Turkey’s Erdogan meets Greek PM, sees ‘no unsolvable problems’ in ties
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitotakis that there were “no unsolvable problems” between their countries as the leaders met in Ankara. Turkey and Greece have long been at odds over issues including maritime boundaries, energy resources in the eastern Mediterranean, flights over the Aegean Sea, and the division of Cyprus. Since both leaders were re-elected last year, they have started taking high-profile steps to improve ties. “Despite disagreements, we focus on a positive agenda by keeping our dialogue channels open,” Erdogan told a joint news conference with Mitsotakis on Monday. “We showed today that alongside our proven disagreements, we can chart a parallel page of agreements,” Mitsotakis said. “Looking towards the many things that unite us, we wish to intensify our bilateral contacts in the coming period.” Mitsotakis reiterated Greece’s support for Turkey’s EU accession “despite great difficulties … on the condition it integrates to the European acquis.” Hamas disagreement The two leaders also discussed Israel’s war on Gaza. While they agreed that a long-term ceasefire is needed, they appeared to be deeply divided over the status of the Palestinian group Hamas, which governs Gaza. Erdogan said that he was saddened by the Greek position that deems Hamas a “terrorist” organisation. The Turkish president said at the joint news conference that more than 1,000 members of the Palestinian group were being treated in hospitals across Turkey. Erdogan has repeatedly reiterated that Hamas is a “resistance movement”. “Let’s agree to disagree,” Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in response. The group as a whole or in some instances its military wing, the Qassam Brigades, is designated as a “terrorist” organisation by Israel, the United States, the European Union, Canada, Egypt and Japan. On October 7, Hamas fighters led an unprecedented attack on Israel killing at least 1,139 people, mostly civilians, according to an Al Jazeera tally based on Israeli statistics, and seizing about 250 others as captives. Dozens of captives were released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails during a week-long truce between Israel and Hamas in November, but Israel says dozens of others are still being held in Gaza. Israel responded to the Hamas-led attack by launching a devastating war on Gaza that has levelled much of the territory, displaced more than 80 percent of the population and killed more than 35,000 people, mostly women and children, according to Palestinian authorities. Past unpleasantness Ties between Ankara and Athens have long been fraught, with the two countries arriving at the brink of war five times in as many decades. A friendly meeting took place last year when Erdogan visited Greece in an attempt to reset the relationship with positive agreements. But his previous visit to the Greek capital in 2017 was a disaster. He and then-Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos argued over the Lausanne Treaty of 1923, which set the borders between the two countries. Later, Erdogan and then-Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras traded accusations about the division of Cyprus. Erdogan blamed the Greek side for two failed rounds of talks to reunify the island in 2004 and 2017. Cyprus has been divided between Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities after inter-communal clashes in 1964 and a Turkish invasion of the island 10 years later, following a Greek-inspired coup. Things got worse after the 2017 visit. The following year, Turkey proclaimed its Blue Homeland policy, claiming sovereign commercial rights to exploit undersea wealth under 462,000sq km (178,400sq miles) of the east Mediterranean, much of which Greece also claimed under international maritime law. In 2019, Turkey agreed to exploit a swath of the east Mediterranean with Libya, further encroaching on what Greece saw as its own maritime jurisdiction. The European Union denounced the memorandum as “illegal” under international law. Shortly after, Greece unofficially warned Turkey that it would sink any Turkish survey ship attempting to search for undersea oil and gas in what it considered its jurisdiction. Turkey called Greece’s bluff the following January, allowing its ship Oruc Reis to conduct surveys for a week southeast of Rhodes. Greece sent a frigate to observe the Oruc Reis without attacking it, but the following summer, the Oruc Reis returned, and the entire Hellenic Navy deployed across the Aegean within hours in a state of heightened alert. Turkey’s navy did the same. The standoff continued until August, when two frigates from opposing navies collided, and the US called for detente. Hydrocarbons weren’t the only source of friction. Erdogan allowed asylum seekers to storm Greek borders in 2020 and disputed Greece’s sovereignty over its east Aegean Islands in 2021. And Turkey has a standing threat of war against Greece, should attempt to extend its territorial waters in the Aegean to 12 nautical miles, which Greece says is consistent with international law. The turning point in the escalation was provided by two powerful earthquakes that levelled Turkish cities in February 2023, killing tens of thousands. Greece’s was the first overseas search-and-rescue team to arrive, and the two countries’ foreign ministers made a show of friendship by touring the wreckage together. After elections in both countries in May and June, newly mandated foreign ministers met in Ankara in September, paving the way for Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Erdogan to meet on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly two weeks later. Adblock test (Why?)
Dutch faculty join student walkout after police cleared encampment
NewsFeed “We have a centre for genocide studies on this campus… We need our institutions to step up.” Faculty at the University of Amsterdam joined students in a walkout to protest Dutch police forcibly clearing student encampments and echoed their calls for cutting ties with Israeli universities. Published On 13 May 202413 May 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Top US Senator Bob Menendez’s corruption trial begins
Jury selection begins in trial accusing top Democrat of accepting bribes and acting as unregistered foreign agent. Jury selection has begun in the corruption trial of Bob Menendez, a top United States senator who is accused of accepting bribes in exchange for a range of favours and acting as an unregistered agent of the Egyptian government. Menendez, 70, faces 16 criminal charges and is being tried alongside two New Jersey businessmen in Manhattan federal court. Menendez sat with his lawyers on Monday and listened as Judge Sidney H Stein told several dozen prospective jurors about the charges. The judge told them the “sitting US senator from the state of New Jersey” had been charged in a conspiracy in which he allegedly “agreed to accept bribes and accepted bribes”. Menendez’s wife, Nadine, has also been charged but will be tried separately. All four defendants have pleaded not guilty. In September, prosecutors accused Menendez and his wife of accepting cash, gold bars and a Mercedes-Benz convertible in exchange for the senator wielding his political influence in New Jersey and helping the governments of Egypt and Qatar. Authorities said Menendez promised to help Egypt obtain arms sales and other military aid, and helped co-defendant Wael Hana, an Egyptian-American businessman, obtain a lucrative monopoly on the certification of halal meat exports to Egypt. Prosecutors also said Menendez tried to help his other co-defendant, prominent New Jersey developer Fred Daibes, obtain millions of dollars from a Qatari investment fund, and sought to disrupt a federal criminal case against Daibes in New Jersey. Much of the cash received by the couple was stuffed inside clothing at their home, prosecutors said. A few weeks after the initial indictment was unsealed, US authorities in October also charged Menendez – who previously chaired the influential Senate Foreign Affairs Committee – with serving as an unregistered agent of Egypt. Speaking to reporters in late September, Menendez said he was confident he would be exonerated in the case and would continue his political career. “I firmly believe that when all the facts are presented, not only will I be exonerated, but I still will be New Jersey’s senior senator,” he said. He also sought to defend his record on Egypt. “Throughout my 30 years in the House of Representatives and the Senate, I have always worked to hold accountable those countries including Egypt for human rights abuses, the repression of its citizenry, civil society, and more,” he told reporters at the time. Menendez is up for re-election in November and has said he might run as an independent if he is exonerated in the criminal case. But recent polls show he is deeply unpopular among New Jersey voters and many Democratic Party senators, including New Jersey’s Cory Booker, have called for him to resign. Fewer than one in six voters polled in March by Monmouth University and Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill said they approved of Menendez’s job performance. Even fewer said they would vote for him as an independent. This is Menendez’s second criminal trial: In 2017, a New Jersey federal judge declared a mistrial after jurors deadlocked on whether he broke the law by providing help to a wealthy ophthalmologist in exchange for lavish gifts and political contributions. Adblock test (Why?)
Can Pakistan’s Imran Khan and army patch up, a year after violent clashes?
Islamabad, Pakistan – Pakistan Army chief General Asim Munir was blunt. Addressing army officials during his visit to Lahore Garrison on May 9, Munir said, “There can be no compromise or deal with the planners and architects of this dark chapter in our history.” Munir was referring to the events of May 9, 2023, when Pakistan erupted in violence and a subsequent crackdown after former Prime Minister Imran Khan was arrested while appearing before the Islamabad High Court for a hearing into a case of corruption. Thousands of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party workers responded to Khan’s arrest by storming the streets in various cities, demanding his immediate release and going on a rampage in which state buildings and military installations were targeted. Angry supporters in Lahore targeted the residence of a top military commander, torching the building. Another group of protesters raided the gates of the Pakistani military’s headquarters in Rawalpindi. While Khan was released two days later, he was arrested again in August. The police had by that time arrested thousands of PTI workers and party leaders. An already tense relationship between Pakistan’s military and the PTI ruptured, descending into public hostility. Now, a year later, that broken relationship continues to strain a political system that is also struggling to manage an economic crisis striking at the everyday lives of Pakistan’s 240 million people, analysts say. The military, which felt directly challenged — even attacked — on May 9, 2023, remains Pakistan’s most powerful institution. Meanwhile, the PTI, which emerged as Pakistan’s most popular political force in February national elections, even though its talismanic leader was behind bars and despite a crackdown against it, faces questions over its future. “It is no secret that our relationship with military leadership has frazzled and there is significant mistrust on both sides,” Taimur Jhagra, a senior PTI leader and former minister in the provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, told Al Jazeera. “This will have to be resolved because in no country can the largest political force and strongest institution in the state stand against each other.” PTI has maintained that the riots on May 9, 2023, were part of a ‘false flag’ operation against the party [Rahat Dar/EPA] Pakistan’s military — euphemistically known in the country as the “establishment” — has directly ruled the country for more than three decades since independence and has wielded significant influence under civilian governments too. When Khan became Pakistan’s prime minister in August 2018 after winning elections, his rivals claimed that the military facilitated his triumph. Four years later, Khan accused the military of orchestrating his removal from power through a vote of no confidence. The military has rejected both those accusations and the claims that it plays kingmaker in Pakistani politics. In the 12 months after he had to leave office, Khan took out huge rallies and long marches to Islamabad, survived an assassination attempt, delivered speeches daily, and repeatedly accused the military of joining a United States-backed conspiracy to eject him from office. The US too has consistently denied those allegations. But those tensions between Khan and the military exploded in May last year. Within two weeks of the violent May 9 protests, as security agencies cracked down on alleged perpetrators, more than 100 party leaders announced their decision to leave the party in hastily arranged news conferences that often appeared stage-managed. The party, it seemed, was imploding. A former PTI leader who was once considered close to Khan but ended up leaving the party after May 9 said he would often raise concerns within the party about the rising confrontation with the military months before the events that unfolded last year. “I was saying this in our party meetings repeatedly that we might be heading towards a big disaster, as both sides, us and them, are perhaps underestimating each other and heading towards a confrontation,” he told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity. Several party leaders were jailed on charges of plotting the events of May 9, 2023. While the PTI insists that the events were part of a “false flag operation” to malign the party, some analysts believe that the party miscalculated the military’s response to the rioting that day. “They assumed they had the room to challenge the military since Khan was able to get away with saying things publicly that others had been punished for saying, and swiftly. But they were mistaken in attempting to challenge the military’s monopoly over violence,” political scientist Sameen Mohsin, an assistant professor at the University of Birmingham, told Al Jazeera. Asma Faiz, an associate professor of political science at Lahore University of Management Sciences, said the “very smooth relationship” the PTI once enjoyed with the military might have given the party confidence that it could survive the escalating tensions. “PTI still continues to enjoy support among individuals within the military, judiciary and bureaucracy, so there is broad-based societal support also. That I think led to this miscalculation from them but they had their reasons and logic,” she said. Despite having to contest without their symbol ‘bat’, PTI-backed candidates emerged with the highest number of seats in the February 8 elections this year [Bilawal Arbab/EPA] Jhagra, the PTI leader, said the party was clear that anybody guilty of violating the law should be punished. “But you must remember that May 9 [protests and violence] did not happen in isolation. Starting from the vote of no confidence leading to the ouster of government, and the actual arrest of Khan on May 9, questions must be asked if May 9 would have happened if the events of last year hadn’t,” he said. As the party continued to face arrests and legal challenges, Khan, who had already been charged in more than 100 cases, was arrested on August 5 last year in a corruption case related to state gifts since he was premier. He was barred from contesting elections due to his conviction. In December 2023, the party’s symbol, a cricket bat, was taken away by the country’s election
Lithuania’s Nauseda wins first round of presidential election
Incumbent president will now go into a run-off against rival Ingrida Simonyte on May 26, in repeat of 2019. Incumbent Gitanas Nauseda has won the first round of voting in Lithuania’s presidential election, putting him on track for a second and final term in office. With nearly all of the votes counted, former banker Nauseda was on 46 percent, just short of the overall majority needed for a first-round victory. Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte was second with 16 percent and the two will now go head-to-head in a run-off on May 26 in a repeat of the last election in 2019. Eight candidates were on the ballot this time around, with campaigns largely focused on security issues and the threat posed by neighbouring Russia following its February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. All the main candidates agreed the country, once part of the Soviet Union and now a member of NATO and the European Union, should boost defence spending to counter the perceived threat on its borders. Nauseda, 59, said he was confident of victory in the second round and would require “no strategy” to campaign against Simonyte. Both Nauseda and Simonyte support increasing defence spending to at least 3 percent of Lithuania’s gross domestic product (GDP), from the 2.75 percent planned for this year. The increase in spending would pay for the modernisation of Lithuania’s army and infrastructure ahead of the deployment of a brigade of German troops in Lithuania who are expected to be combat-ready from 2027. Some eight candidates were vying for Lithuanians’ vote on Sunday [Petras Malukas/AFP] General election looms While agreeing on Russia policy, the two candidates differ on other issues such as same-sex civil partnerships, a contentious policy in the predominantly Catholic country with a population of 2.8 million people. While Nauseda opposes such partnerships, Simonyte, a 49-year-old fiscal conservative, is supportive. Lithuania’s president has a semi-executive role, which includes heading the armed forces and chairing the supreme defence and national security policy body. The president also represents the country at the EU and NATO summits. In tandem with the government, the president sets foreign and security policy, can veto laws and has a say in the appointment of key officials such as judges, the chief prosecutor, the chief of defence and head of the central bank. In 2019, Simonyte narrowly defeated Nauseda in the first round of the presidential election before Nauseda went on to win the run-off with 66 percent of the vote. Simonyte is also facing a tough test in a general election this October, as her coalition of centre-right parties trails in the polls. Nauseda posed for cameras on election night surrounded by the leadership of the Social Democrats, the likely main challengers for Simonyte at the general election. “I think it will be easy for us to find common ground,” he said about the possibility of the Social Democrats winning. Adblock test (Why?)
NBA playoffs: Nuggets edge Timberwolves, Pacers thrash Knicks in game 4
Defending champs Denver bounced back to level series 2-2 with a 115-107 win over Minnesota, while Indiana beat NY Knicks 121-89 in game four. Nikola Jokic finished with 35 points, seven rebounds and seven assists as the Denver Nuggets held on for a 115-107 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves in game four of the NBA playoff Western Conference semifinal series in Minneapolis. Defending champions Nuggets outgunned the Timberwolves on Sunday as the Indiana Pacers pulled even with the New York Knicks. The Nuggets, fuelled by 35 points from NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic, Aaron Gordon’s 27 points on ruthlessly efficient 11-of-12 shooting and 19 points from Jamal Murray, claimed a second straight win in Minneapolis to knot their best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series at two games apiece. The Pacers dismantled the Knicks 121-89 in Indianapolis to level their Eastern Conference semifinal at 2-2. “Now it’s best of three,” Jokic said, adding that the Timberwolves’s stunning victories in games one and two in Denver had only strengthened the defending champions. “We took a hit and we bounced back and hopefully, we can defend the home court now,” said Jokic, looking forward to game five in Denver on Tuesday. 🏆 SUNDAY’S FINAL SCORES 🏆 Tyrese Haliburton and the @Pacers brought the energy from the jump as they get the win and tie up the series! T.J. McConnell: 15 PTS, 10 ASTPascal Siakam: 14 PTS (7-9 FGM)Myles Turner: 13 PTS (5-5 FGM), 3 BLK Game 5: Tuesday, 8:00pm/et on TNT pic.twitter.com/hEzE18boBJ — NBA (@NBA) May 12, 2024 Pacers double down on sorry Knicks In Indianapolis, the Pacers finally got their high-octane offence firing. After the first two games of the series came down to the final minutes the Pacers fashioned a blow-out as a raft of injuries at last caught up with the weary Knicks. Tyrese Haliburton scored 20 points and the Pacers connected on 56.8 percent of their shots, drilling 14 three-pointers and dominating in the paint. TJ McConnell scored 15 points off the bench for Indiana, who had six players score in double figures. After a dunk by the Knicks centre Isaiah Hartenstein to open the game, the first quarter was all Pacers, Indiana pushing their lead to as many as 23 points. Knicks talisman Jalen Brunson was 0-for-5 in the opening quarter and the Pacers bench out-scored the Knicks reserves 17-0 in the period. The domination continued in the second quarter, Haliburton sending the crowd into a frenzy with a three-pointer over Donte DiVincenzo that put the Pacers up by 30 with 5.9 seconds left in the first half. They would lead by as many as 43 before it was over, but despite the rapturous ovation from fans at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Haliburton said the Pacers must remain focused on the task ahead. “We did our job,” Haliburton said. “They did their job and won two at home, we did our job and won two at home. “We understand the magnitude of game five and we’ll be prepared for that one.” The Knicks were again without OG Anunoby, who injured a hamstring in game two to join key contributors Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson and Bojan Bogdanovic on the sidelines. The strain was telling on Brunson, who is playing through a right foot injury. He connected on six of 17 attempts to score 18 points with three rebounds and five assists before checking out with two and a half minutes left in the third quarter. With the contest out of hand and game five coming up at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday, both coaches pulled their starters for the fourth quarter. New York coach Tom Thibodeau would not point to injuries to explain the Knicks’s struggles – including a seven-for-37 performance from three-point range. “Everyone’s got something – it’s the playoffs,” Thibodeau said. “Whether you lose by one or lose by 30, it’s a loss. You’ve got to respond.” Indiana Pacers’s Ben Sheppard rebounds the ball over New York Knicks’s Shake Milton [Trevor Ruszkowski/USA Today Sports via Reuters] Adblock test (Why?)
Week in pictures: From Brazil floods to spectacular northern lights
[unable to retrieve full-text content] A look at of some of last week’s events.
How the US State Department shields Israel from sanctions
Inside the labyrinth of the State Department’s mechanisms that allow the flow of weapons to Israel, despite violations. Over the years, the United States government has been creating special mechanisms to shield Israel from sanctions designed to punish countries for human rights abuses. President Joe Biden has paused a weapons shipment to Israel and acknowledged that US weapons have been used by Israel to kill Palestinian civilians, but the US Department of State refused to declare if Israel had broken US or international laws in its war on Gaza. Host Steve Clemons asks Guardian US investigative reporter Stephanie Kirchgaessner and Georgetown University human rights law expert Stephen Rickard about the structures in place that ultimately allow Israel to evade accountability. Adblock test (Why?)
At least 6 killed in Belgorod building collapse, Russia says
Russian regional governor accuses Ukraine of shelling residential building in Belgorod city, near the border with Ukraine. At least six people have been killed and 20 others injured after a building collapsed in the Russian border city of Belgorod, according to Russian officials. A video released by the Russian Ministry of Civil Defence, Emergencies and Disaster Relief on Sunday showed firefighters and rescuers working on a huge pile of rubble. The ministry said that six bodies had been recovered from the rubble. “The number of injured, according to the latest data, is 20 people,” emergency services were quoted as saying by the Russian state news agency TASS. Earlier, the Emergencies Ministry said that 12 people, including two children, were rescued from the site. Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov posted a video to Telegram showing a collapsed building with a large hole in it. “Following direct shell fire on a residential building… the entire entrance, from the tenth to the ground floor, collapsed,” Gladkov said, condemning “massive bombings” by the Ukrainian army. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine’s military. One resident told the Russian news agency RIA Novosti she was in a building corridor and her husband was in a bedroom when the explosion hit. “He did not have the time [to escape],” she said, adding that her husband had been injured in the head and face. Air raid alerts continued across Belgorod as rescuers worked, looking for victims in the rubble. The Russian Ministry of Defence later wrote on social media that the building had been damaged by fragments of a downed Tochka-U TRC missile. It also said that air defences had shot down several more rockets over the Belgorod region, as well as two drones that were destroyed in a separate incident. The Belgorod region, on Russia’s western border, has been the target of a large number of strikes. Although most cross-border shelling is seen in rural areas, attacks have also been seen on the Belgorod region’s capital, Belgorod city, which came under fire on Saturday evening, killing one person and injuring 29 more, Governor Gladkov said on social media. In December 2023, shelling in the heart of the city killed 25 people, prompting authorities to start erecting public shelters. Cities across western Russia have come under regular attack from drones since May 2023, with Russian officials blaming Kyiv. Ukrainian officials have not acknowledged responsibility for attacks on Russian territory or on the Crimean Peninsula. Adblock test (Why?)
Guardians of the glaciers – life alongside Pakistan’s vanishing ice
Skardu, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan – As we make our way towards Pakistan’s first organic village, an intense one-hour trek along the rugged, steep and unfenced mountainside pathway from Mindoq-Khar, near Kharpocho Fort, my legs are shaking with a mix of fear and strain. The sharp mountain edges stick out threateningly, and I am reminded of the soulful lyrics of Ali Zafar’s Paharon Ki Qasam (Oaths of the Mountains), a tribute to the late Pakistani climbing hero, Muhammad Ali Sadpara from Skardu, who tragically lost his life in February 2021 while climbing the notorious Bottleneck gully which is just 300 metres (984 feet) below the summit of K2. Above us, the sky is a brilliant shade of blue, adding to the surreal beauty of the landscape. As we gain a wider view of the Indus River Valley below us, our 44-year-old guide, Abbas Jaan, stops and draws our attention to the colour of the water. “You can see the water turning a murky grey, carrying with it the particles from the retreating glaciers,” he says, his eyes scanning the slow-flowing waves of this vital drinking water supply. “And even though it’s grey,” he adds, “the glacial water is mineral-rich and incredibly pure.” “But, year by year, these glaciers are melting fast. They are decreasing,” he says, pointing towards the thousands of smaller glacier peaks that surround us in the far distance; some mountains are snow-covered while others are dry and brown. The city of Skardu, from where we have departed, sits some 2,228 metres (7,310 feet) above sea level. It is the gateway to the Karakoram mountain range and some of the world’s highest peaks such as K2, Broad Peak and Gasherbrum, making it a popular destination for trekkers and mountaineers who come to marvel at the breathtaking scenery. Following the rugged, fenceless path to the organic village, Khari Nangsoq [Anam Hussain/Al Jazeera] With a population of more than 200,000, the city boasts a rich cultural blend influenced by Tibetan, Balti and other Central Asian traditions, where diverse Islamic sects, including Noor Bakshi, Sunni and Shia, coexist. But this region of Pakistan is also home to more than 7,000 glaciers – the largest number outside the earth’s polar regions. These icy giants are far more than just a breathtaking natural spectacle; they are vital to the local ecosystem. They serve as a crucial source of freshwater, sustaining agriculture and powering electricity generation through the meltwater that feeds into rivers. Now, however, their existence is under threat. A 2019 study (PDF) published in the Pakistan Geographical Review by Lahore College for Women University, highlights the increasingly unusual behaviour of glaciers in the Karakoram range, compared with glaciers in other parts of the world. The Baltoro Glacier is a particular example. Spanning some 63km (39 miles) in length, the Baltoro is one of the longest glaciers in the world outside the polar regions. Its width varies, but generally ranges from two to three kilometres. The meltwater from the Baltoro Glaciers feeds the Shigar River, which is the main right-bank tributary of the Indus River Valley in the Skardu Valley. It is an essential source of freshwater for this region and beyond, but the study showed that the glacier has been decreasing in size by 0.9 percent each year between 2003 and 2017. The immediate effect of the shrinking glacier is a rise in water levels and even dangerous flooding in the Shigar River. The position of the Baltoro and Sachien glaciers in Pakistan (AJ Labs) Locally, roads have been known to have become completely submerged when water levels rise too high, says Chris Lininger, founder and director of US-based travel company Epic Expeditions, who has been travelling across Pakistan’s intricate terrains, including the Baltoro Glacier, since 2018. “I actually had a problem coming out of a trip when the floods happened in 2022 because the road was just gone,” he says over a Zoom call. “Many [locals] are already in a low socioeconomic state, and when this happens, it’s catastrophic for them.” But the extreme long-term effect will be even more deadly – the water will eventually dry up when the glacier is gone. Adblock test (Why?)