis of assumed ‘sameness’. Patenting rests on proven, scrutinised, challengeable and robust tests of difference and novelty. Lightfoot et al. report that transgenic plants exhibit “unexpected changes [that] challenge the usual assumptions of GMO equivalence and suggest genomic, proteomic and metanomic characterization of transgenics is advisable” (1). GMO Milk and Contested Labelling Pesticide company Monsanto markets the genetically engineered hormone rBST (recombinant Bovine Somatotropin; also known as: rbST; rBGH, recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone; and the brand name Prosilac) to dairy farmers who inject it into their cows to increase milk production. This product is not approved for use in many jurisdictions, including Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Japan. Even Monsanto accepts that rBST leads to mastitis (inflammation and pus in the udder) and other “cow health problems”, however, it maintains that “these problems did not occur at rates that would prohibit the use of Prosilac” (Monsanto). A European Union study identified an extensive list of health concerns of rBST use (European Commission). The US Dairy Export Council however entertain no doubt. In their background document they ask “is milk from cows treated with rBST safe?” and answer “Absolutely” (USDEC). Meanwhile, Monsanto’s website raises and answers the question: “Is the milk from cows treated with rbST any different from milk from untreated cows? No” (Monsanto). Injecting cows with genetically modified hormones to boost their milk production remains a contested practice, banned in many countries. It is the claimed equivalence that has kept consumers of US dairy products in the dark, shielded rBST dairy farmers from having to declare that their milk production is GMO-enhanced, and has inhibited non-GMO producers from declaring their milk as non-GMO, non rBST, or not hormone enhanced. This is a battle that has simmered, and sometimes raged, for a decade in the US. Finally there is a modest victory for consumers: the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) requires all labels used on milk products to be approved in advance by the department. The standard issued in October 2007 (PDA, “Standards”) signalled to producers that any milk labels claiming rBST-free status would be rejected. This advice was rescinded in January 2008 with new, specific, department-approved textual constructions allowed, and ensuring that any “no rBST” style claim was paired with a PDA-prescribed disclaimer (PDA, “Revised Standards”). However, parsimonious labelling is prohibited: No labeling may contain references such as ‘No Hormones’, ‘Hormone Free’, ‘Free of Hormones’, ‘No BST’, ‘Free of BST’, ‘BST Free’,’No added BST’, or any statement which indicates, implies or could be construed to mean that no natural bovine somatotropin (BST) or synthetic bovine somatotropin (rBST) are contained in or added to the product. (PDA, “Revised Standards” 3) Difference claims are prohibited: In no instance shall any label state or imply that milk from cows not treated with recombinant bovine somatotropin (rBST, rbST, RBST or rbst) differs in composition from milk or products made with milk from treated cows, or that rBST is not contained in or added to the product. If a product is represented as, or intended to be represented to consumers as, containing or produced from milk from cows not treated with rBST any labeling information must convey only a difference in farming practices or dairy herd management methods. (PDA, “Revised Standards” 3) The PDA-approved labelling text for non-GMO dairy farmers is specified as follows: ‘From cows not treated with rBST. No significant difference has been shown between milk derived from rBST-treated and non-rBST-treated cows’ or a substantial equivalent. Hereinafter, the first sentence shall be referred to as the ‘Claim’, and the second sentence shall be referred to as the ‘Disclaimer’. (PDA, “Revised Standards” 4) It is onto the non-GMO dairy farmer alone, that the costs of compliance fall. These costs include label preparation and approval, proving non-usage of GMOs, and of creating and maintaining an audit trail. In nearby Ohio a similar consumer versus corporatist pantomime is playing out. This time with the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) calling the shots, and again serving the GMO industry. The ODA prescribed text allowed to non-GMO dairy farmers is “from cows not supplemented with rbST” and this is to be conjoined with the mandatory disclaimer “no significant difference has been shown between milk derived from rbST-supplemented and non-rbST supplemented cows” (Curet). These are “emergency rules”: they apply for 90 days, and are proposed as permanent. Once again, the onus is on the non-GMO dairy farmers to document and prove their claims. GMO dairy farmers face no such governmental requirements, including no disclosure requirement, and thus an asymmetric regulatory impost is placed on the non-GMO farmer which opens up new opportunities for administrative demands and technocratic harassment. Levidow et al. argue, somewhat Eurocentrically, that from its 1990s adoption “as the basis for a harmonized science-based approach to risk assessment” (26) the concept of “substantial equivalence” has “been recast in at least three ways” (58). It is true that the GMO debate has evolved differently in the US and Europe, and with other jurisdictions usually adopting intermediate positions, yet the concept persists. Levidow et al. nominate their three recastings as: firstly an “implicit redefinition” by the appending of “extra phrases in official documents”; secondly, “it has been reinterpreted, as risk assessment processes have … required more evidence of safety than before, especially in Europe”; and thirdly, “it has been demoted in the European Union regulatory procedures so that it can no longer be used to justify the claim that a risk assessment is unnecessary” (58). Romeis et al. have proposed a decision tree approach to GMO risks based on cascading tiers of risk assessment. However what remains is that the defects of the concept of “substantial equivalence” persist. Schauzu identified that: such decisions are a matter of “opinion”; that there is “no clear definition of the term ‘substantial’”; that because genetic modification “is aimed at introducing new traits into organisms, the result will always be a different combination of genes and proteins”; and that “there is no general checklist that could be followed by those who are responsible for allowing a product to be placed on the market” (2). Benchmark for Further Food Novelties? The discourse, contestation, and debate about “substantial equivalence” have largely focussed on the introduction of GMOs into food production processes. GM can best be regarded as the test case, and proof of concept, for establishing “substantial equivalence” as a benchmark for evaluating new and forthcoming food technologies. This is of concern, because the concept of “substantial equivalence” is scientific hokum, and yet its persistence, even entrenchment, within regulatory agencies may be a harbinger of forthcoming same-but-different debates for nanotechnology and other future bioengineering. The appeal of “substantial equivalence” has been a brake on the creation of GMO-specific regulations and on rigorous GMO testing. The food nanotechnology industry can be expected to look to the precedent of the GMO debate to head off specific nano-regulations and nano-testing. As cloning becomes economically viable, then this may be another wave of food innovation that muddies the regulatory waters with the confused – and ultimately self-contradictory – concept of “substantial equivalence”. Nanotechnology engineers particles in the size range 1 to 100 nanometres – a nanometre is one billionth of a metre. This is interesting for manufacturers because at this size chemicals behave differently, or as the Australian Office of Nanotechnology expresses it, “new functionalities are obtained” (AON). Globally, government expenditure on nanotechnology research reached US$4.6 billion in 2006 (Roco 3.12). While there are now many patents (ETC Group; Roco), regulation specific to nanoparticles is lacking (Bowman and Hodge; Miller and Senjen). The USFDA advises that nano-manufacturers “must show a reasonable assurance of safety … or substantial equivalence” (FDA). A recent inventory of nano-products already on the market identified 580 products. Of these 11.4% were categorised as “Food and Beverage” (WWICS). This is at a time when public confidence in regulatory bodies is declining (HRA). In an Australian consumer survey on nanotechnology, 65% of respondents indicated they were concerned about “unknown and long term side effects”, and 71% agreed that it is important “to know if products are made with nanotechnology” (MARS 22). Cloned animals are currently more expensive to produce than traditional animal progeny. In the course of 678 pages, the USFDA Animal Cloning: A Draft Risk Assessment has not a single mention of “substantial equivalence”. However the Federation of Animal Science Societies (FASS) in its single page “Statement in Support of USFDA’s Risk Assessment Conclusion That Food from Cloned Animals Is Safe for Human Consumption” states that “FASS endorses the use of this comparative evaluation process as the foundation of establishing substantial equivalence of any food being evaluated. It must be emphasized that it is the food product itself that should be the focus of the evaluation rather than the technology used to generate cloned animals” (FASS 1). Contrary to the FASS derogation of the importance of process in food production, for consumers both the process and provenance of production is an important and integral aspect of a food product’s value and identity. Some consumers will legitimately insist that their Kalamata olives are from Greece, or their balsamic vinegar is from Modena. It was the British public’s growing awareness that their sugar was being produced by slave labour that enabled the boycotting of the product, and ultimately the outlawing of slavery (Hochschild). When consumers boycott Nestle, because of past or present marketing practices, or boycott produce of USA because of, for example, US foreign policy or animal welfare concerns, they are distinguishing the food based on the narrative of the food, the production process and/or production context which are a part of the identity of the food. Consumers attribute value to food based on production process and provenance information (Paull). Products produced by slave labour, by child labour, by political prisoners, by means of torture, theft, immoral, unethical or unsustainable practices are different from their alternatives. The process of production is a part of the identity of a product and consumers are increasingly interested in food narrative. It requires vigilance to ensure that these narratives are delivered with the product to the consumer, and are neither lost nor suppressed. Throughout the GM debate, the organic sector has successfully skirted the “substantial equivalence” debate by excluding GMOs from the certified organic food production process. This GMO-exclusion from the organic food stream is the one reprieve available to consumers worldwide who are keen to avoid GMOs in their diet. The organic industry carries the expectation of providing food produced without artificial pesticides and fertilizers, and by extension, without GMOs. Most recently, the Soil Association, the leading organic certifier in the UK, claims to be the first organisation in the world to exclude manufactured nonoparticles from their products (Soil Association). There has been the call that engineered nanoparticles be excluded from organic standards worldwide, given that there is no mandatory safety testing and no compulsory labelling in place (Paull and Lyons). The twisted rhetoric of oxymorons does not make the ideal foundation for policy. Setting food policy on the shifting sands of “substantial equivalence” seems foolhardy when we consider the potentially profound ramifications of globally mass marketing a dysfunctional food. If there is a 2×2 matrix of terms – “substantial equivalence”, substantial difference, insubstantial equivalence, insubstantial difference – while only one corner of this matrix is engaged for food policy, and while the elements remain matters of opinion rather than being testable by science, or by some other regime, then the public is the dupe, and potentially the victim. “Substantial equivalence” has served the GMO corporates well and the public poorly, and this asymmetry is slated to escalate if nano-food and clone-food are also folded into the “substantial equivalence” paradigm. Only in Orwellian Newspeak is war peace, or is same different. It is time to jettison the pseudo-scientific doctrine of “substantial equivalence”, as a convenient oxymoron, and embrace full disclosure of provenance, process and difference, so that consumers are not collateral in a continuing asymmetric knowledge war. References Australian Office of Nanotechnology (AON). 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Hart Research Associates, 25 Sep. 2007.Levidow, Les, Joseph Murphy, and Susan Carr. “Recasting ‘Substantial Equivalence’: Transatlantic Governance of GM Food.” Science, Technology, and Human Values 32.1 (Jan. 2007): 26-64.Lightfoot, David, Rajsree Mungur, Rafiqa Ameziane, Anthony Glass, and Karen Berhard. “Transgenic Manipulation of C and N Metabolism: Stretching the GMO Equivalence.” American Society of Plant Biologists Conference: Plant Biology, 2000.MARS. “Final Report: Australian Community Attitudes Held about Nanotechnology – Trends 2005-2007.” Report prepared for Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources (DITR). Miranda, NSW: Market Attitude Research Services, 12 June 2007.Miller, Georgia, and Rye Senjen. “Out of the Laboratory and on to Our Plates: Nanotechnology in Food and Agriculture.” Friends of the Earth, 2008. 24 Apr. 2008 < http://nano.foe.org.au/node/220 >.Miller, Henry. “Substantial Equivalence: Its Uses and Abuses.” Nature Biotechnology 17 (7 Nov. 1999): 1042-1043.Millstone, Erik, Eric Brunner, and Sue Mayer. “Beyond ‘Substantial Equivalence’.” Nature 401 (7 Oct. 1999): 525-526.Monsanto. “Posilac, Bovine Somatotropin by Monsanto: Questions and Answers about bST from the United States Food and Drug Administration.” 2007. 24 Apr. 2008 < http://www.monsantodairy.com/faqs/fda_safety.html >.Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). “For a Better World Economy.” Paris: OECD, 2008. 24 Apr. 2008 < http://www.oecd.org/ >.———. “Safety Evaluation of Foods Derived by Modern Biotechnology: Concepts and Principles.” Paris: OECD, 1993.Orwell, George. Animal Farm. 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Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2007.Romeis, Jorg, Detlef Bartsch, Franz Bigler, Marco Candolfi, Marco Gielkins, et al. “Assessment of Risk of Insect-Resistant Transgenic Crops to Nontarget Arthropods.” Nature Biotechnology 26.2 (Feb. 2008): 203-208.Schauzu, Marianna. “The Concept of Substantial Equivalence in Safety Assessment of Food Derived from Genetically Modified Organisms.” AgBiotechNet 2 (Apr. 2000): 1-4.Soil Association. “Soil Association First Organisation in the World to Ban Nanoparticles – Potentially Toxic Beauty Products That Get Right under Your Skin.” London: Soil Association, 17 Jan. 2008. 24 Apr. 2008 < http://www.soilassociation.org/web/sa/saweb.nsf/848d689047 cb466780256a6b00298980/42308d944a3088a6802573d100351790!OpenDocument >.Smith, Jeffrey. Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods. Fairfield, Iowa: Yes! Books, 2007.———. Seeds of Deception. Melbourne: Scribe, 2004.U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC). 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The Black Summer of 2019/2020 saw the forests of southeast Australia go up in flames. The fire season started early, in September 2019, and by March 2020 fires had burned over 12.6 million hectares (Werner and Lyons). The scale and severity of the fires was quickly confirmed by scientists to be “unprecedented globally” (Boer et al.) and attributable to climate change (Nolan et al.).The fires were also a media spectacle, generating months of apocalyptic front-page images and harrowing broadcast footage. Media coverage was particularly preoccupied by the cause of the fires. Media framing of disasters often seeks to attribute blame (Anderson et al.; Ewart and McLean) and, over the course of the fire period, blame for the fires was attributed to climate change in much media coverage. However, as the disaster unfolded, denialist discourses in some media outlets sought to veil this revelation by providing alternative explanations for the fires. Misinformation originating from social media also contributed to this obscuration.In this article, we investigate the extent to which media coverage of the 2019/2020 bushfires functioned both to precipitate a climate change epiphany and also to support refutation of the connection between catastrophic fires and the climate crisis.Environmental Communication and RevelationIn its biblical sense, revelation is both an ending and an opening: it is the apocalyptic end-time and also the “revealing” of this time through stories and images. Environmental communication has always been revelatory, in these dual senses of the word – it is a mode of communication that is tightly bound to crisis; that has long grappled with obfuscation and misinformation; and that disrupts power structures and notions of the status quo as it seeks to reveal what is hidden. Climate change in particular is associated in the popular imagination with apocalypse, and is also a reality that is constantly being “revealed”. Indeed, the narrative of climate change has been “animated by the revelations of science” (McNeish 1045) and presented to the public through “key moments of disclosure and revelation”, or “signal moments”, such as scientist James Hansen’s 1988 US Senate testimony on global warming (Hamblyn 224).Journalism is “at the frontline of environmental communication” (Parham 96) and environmental news, too, is often revelatory in nature – it exposes the problems inherent in the human relationship with the natural world, and it reveals the scientific evidence behind contentious issues such as climate change. Like other environmental communicators, environmental journalists seek to “break through the perceptual paralysis” (Nisbet 44) surrounding climate change, with the dual aim of better informing the public and instigating policy change. Yet leading environmental commentators continually call for “better media coverage” of the planetary crisis (Suzuki), as climate change is repeatedly bumped off the news agenda by stories and events deemed more newsworthy.News coverage of climate-related disasters is often revelatory both in tone and in cultural function. The disasters themselves and the news narratives which communicate them become processes that make visible what is hidden. Because environmental news is “event driven” (Hansen 95), disasters receive far more news coverage than ongoing problems and trends such as climate change itself, or more quietly devastating issues such as species extinction or climate migration. Disasters are also highly visual in nature. Trumbo (269) describes climate change as an issue that is urgent, global in scale, and yet “practically invisible”; in this sense, climate-related disasters become a means of visualising and realising what is otherwise a complex, difficult, abstract, and un-seeable concept.Unsurprisingly, natural disasters are often presented to the public through a film of apocalyptic rhetoric and imagery. Yet natural disasters can be also “revelatory” moments: instances of awakening in which suppressed truths come spectacularly and devastatingly to the surface. Matthewman (9–10) argues that “disasters afford us insights into social reality that ordinarily pass unnoticed. As such, they can be read as modes of disclosure, forms of communication”. Disasters, he continues, can reveal both “our new normal” and “our general existential condition”, bringing “the underbelly of progress into sharp relief”. Similarly, Lukes (1) states that disasters “lift veils”, revealing “what is hidden from view in normal times”. Yet for Lukes, “the revelation tells us nothing new, nothing that we did not already know”, and is instead a forced confronting of that which is known yet difficult to engage with. Lukes’ concern is the “revealing” of poverty and inequality in New Orleans following the impact of Hurricane Katrina, yet climate-related disasters can also make visible what McNeish terms “the dark side effects of industrial civilisation” (1047). The Australian bushfires of 2019/2020 can be read in these terms, primarily because they unveiled the connection between climate change and extreme events. Scorching millions of hectares, with a devastating impact on human and non-human communities, the fires revealed climate change as a physical reality, and—for Australians—as a local issue as well as a global one. As media coverage of the fires unfolded and smoke settled on half the country, the impact of climate change on individual lives, communities, landscapes, native animal and plant species, and well-established cultural practices (such as the summer camping holiday) could be fully and dramatically realised. Even for those Australians not immediately impacted, the effects were lived and felt: in our lungs, and on our skin, a physical revelation that the impacts of climate change are not limited to geographically distant people or as-yet-unborn future generations. For many of us, the summer of fire was a realisation that climate change can no longer be held at arm’s length.“Revelation” also involves a temporal collapse whereby the future is dragged into the present. A revelatory streak of this nature has always existed at the heart of environmental communication and can be traced back at least as far as the environmentalist Rachel Carson, whose 1962 book Silent Spring revealed a bleak, apocalyptic future devoid of wildlife and birdsong. In other words, environmental communication can inspire action for change by exposing the ways in which the comforts and securities of the present are built upon a refusal to engage with the future. This temporal rupture where the future meets the present is particularly characteristic of climate change narratives. It is not surprising, then, that media coverage of the 2019/2020 bushfires addressed not just the immediate loss and devastation but also dread of the future, and the understanding that summer will increasingly hold such threats. Bushfires, Climate Change and the MediaThe link between bushfire risk and climate change generated a flurry of coverage in the Australian media well before the fires started in the spring of 2019. In April that year, a coalition of 23 former fire and emergency services leaders warned that Australia was “unprepared for an escalating climate threat” (Cox). They requested a meeting with the new government, to be elected in May, and better funding for firefighting to face the coming bushfire season. When that meeting was granted, at the end of Australia’s hottest and driest year on record (Doyle) in November 2019, bushfires had already been burning for two months. As the fires burned, the emergency leaders expressed frustration that their warnings had been ignored, claiming they had been “gagged” because “you are not allowed to talk about climate change”. They cited climate change as the key reason why the fire season was lengthening and fires were harder to fight. "If it's not time now to speak about climate and what's driving these events”, they asked, “– when?" (McCubbing).The mediatised uncovering of a bushfire/climate change connection was not strictly a revelation. Recent fires in California, Russia, the Amazon, Greece, and Sweden have all been reported in the media as having been exacerbated by climate change. Australia, however, has long regarded itself as a “fire continent”: a place adapted to fire, whose landscapes invite fire and can recover from it. Bushfires had therefore been considered part of the Australian “normal”. But in the Australian spring of 2019, with fires having started earlier than ever and charring rainforests that did not usually burn, the fire chiefs’ warning of a climate change-induced catastrophic bushfire season seemed prescient. As the fires spread and merged, taking homes, lives, landscapes, and driving people towards the water, revelatory images emerged in the media. Pictures of fire refugees fleeing under dystopian crimson skies, masked against the smoke, were accompanied by headlines like “Apocalypse Now” (Fife-Yeomans) and “Escaping Hell” (The Independent). Reports used words like “terror”, “nightmare” (Smee), “mayhem”, and “Armageddon” (Davidson).In the Australian media, the fire/climate change connection quickly became politicised. The Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack interviewed by the ABC, responding to a comment by Greens leader Adam Bandt, said connecting bushfire and climate while the fires raged was “disgraceful” and “disgusting”. People needed help, he said, not “the ravings of some pure enlightened and woke capital city greenies” (Goloubeva and Haydar). Gladys Berejiklian the NSW Premier also described it as “inappropriate” (Baker) and “disappointing” (Fox and Higgins) to talk about climate change at this time. However Carol Sparks, Mayor of bushfire-ravaged Glen Innes in rural NSW, contradicted this stance, telling the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) “Michael McCormack needs to read the science”. Climate change, she said, was “not a political thing” but “scientific fact” (Goloubeva and Haydar).As the fires merged and intensified, so did the media firestorm. Key Australian media became a sparring ground for issue definition, with media predictably split down ideological lines. Public broadcasters the ABC and SBS (Special Broadcasting Service), along with The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Guardian Australia, predominantly framed the catastrophe as wrought by climate change. The Guardian, in an in-depth investigation of climate science and bushfire risk, stated that “despite the political smokescreen” the connection between the fires and global warming was “unequivocal” (Redfearn). The ABC characterised the fires as “a glimpse of the horrors of climate change’s crescendoing impact” (Rose). News outlets owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp Australia, however, actively sought to play down the fires’ seriousness. On 2 January, as front pages of newspapers across the world revealed horrifying fiery images, Murdoch’s Australian ran an upbeat shot of New Year’s Day picnic races as its lead, relegating discussion of the fires to page 4 (Meade). More than simply obscuring the fires’ significance, News Corp media actively sought to convince readers that the fires were not out of the ordinary. For example, as the fires’ magnitude was becoming clear on the last day of 2019, The Australian ran a piece comparing the fires with previous conflagrations, claiming such conditions were “not unprecedented” and the fires were “nothing new” (Johnstone). News Corp’s Sky News also used this frame: “climate alarmists”, “catastrophise”, and “don’t want to look at history”, it stated in a segment comparing the event to past major bushfires (Kenny).As the fires continued into January and February 2020, the refutation of the climate change frame solidified around several themes. Conservative media continued to insist the fires were “normal” for Australia and attributed their severity to a lack of hazard reduction burning, which they blamed on “Greens policies” (Brown and Caisley). They also promoted the argument, espoused by Energy Minister Angus Taylor, that with only “1.3% of global emissions” Australia “could not have meaningful impact” on global warming through emissions reductions, and that top-down climate mitigation pressure from the UN was “doomed to fail” (Lloyd). Foreign media saw the fires in quite different terms. From the outside looking in, the Australian fires were clearly revealed as fuelled by global heating and exacerbated by the Australian government’s climate denialism. Australia was framed as a “notorious climate offender” (Shield) that was—as The New York Times put it—“committing climate suicide” (Flanagan) with its lack of coherent climate policy and its predilection for mining coal. Ouest-France ran a headline reading “High on carbon, rich Australia denies global warming” in which it called Scott Morrison’s position on climate change “incomprehensible” (Guibert). The LA Times called the Australian fires “a climate change warning to its leaders—and ours”, noting how “fossil fuel friendly Morrison” had “gleefully wielded a fist-sized chunk of coal on the floor of parliament in 2017” (Karlik). In the UK, the Independent online ran a front page spread of the fires’ vast smoke plume, with the headline “This is what a climate crisis looks like” (Independent Online), while Australian MP Craig Kelly was called “disgraceful” by an interviewer on Good Morning Britain for denying the fires’ link to climate change (Good Morning Britain).Both in Australia and internationally, deliberate misinformation spread by social media additionally shaped media discourse on the fires. The false revelation that the fires had predominantly been started by arson spread on Twitter under the hashtag #ArsonEmergency. While research has been quick to show that this hashtag was artificially promoted by bots (Weber et al.), this and misinformation like it was also shared and amplified by real Twitter users, and quickly spread into mainstream media in Australia—including Murdoch’s Australian (Ross and Reid)—and internationally. Such misinformation was used to shore up denialist discourses about the fires, and to obscure revelation of the fire/climate change connection. Blame Framing, Public Opinion and the Extent of the Climate Change RevelationAs studies of media coverage of environmental disasters show us, media seek to apportion blame. This blame framing is “accountability work”, undertaken to explain how and why a disaster occurred, with the aim of “scrutinizing the actions of crisis actors, and holding responsible authorities to account” (Anderson et al. 930). In moments of disaster and in their aftermath, “framing contests” (Benford and Snow) can emerge in which some actors, regarding the crisis as an opportunity for change, highlight the systemic issues that have led to the crisis. Other actors, experiencing the crisis as a threat to the status quo, try to attribute the blame to others, and deny the need for policy change. As the Black Summer unfolded, just such a contest took place in Australian media discourse. While Murdoch’s dominant News Corp media sought to protect the status quo, promote conservative politicians’ views, and divert attention from the climate crisis, other Australian and overseas media outlets revealed the fires’ link to climate change and intransigent emissions policy. However, cracks did begin to show in the News Corp stance on climate change during the fires: an internal whistleblower publicly resigned over the media company’s fires coverage, calling it a “misinformation campaign”, and James Murdoch also spoke out about being “disappointed with the ongoing denial of the role of climate change” in reporting the fires (ABC/Reuters).Although media reporting on the environment has long been at the forefront of shaping social understanding of environmental issues, and news maintains a central role in both revealing environmental threats and shaping environmental politics (Lester), during Australia’s Black Summer people were also learning about the fires from lived experience. Polls show that the fires affected 57% of Australians. Even those distant from the catastrophe were, for some time, breathing the most toxic air in the world. This personal experience of disaster revealed a bushfire season that was far outside the normal, and public opinion reflected this. A YouGov Australia Institute poll in January 2020 found that 79% of Australians were concerned about climate change—an increase of 5% from July 2019—and 67% believed climate change was making the bushfires worse (Australia Institute). However, a January 2020 Ipsos poll also found that polarisation along political lines on whether climate change was indeed occurring had increased since 2018, and was at its highest levels since 2014 (Crowe). This may reflect the kind of polarised media landscape that was evident during the fires. A thorough dissection in public discourse of Australia’s unprecedented fire season has been largely eclipsed by the vast coverage of the coronavirus pandemic that so quickly followed it. 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