About: the world this week, 25 August to 31 August 2024: a cool Israeli hostage rescue; the tale of Ukraine’s F-16s; the father of Telegram; caught in Space; and India at the Paris Paralympics 2024.

Everywhere

Israel Rescues

Last week, ceasefire talks to end the war in Gaza appeared pregnant, with a result almost swelling in sight, in sure-footed talks, which took place in Cairo, Egypt. However, an agreement could not be reached, and it was a return to ‘business of war-as usual’. Neither Hamas nor Israel agreed to several compromises presented by mediators. In the end, of course, the talks were described as ‘constructive’; and the process will continue, hoping for a break-through, some day.

This week, Israel launched ‘pre-emptive’ strikes to thwart a probably much larger Hezbollah barrage of rockets and drones, than the hundreds it launched into Israel this Sunday. Israel’s military ferociously struck Hezbollah launch sites with around 100 jets in one of the biggest clashes in more than 10 months of border warfare with the Lebanon-based, Iran-backed Hezbollah-a diehard supporter of Hamas.

Also, this week, Israeli special forces rescued a hostage, Kaid Farhan Elkadi, 52 – a Bedouin Arab who was kidnapped by Hamas on 7 October 2023- in a complex operation in the southern Gaza Strip. Acting on intelligence, while combing a network of tunnels in southern Gaza, Israeli forces found the hostage, alone, without his Hamas captors. Elkadi is the eighth hostage to be rescued alive in Gaza by Israel since the beginning of the war, in four separate operations-but he is the first to have been rescued alive from inside Hamas’ tunnel network underneath Gaza.

Meanwhile, Israel has agreed to a series of pauses in the fighting in Gaza, in September to allow young children in Gaza to be vaccinated for polio.

Juice & Moonfish

Over many months, Ukraine had lobbied hard to secure the United States made F-16 Fighter Aircraft to boost its defences (and also to strike at Russia). And finally, a few weeks ago, the F-16’s did arrive.

Two Ukraine Pilots had become the face of the campaign to get the F-16s. One was Oleksiy Mes, known as ‘Moonfish’ and the other was, Andriy Pilshchikov, known by the call sign ‘Juice’. It was an uphill battle, but Juice and Moonfish pulled through it together. They were young and enthusiastic, spoke good English and were willing to fight to get the US jets into Ukrainian skies. Flying the F-16 was their dream and when Juice died in a plane crash during a combat mission last August, Moonfish made it his goal to fulfil it.

This week, Moonfish himself was killed in a F-16 crash while repelling one of the biggest ever aerial attacks by Russia on Ukraine. The death of Moonfish is a major blow, as he was one of the few pilots trained to fly the ‘just-arrived’ F-16’s. The Ukrainian Defense Forces do not believe pilot error was behind the incident. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the Ukrainian Air Force used the F-16 to destroy missiles and drones launched by Russia on Monday.

Rest in peace, Juice & Moonfish.

Telegram’s Father

Telegram is a messaging application boasting over 900 million users. It was founded by Pavel Durov-who is also its CEO-in the year 2013. Telegram is ranked as one of the major social media platforms alongside Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, and WeChat. It is hugely popular in Russia, Ukraine, and other former Soviet Union countries.

Pavel Durov, 39, was born in Leningrad, Russia, and graduated from St. Petersburg State University. He now resides in Dubai, where Telegram is headquartered. And he is a dual citizen of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and France.

Telegram was banned in Russia in 2018, after Durov refused to hand over user data to the government. But, subsequently the ban was lifted in 2021. This served to ‘telegram’ tensions between Durov and various national governments over data privacy and content control. Durov left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with Russia’s demands to shut down opposition groups on the VK (VKontakte – meaning, In Contact) social network he founded when he was 22. He quit VK after a dispute with its Russia-linked owners and turned his focus on Telegram, which he founded with his brother Nikolai Durov. Given Pavel Durov’s social media skills, he is often cast as, ‘Russia’s Mark Zuckerberg’.

Telegram, has faced significant scrutiny over its moderation practices. It has been criticised for not effectively dealing with criminal activities and illegal content. Specifically, there are accusations that Telegram has been used to facilitate drug trafficking, distribute child sexual content, and commit fraud. Despite these claims, Telegram has consistently denied any failures in its moderation processes. The company argues that it does its best to comply with legal requirements and to maintain a safe platform for users. Telegram offers end-to-end encrypted messaging and allows users to create channels to disseminate information to followers. Its apparently unbreakable encryption has made Telegram a haven for extremists and conspiracy theorists.

This week, Telegram was in the spotlight after Pavel Durov was arrested when his private jet landed at Le Bourget Airport, north of Paris. French investigators had issued a warrant for Durov’s arrest as part of an inquiry into allegations of fraud, drug trafficking, organised crime, promotion of terrorism, and cyberbullying.

The allegations are that he failed to properly moderate the app’s content, allowing it to be used for illegal activities. And that Durov did not act to curb the criminal use of his platform. Telegram’s ability to let users create large groups and channels is part of what makes it popular, but it also means that harmful content can spread more easily.

This situation is unusual because, while social media leaders often face criticism from governments, it’s rare for one to be arrested over content issues.

In April 2014, Durov publicly refused to hand over data on Ukrainian protestors to Russian security agencies, and to block, the now dead, Russian Opposition Leader Alexi Navalny’s VK page. In 2024, Durov said Telegram should remain a neutral platform and not a player in geopolitics.

Pavel Durov is a libertarian, teetotaller, and vegetarian; he maintains an ascetic lifestyle and promotes freedom from personal possessions. He is not married. And claims to have fathered more than 100 children through sperm donation in 12 nations, since the year 2010. That’s an ‘encrypted Father’ written all over!

Caught in Space

The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest human made object ever to orbit Earth with a pressurised volume of approximately 900 cubic metres and a mass of over 400 metric tons. The ISS has been in orbit for about 25 years, and over 270 Astronauts have visited the Station during various periods. It can carry a crew of between 3 and 13, depending on the number of people and passenger vehicles during handover periods. It continually hosts a crew of seven.

Like a Lego set, each piece of the ISS was launched and assembled in space, using complex robotics systems and humans in spacesuits connecting fluid lines and electrical wires. Building the ISS required 36 US Space Shuttle assembly flights and 6 Russian Proton and Soyuz rocket launches. More launches are continuing as new modules are completed, become part of the ever ‘growing’, gigantic orbiting complex.

The ISS’s greatest accomplishment is as much a human achievement as it is a technological one-how best to plan, collaborate, and monitor the varied activities of the Program’s many organisations. An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the ISS. The main are, the USA, Russia, Japan, among others. It is also the most politically complex space exploration program ever undertaken.

ISS orbits at an altitude of between 370 and 460 km above Earth. It tends to fall towards Earth continually, due to atmospheric friction and requires periodic rocket firings to boost its orbit and get back on track. The ISS has an orbital inclination, which enables it to fly over 90% of the inhabited Earth.

Over the years, America’s NASA has been hooking up with private players to achieve its Space goals and ‘to spread the technology, and the risk’. To that end, Boeing and SpaceX came in handy: both were awarded billion-dollar contracts to provide commercial space flights for NASA’s astronauts.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX was quick off the starting blocks. In 2012, SpaceX’s Dragon cargo spacecraft made history when it became the first private spacecraft to berth with the ISS. And in March 2019, its Crew Dragon-the company’s spacecraft designed to carry astronauts into space- completed its first test mission to the ISS. Since then, Dragon has continued carrying cargo to the ISS. In 2020, SpaceX launched two NASA astronauts to the ISS aboard the Crew Dragon, making SpaceX the first private spaceflight company to send a crewed spacecraft to space. Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken left Earth for the space station on 30 May 2020 and safely returned home on 2 August 2020.

Meanwhile, the other kid in Space, Boeing was testing its Starliner Capsule and, finally getting its act together, launched Astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, to the ISS, aboard the Starliner Capsule on 5 June 2024. Starliner’s launch to orbit was not perfect, having been delayed due to a minor helium leak, but its docking to the ISS was what most worried operators. Basically, during docking, the capsule experienced malfunctions in 5 of its 28 reaction control thrusters. Starliner also experienced problems on its way to the ISS, including helium leaks, which pushes fuel into the propulsion system. Several thrusters also did not work properly. Both NASA and Boeing therefore decided to extend the Starliner astronauts’ stay aboard the ISS while they troubleshooted the complication. And a solution hasn’t yet been defined. Safety is of concern because of a key issue with Starliner’s propulsion system-namely, its thrusters.

This week, NASA announced its final decision on the return of Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore aboard the ISS whose original eight-day space jaunt had turned into a nebulous multi-month excursion. They will return home not earlier than February 2025. Furthermore, NASA and Boeing jointly decided that Williams and Wilmore will not head back to Earth aboard the same Starliner capsule that brought them to the ISS. Rather, they will climb aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon for their descent back to Earth. A vessel dedicated for the purpose, the Crew-9 mission, will be modified to accommodate the Starliner astronauts. That capsule will only launch with two crew members in order to create space for Wilmore and Williams when the time comes to return to Earth, and it will also be reconfigured to carry more cargo, personal items, and Dragon-specific spacesuits for the Starliner duo.

SpaceX has since completed nine such flights with its Crew Dragon. Crew-9 would mark the tenth. Meanwhile, Boeing’s Starliner will return to Earth ‘un-crewed’, when it is technically ready to make the return journey home.

With the mission extended, a steady supply of oxygen and food is critical. NASA regularly conducts resupply missions delivering the essentials. Prolonged life in space accelerates destruction of red blood cells, which leads to anaemia. To combat the effects of weightlessness the crew follows a rigorous exercise routine called the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device, which simulates weightlifting to help maintain muscle and bone health.

Where is India in all of this? Only one Indian has ever been in Space until now, Rakesh Sharma, who flew in a Soviet Spacecraft, Soyuz T-11, in 1984 and spent 8 days in Space, aboard the Russian Spacecraft.

Recently, India’s Subhanshu Shukla and Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair were selected for the first ISRO-NASA mission to the ISS scheduled after October this year. Shukla will be the ‘Prime Astronaut’ (Nair will be the back-up) for the Axiom-4 Mission by a private space company called Axiom Space that will be launched by a SpaceX rocket. The Axiom Spacecraft would remain docked with the ISS for 14 days carrying cargo and supplies, besides the load of 4 Astronauts-Shukla from India and three others from Poland, Hungary, and the USA.

India at Paralympics 2024

It’s now customary that the country, which hosts the regular Summer Olympics also hosts the Paralympics, in the same year, following a formal agreement between the International Paralympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee, to this effect.

With Paris having successfully conducted the Summer Olympics, it is now running the Paralympics between 28th August and 8th September, at venues in and around Paris.

India’s armless archer Sheetal Devi finished second in the women’s individual compound open ranking round with a stunning performance to directly make a round of 16 entry. Sheetal Devi, 17, from the State of Jammu & Kashmir who shoots with her legs-as she was born without arms-scored a total of 703 points out of a possible of 720. She was second, just one point behind Turkey’s Oznur Girdi who scored 704 points.

India won its first Gold Medal through Avani Lekhara in the 10m Air Rifle SH1 event. She becomes the first ever Indian athlete (male or female) to win back-to-back Gold Medals-in Tokyo 2020 and now in Paris 2024. She is also the first to win three Paralympic medals. She was 11 years old when a car accident left her with a spinal cord injury resulting in paralysis from waist down. Continuing with shooting, Manish Narwal won silver in the Men’s 10m Air Pistol SH1 Final. He suffers from a congenital infirmity in his right hand since childhood. Then, Mona Agarwal clinched bronze in the 10m Air Rifle. She is handicapped by Polio and cannot walk, confined to a wheelchair.

On the track, India’s Preeti Pal won a bronze in the women’s 100m final- the first for India in Paralympics track history. She suffers from an irregular leg posture since childhood. Six days after she was born, her body had to be plastered because of her weak legs and being prone to infections.

That’s Gold, Silver, and Bronze(s) for India!

More shooting stories coming up in the weeks ahead. Stay armed with World Inthavaaram.