Escalating Threats—and a Touch of Irony

The Iranian government threatened to destroy water desalination plants in the Persian Gulf countries if the United States begins destroying its energy facilities. As a result, millions of people would face a horrific situation—assuming water production were severely disrupted—since the region’s natural water resources are insufficient to meet their needs.

With this threat—or at least by carrying it out—the Iranians would violate international agreements that prohibit attacks on infrastructure vital to civilians, such as drinking water systems and dams. In doing so, they would act just as the Russians have in Ukraine—without facing any particularly serious consequences. And they continue to do so.

Thus, in Putin’s “three-day special operation,” a precedent has been created that encourages the Iranians to act in a questionable manner. At the same time, it demonstrates the toothlessness of international law when it comes to protecting civilians.

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The Houthi rebels in Yemen are one of the most significant proxy actors of Iran against other states and their governments in the region. However, they have been remarkably passive during the attack against their “patron”—perhaps purely out of self-preservation.

Now, however, the Houthis have announced their intention to join the war on the side of the Iranian government if the United States or Israel use the Red Sea against it. In practice, however, the Houthis’ capabilities would likely be limited to harassing ships traveling by sea.

Unfortunately, even that alone would have significant economic consequences for global trade. And therefore—if that were to happen—the rest of the world might have to consider whether the time has finally come to take real action to dismantle the terrorist Houthi regime.

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If the two threats discussed above are extremely serious, the third case that caught my attention is rather amusing. I am referring to Russia’s threat to halt gasoline exports abroad. This comes after its oil infrastructure has been repeatedly destroyed—most recently even in ports along the coast of the Gulf of Finland.

Of course, the Russian threat shows that they have understood how to make use of the situation. They are scoring points by turning necessity into a virtue. It remains to be seen, however, whether this threat will have any impact on the course of the war, in which Ukraine has clearly gained the upper hand this year and now appears likely to emerge as the victor.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Iran – The End of Theocracy or the Beginning of Civil War?
Peace in Ukraine Would Be a Risk to Putin
Houthi Leaders Risk Their Lives to Cling to Power

Shower Taking and Interfering Elephants

Most people consider humans the pinnacle of creation, capable of reasoning and tool use in ways that animals cannot. However, as research has progressed, this distinction has narrowed, and it is now known that, for instance, chimpanzees can use sticks as tools and New Caledonian crows can even craft them.

This is why it was particularly fascinating to read a recent study by German researcher Lea Urban and her colleagues on elephant behavior. These giant animals are already known to use and modify tools.

Urban and her team investigated how Asian zoo elephants use water hoses as tools. The flexibility, length, and water flow of hoses make them exceptionally complex tools, so it was not surprising that the researchers observed significant individual differences in how they were handled.

One female elephant, Mary, was particularly skilled at using the water hose. She systematically used it to shower her body and smoothly coordinated her trunk-holding movements with her other limbs.

Mary typically grasped the hose just behind the tip, allowing it to function as a rigid showerhead. However, when she wanted to reach her back, she grabbed the hose farther from the tip and swung it over her back, utilizing the hose's flexibility and ballistics.

Even more intriguing was that a younger female elephant, Anchali, began interfering with the hose while Mary was enjoying her shower. Anchali started pulling the hose toward herself, lifting and bending it, and then regrasping and compressing the bent section.

This bending-and-clamping behavior disrupted the water flow, and Anchali repeated it frequently. Over time, her ability to disrupt the water flow became more effective. Additionally, Anchali pressed the hose down with her trunk, further hindering the flow of water.

The researchers could not determine whether Anchali’s actions were specifically aimed at disrupting Mary’s shower or whether her behavior was independent of it. Nevertheless, the study demonstrated that elephants are capable of handling water hoses skillfully and even using them as tools.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Games and Midsummer games
The amazing adventures of the German cockroach
Leaders infected by a parasite

South Africa: life without a culture of maintenance

South Africa is an interesting anthropological and cultural subject of study. The country's economy was in excellent shape when the white minority rule transitioned to black majority governance.

For this reason, I have occasionally written (in Finnish) about the events in the country. And today, I will do so based on an Al Jazeera article about the situation in the country.

According to the "Pravda" of the Arab world, South Africa has had uninterrupted electricity distribution for 57 consecutive days, which is the longest continuous period in over two years. This is significant because, last year, power outages caused losses of up to 51 million dollars per day due to the closure of factories, offices, and shops, according to the country's central bank.

However, electricity problems are not the only challenge in this country of 62 million people. Decades of neglect in infrastructure maintenance and investment have also led to the deterioration of transportation networks and water supply. This may result in the African National Congress (ANC), which has been in power since 1994 – the end of apartheid – losing its parliamentary majority in next week's elections, according to opinion polls.

South Africa has a large public electricity producer, Eskom, which mainly operates outdated and poorly maintained coal power plants. These plants have also suffered from coal and copper thefts as well as corruption. As a result, President Cyril Ramaphosa had to declare a state of emergency last February, with power outages stretching up to 12 hours a day.

Since then, private investments in wind and nuclear power have emerged in South Africa, resulting in the private sector now producing about a third of South Africa's electricity. This partly explains the recent reduction in power outages.

Power outages have also prevented water treatment plants from using their pumps, leaving people without potable water. Additionally, according to Johannesburg's water utility, nearly half of all pipeline water is lost to leaks. This means 70 million liters of drinking water are wasted every day. The reason is the high age of municipal distribution systems: in Johannesburg, for example, they were designed between the World Wars.

Water utilities are also vulnerable to vandalism. Thieves take everything from metal parts to pumps and sell them onwards. And there is no such maintenance culture for infrastructure in South Africa as in Western countries. Even if there were, water utilities struggle to generate revenue because people cannot afford to pay.

South Africa's water situation might be helped by transitioning to a private water distribution system, similar to electricity. The same applies to South Africa's state-supported railway company, which has also been plagued by poor management and corruption allegations.

Last year, the dilapidated railways caused economic losses equivalent to up to 6 percent of the gross domestic product in 2023, according to the country's Ministry of Finance. And that's not all, as the public railway company recently warned that it cannot service its debt of 130 billion rand (7.2 billion dollars) without direct state aid. Therefore, President Ramaphosa has also hinted at the possibility of privatizing the rail transport sector.

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Next week, South Africa will hold elections in a situation where the infrastructure is failing, and in addition, a third of the entire population and nearly half of all young people are unemployed, 56 percent of the entire population lives in poverty, and economic growth is non-existent (with a forecast of 0.9 percent growth for this year). At the same time, crime rates and corruption scandals are daily occurrences.

Last year, the country's debt-to-GDP ratio grew to 74 percent (in Finland, it's 75.8 percent!), and the current government has to use more than a fifth of its tax revenues to pay interest on the debt. This diverts money from other sectors – such as education, healthcare, and infrastructure.

Therefore, unemployment in the country needs to be reduced to increase revenues. Consequently, the next government – regardless of its composition – should focus on stimulating the economy and creating jobs. This could be achieved by offering incentives for private infrastructure investments, which would positively reflect on the country's export industry and other businesses.

It remains to be seen whether South Africa can rise from the decline it has been on for the last decade and a half under the ANC-led centralized economy. Or will its fate be to sink into a typical backwater of black Africa, where nothing works except corruption and crime?

Previous thoughts on the same topic: Should forbidden questions be answered or not? Corruption in Nigeria may affect Europe They want to wipe out from Finland what is good for Africa