![BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountLiveNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityHealthThe man in the iron lung: How Paul Alexander lived life to the fullPublished9 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Philip AlexanderImage caption, Philip Alexander with his brother Paul, in his iron lung machineBy Catherine SnowdonBBC NewsPaul Alexander was six years old when he woke, terrified, to find himself inside a large metal tube, with only his head sticking out.He couldn’t move to feel what was trapping him, and when he tried to call for help, he discovered he couldn’t make a sound.Paul had survived a serious bout of polio, but had been left quadriplegic. After an emergency tracheostomy operation, he was unable to breathe without the iron lung machine that now encased his small body.When he died recently at the age of 78, Paul had spent more than seven decades using his iron lung, longer than anyone else in history. Image source, GoFundMeBut what was it that marked him out from so many of his peers, and kept him going?Polio ran riot in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, killing and maiming scores of children.What is polio and how does it spread?In hospital in Texas in 1952, Paul was surrounded by other children in similar predicaments. According to the World Health Organization, one in 200 polio infections leads to irreversible paralysis. Among those paralysed, 5-10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilised.Uncertain futureAfter two years in hospital, doctors began to cast doubt on Paul’s future.That led his parents to make the brave decision to take him and his iron lung home, to live out his days in peace. But instead of dying, Paul went from strength to strength, once he was home in his parents’ care.The iron lung uses a negative pressure system. Powered by a motor, its bellows suck air out of the cylinder, creating a vacuum around the patient’s body and forcing the lungs to expand and take in air. When the air is let back in, the same process in reverse makes the lungs deflate. The device needs a source of energy to function.During power cuts, the bellows had to be pumped by hand; neighbours would come to help with the job. Paul’s father designed an alarm bell that Paul could ring using his mouth if he needed urgent attention. Over time Paul learnt to consciously breathe by gulping down air, using his throat muscles to force air into his lungs. He called it frog-breathing.His younger brother, Philip, explained to the BBC that the promise of a puppy gave Paul the incentive to be brave, and attempt to spend time out of his iron lung to learn the complicated glossopharyngeal breathing technique, the medical term for frog-breathing.”He was scared of course of choking to death,” says Philip. “They told him if you last three minutes, you’ll get the dog that you want.” And he did.Image source, Rotary Club of Park Cities DallasImage caption, Paul with friend Kathy Gaines shortly after delivering a speech at an eventAs his confidence and strength grew, he was able to spend increasingly longer periods out of the iron lung. This allowed him to begin to experience a bit more of life. He was allowed to venture into the neighbourhood in his wheelchair with childhood friends, returning to the iron lung when he was tired.”He was just a normal brother to me. We fought, we played, we loved, we partied, we went to concerts together – he was just a normal brother,” says Philip.Paul finished school at home and went on to earn a college degree before setting his sights on law school.Image source, University of TexasImage caption, Fellow-students helped care for Paul while he studied lawPhilip recalls Paul’s time at the University of Texas in Austin as being “incredible”. His parents helped Paul move in with his iron lung, and then he was on his own – with limited help at first, after the carer he had hired failed to show up.”He didn’t really have any caregivers. He was in the dorm and different people just took care of him accidentally. They pushed him around campus [in his wheelchair],” says Philip.Paul went on to practise law in downtown Dallas. He had to deal with the surprise of clients on entering his office and seeing him in his iron lung.”It’s not an easy thing to see, just a head sticking out,” says Philip. “People immediately go into shock. I saw that happen a lot.”Paul lived alone for much of his adult life, no mean feat for someone unable to take care of his basic human needs like using the toilet or getting a drink on his own.This video can not be playedTo play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.Media caption, Watch: Philip Alexander remembers his brother, ‘the man in the iron lung’Philip says he became the master of his own domain, helping people to help him.”He needed a unique type of care. Not even professionals are trained to take care of a quadriplegic in an iron lung,” says Philip of the huge responsibility that came with supporting his brother.”Most of the care was basic – shaving and feeding for example. But to move him you needed to be careful not to jam his finger and so on.” There was no instruction manual for those who answered Paul’s adverts for caregivers. “They learned as they went,” says Philip. “And many left after a day or two. I remember going around once and asking a couple of assisted living centres if they could care for him, and the looks on their faces were priceless.”Paul had one carer who was in his life for decades. When Kathy Gaines died, her passing left Paul bereft.Philip says he always saw himself as the back-up carer for his brother, but he admired the support system Paul built: “He had a lot of wonderful friends, some really beautiful people in his life.”Help neededOne of those people came into Paul’s life in a moment of dire need.In 2015, his iron lung began to leak. As the machines were by now extremely rare, it was a race against time to find someone able to carry out the vital repair job to make it airtight once more.After a plea was posted on social media, responses came in from around the world. But the solution turned out to be much closer to home.Ten miles down the road from Paul’s apartment in Dallas, was the mechanical durability business Environmental Testing Laboratory, owned by Brady Richards.Mr Richards had come into possession of two iron lung machines at a building clearance and he recalls how one day a paramedic walked in asking: “Is this the place I can find iron lungs?”The medic had been transporting Paul to and from hospital, as carers fought to keep him alive in the failing iron lung. As the situation became more desperate, word of mouth had brought her to Mr Richards.Image source, Brady RichardsImage caption, Brady Richards at his warehouse with one of Paul’s iron lung machines”I did not have any idea about Paul Alexander at that time,” says Mr Richards. On learning about the emergency, he immediately set about rebuilding one of the broken machines he had in his warehouse. He built some parts from scratch and scavenged others from other devices, learning as he went along: “Iron lungs are very robust machines. They are built to last. “It’s a simple machine so I managed to work it out. You can increase and decrease the breathing rate and the pressure. Paul always liked the settings up high.”Once the refurbished machine was ready, Mr Richards swapped it for the damaged one at Paul’s apartment. He wouldn’t accept any money for his work.But that wasn’t the end of the story. Later that night Mr Richards received a call from Paul’s carer to say the machine wasn’t working.Mr Richards returned to Paul’s apartment and quickly realised the neck collar wasn’t on properly and had come loose.”Paul was saying ‘I’m fine, I’m OK’ as we worked to correct the problem,” recalls Mr Richards. “The truth was, he was turning blue.”In moments of desperation like these, Paul had access to more portable breathing devices, which used a different sort of technology to the iron lung.”Positive pressure respirators can make the patient feel like they have their head stuck out of the car window. Not everyone likes that sensation” explains Dr Patrick Murphy, the clinical lead consultant at the Lane Fox respiratory unit at St Thomas’ Hospital, in London.Paul never moved full-time to these mask-based devices. Another polio survivor, living in York, in northern England, did make the switch.Image source, James PorteousImage caption, James Porteous receiving his MBEJames Porteous, 78, was infected with polio in the same year as Paul. He was initially placed in an iron lung. He recovered to a point where he could live his life without significant breathing support, but as is often the case for polio survivors, as he aged he began to need more help. He now uses a respirator mask for about 17 hours a day: “I don’t remember much about being in the iron lung. I was also placed in a head-to-toe plaster cast initially as the thought was that this would prevent my limbs from becoming deformed,” says Mr Porteous, who is the regional president of the British Polio Fellowship. Mr Porteous had a long career, first in stockbroking and then in various senior roles for Rowntree’s, which became part of Nestlé. He married and has four daughters. He travelled the world and in 2001 he was awarded an MBE for services to the community.Image source, James PorteousImage caption, James Porteous in his specially adapted company car”I could have sat all my life with a rug over my knees, but I decided to just get on with it. I’m tired these days and I don’t get out much any more, but life is good. I have a nice family and good friends. One thing I’d still like to see achieved in my lifetime is the complete eradication of polio around the world,” he says.Ending polio globally was also Paul’s ambition. He wrote about it in his 2020 memoir, which he typed himself, using a pencil attached to a stick gripped in his mouth to reach the computer keyboard.Philip says it was after the book was published that he fully realised what an inspiration his brother was to people around the world: “His personality had a lot to do with how much he was admired. He had that great big smile and he was such a welcoming, warm person. He made people comfortable.”Brady Richards remained involved in Paul’s life over the years. He helped Paul move apartments when needed, and serviced the iron lung regularly: “It was always a pleasure to be around Paul – he had a very upbeat and positive attitude.” Image source, NHSImage caption, Dr Murphy says Paul’s parents and other carers were braveDr Murphy is full of admiration for the people who cared for Paul.”His parents took their son home in a machine that was at the time relatively high-end technology. He also had a tracheostomy, which calls for special care. They will have needed to be engineers, nurses and doctors. “If you speak to lots of trained doctors or nurses they won’t be confident in managing a patient with complex respiratory failure, and yet patients like Paul and their families do it at home on their own. The bravery cannot be underestimated,” says Dr Murphy.World recordLast year Paul was recognised by Guinness World Records as the person who had lived the longest in an iron lung.Philip’s admiration for his brother runs deep: “I saw him go through a lot of struggles in his life. I’m going to miss him. I called him when I needed to talk to someone about any kind of problem I had.”He says that while the rest of the world might be amazed by how long his brother survived in his iron lung, his parents would not have been: “They believed in him. They gave him so much strength and love. They wouldn’t have been shocked.” Related TopicsHealthChild healthMore on this story’Man in the iron lung’ Paul Alexander dies at 78Published13 MarchSuper-engineered vaccines created to help end polioPublished14 June 2023What is polio and how can you protect yourself?Published10 August 2022Top StoriesLive. Hunt: We’ll keep ‘triple lock’ on pension increases if we win electionWilliam and Kate ‘enormously touched’ by public supportPublished2 hours agoRussia marks day of mourning after concert attackPublished1 hour agoFeaturesThe Papers: Kate ‘reassures nation’ and ‘murderous’ Moscow attackThe Brazilian teen who scored winner against EnglandAttributionSportBBC Verify examines how the Moscow attack unfolded. VideoBBC Verify examines how the Moscow attack unfoldedBullets, a crush and panic: Moscow concert that became a massacreKate cancer diagnosis rewrites story of past weeks‘Having a certificate of loss proves my baby existed’Your pictures on the theme of ‘reflections’England kits ‘should connect people’From the desert to the icy waters of WalesElsewhere on the BBCWhy do people behave the way they do on social media?Marianna Spring investigates extraordinary cases of online hate to find out…AttributioniPlayerCritically acclaimed and utterly compelling…Masterful, claustrophobic drama starring Sofie Gråbøl as a troubled prison guardAttributioniPlayerFrom triumph to tragedy…After more than 30 years of service, America’s space shuttle took to the skies for the last timeAttributioniPlayerCan new evidence solve aviation’s greatest mystery?Ten years after the Malaysian Airlines flight disappeared, new technology may explain whyAttributioniPlayerMost Read1The man in the iron lung: How Paul Alexander lived life to the full2Pilgrimage helped Traitors star Amanda say ‘goodbye mum’3Missiles and drones pound Ukraine’s capital4Newspaper headlines: Kate ‘reassures nation’ and ‘murderous’ Moscow attack5William and Kate ‘touched’ by public support6How jealous K-pop super fans try to dictate their idols’ private lives7Russia marks day of mourning after concert attack8Sainz wins in Australia after Verstappen retiresAttributionSport9Abductors release more than 280 Nigerian pupils10’A brutal and timely reminder of England’s problems’AttributionSport](https://newsinsightplus.com/wp-content/uploads/https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/branded_news/5D20/production/_132904832_69219225_1667960617285420_r.jpg)
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BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountLiveNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityHealthThe man in the iron lung: How Paul Alexander lived life to the fullPublished9 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Philip AlexanderImage caption, Philip Alexander with his brother Paul, in his iron lung machineBy Catherine SnowdonBBC NewsPaul Alexander was six years old when he woke, terrified, to find himself inside a large metal tube, with only his head sticking out.He couldn’t move to feel what was trapping him, and when he tried to call for help, he discovered he couldn’t make a sound.Paul had survived a serious bout of polio, but had been left quadriplegic. After an emergency tracheostomy operation, he was unable to breathe without the iron lung machine that now encased his small body.When he died recently at the age of 78, Paul had spent more than seven decades using his iron lung, longer than anyone else in history. Image source, GoFundMeBut what was it that marked him out from so many of his peers, and kept him going?Polio ran riot in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, killing and maiming scores of children.What is polio and how does it spread?In hospital in Texas in 1952, Paul was surrounded by other children in similar predicaments. According to the World Health Organization, one in 200 polio infections leads to irreversible paralysis. Among those paralysed, 5-10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilised.Uncertain futureAfter two years in hospital, doctors began to cast doubt on Paul’s future.That led his parents to make the brave decision to take him and his iron lung home, to live out his days in peace. But instead of dying, Paul went from strength to strength, once he was home in his parents’ care.The iron lung uses a negative pressure system. Powered by a motor, its bellows suck air out of the cylinder, creating a vacuum around the patient’s body and forcing the lungs to expand and take in air. When the air is let back in, the same process in reverse makes the lungs deflate. The device needs a source of energy to function.During power cuts, the bellows had to be pumped by hand; neighbours would come to help with the job. Paul’s father designed an alarm bell that Paul could ring using his mouth if he needed urgent attention. Over time Paul learnt to consciously breathe by gulping down air, using his throat muscles to force air into his lungs. He called it frog-breathing.His younger brother, Philip, explained to the BBC that the promise of a puppy gave Paul the incentive to be brave, and attempt to spend time out of his iron lung to learn the complicated glossopharyngeal breathing technique, the medical term for frog-breathing.”He was scared of course of choking to death,” says Philip. “They told him if you last three minutes, you’ll get the dog that you want.” And he did.Image source, Rotary Club of Park Cities DallasImage caption, Paul with friend Kathy Gaines shortly after delivering a speech at an eventAs his confidence and strength grew, he was able to spend increasingly longer periods out of the iron lung. This allowed him to begin to experience a bit more of life. He was allowed to venture into the neighbourhood in his wheelchair with childhood friends, returning to the iron lung when he was tired.”He was just a normal brother to me. We fought, we played, we loved, we partied, we went to concerts together – he was just a normal brother,” says Philip.Paul finished school at home and went on to earn a college degree before setting his sights on law school.Image source, University of TexasImage caption, Fellow-students helped care for Paul while he studied lawPhilip recalls Paul’s time at the University of Texas in Austin as being “incredible”. His parents helped Paul move in with his iron lung, and then he was on his own – with limited help at first, after the carer he had hired failed to show up.”He didn’t really have any caregivers. He was in the dorm and different people just took care of him accidentally. They pushed him around campus [in his wheelchair],” says Philip.Paul went on to practise law in downtown Dallas. He had to deal with the surprise of clients on entering his office and seeing him in his iron lung.”It’s not an easy thing to see, just a head sticking out,” says Philip. “People immediately go into shock. I saw that happen a lot.”Paul lived alone for much of his adult life, no mean feat for someone unable to take care of his basic human needs like using the toilet or getting a drink on his own.This video can not be playedTo play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.Media caption, Watch: Philip Alexander remembers his brother, ‘the man in the iron lung’Philip says he became the master of his own domain, helping people to help him.”He needed a unique type of care. Not even professionals are trained to take care of a quadriplegic in an iron lung,” says Philip of the huge responsibility that came with supporting his brother.”Most of the care was basic – shaving and feeding for example. But to move him you needed to be careful not to jam his finger and so on.” There was no instruction manual for those who answered Paul’s adverts for caregivers. “They learned as they went,” says Philip. “And many left after a day or two. I remember going around once and asking a couple of assisted living centres if they could care for him, and the looks on their faces were priceless.”Paul had one carer who was in his life for decades. When Kathy Gaines died, her passing left Paul bereft.Philip says he always saw himself as the back-up carer for his brother, but he admired the support system Paul built: “He had a lot of wonderful friends, some really beautiful people in his life.”Help neededOne of those people came into Paul’s life in a moment of dire need.In 2015, his iron lung began to leak. As the machines were by now extremely rare, it was a race against time to find someone able to carry out the vital repair job to make it airtight once more.After a plea was posted on social media, responses came in from around the world. But the solution turned out to be much closer to home.Ten miles down the road from Paul’s apartment in Dallas, was the mechanical durability business Environmental Testing Laboratory, owned by Brady Richards.Mr Richards had come into possession of two iron lung machines at a building clearance and he recalls how one day a paramedic walked in asking: “Is this the place I can find iron lungs?”The medic had been transporting Paul to and from hospital, as carers fought to keep him alive in the failing iron lung. As the situation became more desperate, word of mouth had brought her to Mr Richards.Image source, Brady RichardsImage caption, Brady Richards at his warehouse with one of Paul’s iron lung machines”I did not have any idea about Paul Alexander at that time,” says Mr Richards. On learning about the emergency, he immediately set about rebuilding one of the broken machines he had in his warehouse. He built some parts from scratch and scavenged others from other devices, learning as he went along: “Iron lungs are very robust machines. They are built to last. “It’s a simple machine so I managed to work it out. You can increase and decrease the breathing rate and the pressure. Paul always liked the settings up high.”Once the refurbished machine was ready, Mr Richards swapped it for the damaged one at Paul’s apartment. He wouldn’t accept any money for his work.But that wasn’t the end of the story. Later that night Mr Richards received a call from Paul’s carer to say the machine wasn’t working.Mr Richards returned to Paul’s apartment and quickly realised the neck collar wasn’t on properly and had come loose.”Paul was saying ‘I’m fine, I’m OK’ as we worked to correct the problem,” recalls Mr Richards. “The truth was, he was turning blue.”In moments of desperation like these, Paul had access to more portable breathing devices, which used a different sort of technology to the iron lung.”Positive pressure respirators can make the patient feel like they have their head stuck out of the car window. Not everyone likes that sensation” explains Dr Patrick Murphy, the clinical lead consultant at the Lane Fox respiratory unit at St Thomas’ Hospital, in London.Paul never moved full-time to these mask-based devices. Another polio survivor, living in York, in northern England, did make the switch.Image source, James PorteousImage caption, James Porteous receiving his MBEJames Porteous, 78, was infected with polio in the same year as Paul. He was initially placed in an iron lung. He recovered to a point where he could live his life without significant breathing support, but as is often the case for polio survivors, as he aged he began to need more help. He now uses a respirator mask for about 17 hours a day: “I don’t remember much about being in the iron lung. I was also placed in a head-to-toe plaster cast initially as the thought was that this would prevent my limbs from becoming deformed,” says Mr Porteous, who is the regional president of the British Polio Fellowship. Mr Porteous had a long career, first in stockbroking and then in various senior roles for Rowntree’s, which became part of Nestlé. He married and has four daughters. He travelled the world and in 2001 he was awarded an MBE for services to the community.Image source, James PorteousImage caption, James Porteous in his specially adapted company car”I could have sat all my life with a rug over my knees, but I decided to just get on with it. I’m tired these days and I don’t get out much any more, but life is good. I have a nice family and good friends. One thing I’d still like to see achieved in my lifetime is the complete eradication of polio around the world,” he says.Ending polio globally was also Paul’s ambition. He wrote about it in his 2020 memoir, which he typed himself, using a pencil attached to a stick gripped in his mouth to reach the computer keyboard.Philip says it was after the book was published that he fully realised what an inspiration his brother was to people around the world: “His personality had a lot to do with how much he was admired. He had that great big smile and he was such a welcoming, warm person. He made people comfortable.”Brady Richards remained involved in Paul’s life over the years. He helped Paul move apartments when needed, and serviced the iron lung regularly: “It was always a pleasure to be around Paul – he had a very upbeat and positive attitude.” Image source, NHSImage caption, Dr Murphy says Paul’s parents and other carers were braveDr Murphy is full of admiration for the people who cared for Paul.”His parents took their son home in a machine that was at the time relatively high-end technology. He also had a tracheostomy, which calls for special care. They will have needed to be engineers, nurses and doctors. “If you speak to lots of trained doctors or nurses they won’t be confident in managing a patient with complex respiratory failure, and yet patients like Paul and their families do it at home on their own. The bravery cannot be underestimated,” says Dr Murphy.World recordLast year Paul was recognised by Guinness World Records as the person who had lived the longest in an iron lung.Philip’s admiration for his brother runs deep: “I saw him go through a lot of struggles in his life. I’m going to miss him. I called him when I needed to talk to someone about any kind of problem I had.”He says that while the rest of the world might be amazed by how long his brother survived in his iron lung, his parents would not have been: “They believed in him. They gave him so much strength and love. They wouldn’t have been shocked.” Related TopicsHealthChild healthMore on this story’Man in the iron lung’ Paul Alexander dies at 78Published13 MarchSuper-engineered vaccines created to help end polioPublished14 June 2023What is polio and how can you protect yourself?Published10 August 2022Top StoriesLive. Hunt: We’ll keep ‘triple lock’ on pension increases if we win electionWilliam and Kate ‘enormously touched’ by public supportPublished2 hours agoRussia marks day of mourning after concert attackPublished1 hour agoFeaturesThe Papers: Kate ‘reassures nation’ and ‘murderous’ Moscow attackThe Brazilian teen who scored winner against EnglandAttributionSportBBC Verify examines how the Moscow attack unfolded. VideoBBC Verify examines how the Moscow attack unfoldedBullets, a crush and panic: Moscow concert that became a massacreKate cancer diagnosis rewrites story of past weeks‘Having a certificate of loss proves my baby existed’Your pictures on the theme of ‘reflections’England kits ‘should connect people’From the desert to the icy waters of WalesElsewhere on the BBCWhy do people behave the way they do on social media?Marianna Spring investigates extraordinary cases of online hate to find out…AttributioniPlayerCritically acclaimed and utterly compelling…Masterful, claustrophobic drama starring Sofie Gråbøl as a troubled prison guardAttributioniPlayerFrom triumph to tragedy…After more than 30 years of service, America’s space shuttle took to the skies for the last timeAttributioniPlayerCan new evidence solve aviation’s greatest mystery?Ten years after the Malaysian Airlines flight disappeared, new technology may explain whyAttributioniPlayerMost Read1The man in the iron lung: How Paul Alexander lived life to the full2Pilgrimage helped Traitors star Amanda say ‘goodbye mum’3Missiles and drones pound Ukraine’s capital4Newspaper headlines: Kate ‘reassures nation’ and ‘murderous’ Moscow attack5William and Kate ‘touched’ by public support6How jealous K-pop super fans try to dictate their idols’ private lives7Russia marks day of mourning after concert attack8Sainz wins in Australia after Verstappen retiresAttributionSport9Abductors release more than 280 Nigerian pupils10’A brutal and timely reminder of England’s problems’AttributionSport
[ad_1] The iron lung uses a negative pressure system. Powered by a motor, its bellows suck air out of the cylinder, creating a vacuum around the patient’s body and forcing…
![BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountLiveNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityAsiaChinaIndiaK-pop: How jealous ‘super fans’ try to dictate their idols’ private livesPublished6 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Karina (second from left) is the frontwoman of K-pop girl group aespaBy Jake Kwon & Kelly Ngin Seoul and SingaporeWhen K-pop star Karina posted a handwritten apology on Instagram earlier in March, it was both contrite and profuse.”I sincerely apologise for surprising my fans who have supported me,” the frontwoman of the girl group aespa wrote.Her offence? Publicly acknowledging that she was in a relationship with actor Lee Jae-wook. That Karina felt compelled to say sorry for being in a relationship has puzzled many outside the K-pop scene, but it opens a window into the world of the industry’s “super fans”. They stream their favourite stars’ music round the clock – even if on mute while sleeping – to boost chart rankings, organise mass voting sessions during award seasons, and sometimes even sponsor digital billboard ads in places like Times Square, New York. Paying the price of loveWhen news of Karina’s relationship broke, some fans drove a truck to her management agency.”We supported Karina’s bright future, believing in a shared dream, but it was our misconception,” blared an electronic billboard on the vehicle.”Is the love given to you by your fans not enough?” another read. Blackpink’s Jisoo is dating. The K-pop world is stunnedThe dark side of Asia’s pop music industryThis stands in contrast to how celebrities’ romantic lives are often publicised, and sometimes celebrated, in other parts of the world.Take Taylor Swift, for example, whose attendance at last month’s Super Bowl to watch her boyfriend Travis Kelce is said to have singlehandedly boosted TV viewership of the game, making it the most-watched broadcast in the US since the 1969 Moon landing.Polls say one in five Super Bowl viewers were rooting for the Kansas City Chiefs – which eventually won the annual league – because of the pop star’s relationship with Kelce.So why are the attitudes different in K-pop?’A false intimacy'”The fans feel jilted,” said Korean media columnist Jeong Deok-hyeon, adding that K-pop fans often view themselves as being in parasocial relationships with the idols. These refer to one-sided relationships where one party expends an overt amount of time, emotional energy and money on another whom they are fascinated with, but who may not know they exist.”As the industry increasingly encourages fans to express their fandom through consumerism, their desire to be ‘compensated’ [for their investments] grows. This contributed to fans making demands which sometimes border on threats,” Mr Jeong told the BBC.Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, K-pop star Karina has apologised to her fans after news of her dating actor Lee Jae-wook went publicSome believe the artistes themselves and their management agencies have facilitated a “false intimacy” between idols and fans. Even as recently as 10 years ago, it was common practice for K-pop agencies to ban new stars from dating or even have a personal mobile phone.Agencies have also begun creating social apps for their artists which appear to offer fans a glimpse of their idols’ everyday lives. SM, the K-pop-producing powerhouse behind groups like aespa, introduced an app in 2020 designed to look like a one-on-one messenger app, but is in fact a group chat where the idol drops messages for thousands of fans at once.Some stars have also bought gifts for fans or offered them one-on-one calls.”K-pop agencies have been telling fans that they have the power to create stars,” said Areum Jeong, who lectures on Korean culture at Arizona State University.Cedarbough Saeji from Pusan National University called the Karina incident “a classic case of the fans trying to ‘discipline’ the stars”. “They were angry about the dating, and then they got angry that she apologised in the ‘wrong way’,” said Saeji, an assistant professor in Korean and East Asian Studies, referring to how some fans felt Karina should have posted her apology in a fans-only forum – rather than on a public platform.”In 2024, privacy for K-pop stars, who live in this tiny country and are so widely recognized, is virtually impossible,” she said.Ms Jeong, who considers herself a dedicated K-pop fan, also takes part in “fan labour” by streaming the music of her favourite boyband NCT 127 and paying to vote for them on music platforms and award shows. There are a dozen different digital music platforms for K-pop, each with its own Top 100 chart based on the number of people streaming and downloading songs. Super fans divide and conquer by organising themselves into teams to navigate the rules for each platform. “Fans put in labour to ensure the group’s success. They consider the idol a product. And if you want to see the product on the stage for a long time, the artistes, the fans, and the management will all have to put in hard work,” Ms Jeong said. Some even share voting schedules and streaming guides with “regular fans”, she added, so they can contribute to propelling their idols to the top of the charts.The BBC browsed a “streaming guide” written up by fans of the boyband Seventeen, which includes reminders such as, “Watch two or three other Seventeen music videos that totals to at least seven to 10 minutes. Then repeat the process”, and “Do not pause, forward or rewind”.Large fan groups organise themselves so that different members take on different roles. ARMY, the millions-strong fan group for the world’s biggest boyband BTS, has taken on philanthropic projects on behalf of the band, and also operate X accounts that translate all BTS-related content, from song lyrics to members’ social media posts.Image source, Getty Images”The superfans fundraise, they campaign to vote… Some police comments online to make sure negative comments about their idols are reported and conduct coordinated searches to remove ‘bad’ search terms.”That’s all money and time. The industry profits off of it,” Ms Jeong said.Another hallmark of K-pop fandom are the birthday celebrations held for the idols who themselves are not present. Some fans rent out entire cafes for such events, which will also feature merchandise related to the idol.Changing attitudesK-pop columnist Jeff Benjamin said some idols may feel “obliged to keep their fans happy” because of the fragility of their careers. “The groups are typically quite short-lived at about four to five years… I think a big part of why Karina published her apology was because she has a leadership responsibility in aespa, and she wanted to assure her fans that she will continue to work hard with her music,” he said.”It’s ironic that these artists sing about love but dating is frowned upon. I feel for them,” he added.But as K-pop widens its global footprint, attitudes in the industry could be opening up too.Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, BTS was invited to speak at the annual UN General Assembly in September 2021Many of Karina’s international fans took to social media to express their outrage that she had been compelled to apologise. “She doesn’t deserve this type of treatment” read one comment on X (formerly Twitter), while another said “Karina apologising for LIKING someone has to be one the craziest things in the world”.Some Korean fans also pointed to the international coverage of her apology, saying it was embarrassing. “It’s been so long since K-pop became global but they still don’t seem to grasp the fact that when something like this happens, it immediately disgraces the country” one person wrote. The global K-pop events market was valued at $8.1bn in 2021 and is projected to reach $20bn by 2031, according to Allied Market Research. Groups have also been invited to perform at international events. Seventeen, for example, will become the first K-pop group to perform at the Glastonbury Festival this year. BTS, who have been named special envoys by the UN, was invited to perform at its New York headquarters in 2021. K-pop albums raked in a record $243.8m overseas from January to October last year. Japan, the United States and China were the top three buyers.”Things are changing as the number of international K-pop fans grows. I am hopeful that the fan bases will become more supportive and open-minded… And that the industry can be less dependent on traditional norms,” Mr Benjamin said.The K-pop girl group with no Korean membersThe world’s most controversial K-pop bandSome of Karina’s fans in South Korea have continued to vouch for her.”There was nothing to apologise for…Whether you are a celebrity or a regular person, you need close friends. It’s natural for her to have a lover,” said Jeong So-yeon, a 33-year-old fan based in Seoul. “Other top stars do fine even after dating ‘scandals’. I look forward to her next albums,” she said.Related TopicsAsiaK-popSouth KoreaMusicMore on this storyBTS go into the army – what now for K-pop’s kings?Published12 December 2023Blackpink renew contract ensuring group’s futurePublished6 December 2023The K-pop girl group with no Korean membersPublished27 August 2023Blackpink star addresses ‘low energy’ performancesPublished14 July 2023The woman who defied the world of K-popPublished18 October 2019The dark side of Asia’s pop music industryPublished26 January 2016Top StoriesWilliam and Kate ‘enormously touched’ by public supportPublished1 hour agoFour suspected gunmen arrested after 133 killed in Moscow attackPublished6 hours agoBBC Verify examines how Moscow attack unfolded. 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![BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountLiveNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityWorldAfricaAsiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastUS & CanadaGaza desperately needs more aid but agencies can’t copePublished1 hour agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRelated TopicsIsrael-Gaza warBy Paul AdamsBBC NewsThe images have been searing. Children scrabbling in the dirt, gathering handfuls of spilled flour which they stuff into their pockets.Aid trucks surrounded by angry mobs of mostly young men, who attack the drivers and make off with whatever they can carry. And young Maryam Abed-Rabu, trying but ultimately failing to stay composed as she answered a journalist’s questions about the daily struggle to stay alive.A girl who has already been through so much, including the loss of her father, wailing at her inability simply to find bread.Northern Gaza is almost entirely cut off from the outside world. The population, estimated at around 300,000 people, reduced to a feral existence in a world where shops barely exist and aid never arrives. The south, meanwhile, is crammed with the displaced – hundreds of thousands of people constantly on the move, looking for food, shelter and safety. Israel says it’s doing what it can to limit the suffering of civilians, but four and a half months of relentless military assault have left the Gaza Strip on its knees, with aid agencies unable to cope.”Every time you go back it gets worse,” Jamie McGoldrick, the UN’s interim coordinator for the Palestinian territories, said on Friday. Just back from his latest visit to the Gaza Strip, he found despair was rife. Image source, ReutersImage caption, Palestinians carry bags of flour from an aid truck in Gaza City”People feel as though this is the end of their journey.”At the far southern end of the Gaza Strip, between 1.2 and 1.5 million people are crammed into every available space in and around the city of Rafah. Nearby, in the sandy coastal area known as al-Mawasi, designated by Israel as a humanitarian safe zone, at least 250,000 people are now living in flimsy accommodation with little support.Doctors working for the British medical charity UK-Med have watched a tent city springing up around them.”Two weeks ago, there were one or two tents dotted along the beachfront,” UK-Med’s CEO David Wightwick told me on a scratchy line from his al-Mawasi base.”They’re now six tents deep.”A few miles south is the crossing point Israelis call Kerem Shalom (Karem Abu Salem in Arabic), where almost all aid destined for the Gaza Strip enters, after exhaustive Israeli checks.At a holding area on the Palestinian side, aid is offloaded and reloaded onto local trucks, for distribution throughout Gaza. The trucks traverse a 3km corridor to the “blue gate” at Rafah, before entering Gaza.But the collapse of security in Gaza means that for some of the aid, the journey never really begins.Trucks are attacked and looted inside the corridor.Much of the looting is by organised Palestinian gangs, with donkey carts and vehicles waiting across the fence and spotters reporting the arrival of aid.But for those trucks lucky enough to reach the blue gate, the problems have only just begun. Much of what happens next is opportunistic, and frequently violent.”Many of these trucks, before they even get 200 metres, are stopped by cars, attacked and looted,” Mr McGoldrick said.With just a few roads available for aid deliveries, and most convoys travelling in the early hours of the day, the UN says people are using social media to alert each other to the movement of convoys, allowing roadblocks and ambushes to be set up in advance.Image source, DPA / AlamyImage caption, A truck loaded with German aid enters Gaza through the Kerem Shalom border crossing”People know when we’re coming,” Mr McGoldrick said.The envoy said he had seen trucks with windows and rear-view mirrors smashed. He said he had spoken to traumatised drivers, who’d had axes thrown through their windscreens and come under fire.Rather than reaching UN warehouses and being distributed in an orderly fashion, aid often ends up being sold in street markets at vastly inflated prices which few can afford.After a World Food Programme truck was hit by gunfire on 6 February (the UN blamed Israeli naval gunfire), WFP suspended all aid deliveries to the north.Attempts to resume deliveries this week collapsed amid scenes of violent looting.The UN says it has approached Israel about opening up supply routes from the north but that discussions are at an early stage.The hope – a slender one at the moment – is to reduce incentives for looting by dramatically increasing the volumes of food and other essential goods entering Gaza.”We need to flood the north with aid,” Mr McGoldrick said, “so it doesn’t become a product that people want to use for extortionist purposes or the black market.”Israel, for its part, says it is doing what it can to facilitate the arrival of humanitarian assistance. “We are doing everything in our power… to reduce any harmful consequences of the war [to] the civilian population,” Col. Moshe Tetro, head of the military’s coordination and liaison administration for Gaza, told reporters at a briefing this week.On Friday, the military said more than 13,000 trucks, carrying over 250,000 tons of humanitarian aid, had entered the Gaza Strip since the start of the war.That’s a little over 90 trucks a day, way below the 500 UN staff say is needed to meet the growing demands of a hungry, sick, repeatedly displaced population. Israel says the problems with aid distribution are not of its making, despite the fact that the chaos reigning inside the Gaza Strip is a direct consequence of its military assault. “Unfortunately, today and yesterday, the UN didn’t show up for work,” Col Tetro said.Delays on the Palestinian side, he said, were leading to a backlog of trucks waiting to enter Gaza.”The UN should increase their capabilities inside Gaza.”But in recent weeks, security has been further eroded by a series of Israeli attacks on civilian police officers.According to David Satterfield, the Biden administration’s envoy for humanitarian issues, such attacks had made it “virtually impossible” to distribute aid safely.For the UN, Israeli calls for it to do more sound hollow. The Israeli government has embarked on a campaign to dismantle UNRWA, the UN agency responsible for assisting Palestinian refugees, following allegations that as many as 12% of UNRWA’s 13,000 staff in Gaza were also working for Hamas, with some even participating in the murderous attacks of 7 October.The UN says it’s investigating but that Israel has yet to share its intelligence. In the meantime, the Netanyahu government has already started stripping UNRWA of its functions.Responsibility for 29,000 metric tonnes of flour from USAID, currently stored at the Israeli port of Ashdod, has already been transferred to the World Food Programme.In an anguished letter to the UN General Assembly on Thursday, UNRWA’s director Philippe Lazzarini said the agency had reached “breaking point” and listed a number of measures the Israeli government was taking to hamper its work, including limiting visas for international staff, blocking an UNRWA bank account and suspending the shipment of UNRWA goods.Bad as it is at the moment, the thought of an all-out Israeli assault on Rafah, which the government threatens to do if Israeli hostages are not released before the start of Ramadan on 10 March, raises fears among aid workers that the worst is yet to come.UK-Med’s David Wightwick has already had a glimpse. When he drove to Khan Yunis to extract a medical team from Nasser Hospital, he found himself surrounded by crowds of desperate people.”The prospect of that happening in Rafah and al-Mawasi, where you’ve got hundreds of thousands of people is not one I think you really want to contemplate,” he told me. Israel-Gaza war: Death and Israel’s search for ‘total victory’What are routes out of this ‘dangerous moment’ in Middle East?Huge push for Gaza aid – but little hope for those sufferingIran’s sudden strikes show just how perilous region has becomeTough choices for Israel in US’s Middle East visionHuge challenges for Israel on its vague ‘day after’ Gaza planStakes are immense as Biden presses Israel to change courseHamas support soars in West Bank – but full uprising can still be avoidedThe status quo is smashed. 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![BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountLiveNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityWorldAfricaAsiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastUS & CanadaIsraeli PM ‘missed chance’ to cut off Hamas cash, says ex-spy chiefPublished6 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRelated TopicsIsrael-Gaza warBy John WareBBC PanoramaIsrael’s prime minister missed the chance to starve Hamas of cash, years before its murderous attack last October, according to a former senior Israeli intelligence officer. Udi Levy has told BBC Panorama he advised Benjamin Netanyahu to target Hamas’s finances. He believes this would have hampered the group’s military build-up, but says the intelligence was not acted upon. The Israeli prime minister’s office has not responded to the allegations. Hamas gunmen killed about 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages on 7 October last year, when they crossed into southern Israel. One hundred and thirty hostages remain unaccounted for. Israel’s military response has killed 29,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry. Mr Levy – who was head of economic warfare in the Mossad, Israel’s spy agency, until 2016 – says he told Mr Netanyahu many times that Israel had the means to crush Hamas, which controls Gaza, “by using only financial tools”. Mr Levy says he never got a response to his proposal from Mr Netanyahu. When asked if he considered there was a connection between Mr Netanyahu’s alleged reluctance to deal with Hamas’s finances and the 7 October attack, Mr Levy is unequivocal. Image caption, Udi Levy says he alerted Mr Netanyahu to Hamas’s lucrative funding streams “Yes, of course,” he says. “There is a very good chance that… we would [have] prevent[ed] a lot of the money” that had gone into Gaza, and that “the monster that Hamas built probably [wouldn’t be] like the same monster that we faced on October 7th.” Hamas would have needed “billions, not millions” of dollars, says the former spy chief, to build hundreds of kilometres of tunnels underneath Gaza and pay for an estimated 30,000-strong military force. One specific funding stream, which Mr Levy says he raised with Mr Netanyahu in 2014, was an alleged multi-million-dollar investment portfolio which Israeli intelligence said was controlled by Hamas and managed out of Turkey. Mr Levy says that Mr Netanyahu chose not to act on the information. Hamas’s secret financial empireFollowing the attacks of 7 October, Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas. But can it? With access to some of Hamas’s most closely guarded secrets, John Ware investigates its network outside Gaza.Watch on BBC One at 20:00 on Monday 19 February (20:30 in Northern Ireland and 22:40 in Wales) or on BBC iPlayerHamas, which rejects Israel’s right to exist and is committed to its destruction, is much more than just a military force. It’s a political movement with financial support extending well beyond Gaza. “We spoke about Qatar and Iran as the main sponsors,” says Mr Levy of his conversations with Mr Netanyahu. “Turkey is even, in some aspect, more important because it is a critical focal point for Hamas to manage [its] financial infrastructure.” Panorama has been investigating documents, which had been acquired in 2020, said to reveal the extent of Hamas’s investment portfolio. They are a snapshot of an eight-month period that ends in early 2018. Israeli intelligence says they show how Hamas makes some of its money. Some 40 companies across the Middle East and north Africa are believed to be in the portfolio, including Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Sudan, Egypt, the Gulf and also Turkey. The alleged investments include everything from road construction, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment to tourism, mining, gold prospecting and luxury real estate projects. Since 2022, six of the companies listed in the documents have been designated by the US Treasury as being directly or indirectly owned or controlled by Hamas. The US has restricted their ability to trade by sanctioning them. Next to each company listed in the portfolio ledger is what is said to be the value of each Hamas-controlled holding, running into the millions of dollars for some of the companies – and adding up to a total value of $422,573,890 (£335m).Much of that value is said to be tied up in real estate. Property investments, which hold their value and have the potential for rental income, are a “perfect way” for an organisation such as Hamas to manage its finances, says Tom Keatinge, founding director of the Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies (CFCS) at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi). Image caption, Luxury apartments developed by the Turkish firm Trend GYOOne of the companies sanctioned by the US is Trend GYO – a Turkish real estate firm. In the 2018 document, it is referenced several times as Anda Turk – which documents show was an old trading name, before it was renamed Trend and floated on the Istanbul stock exchange. The 7 October attacks or, as Hamas calls them, “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood”, were recently praised by Trend’s former chairman, Hamid Abdullah al-Ahmar – who stood down in 2022 but remains as the head of Trend’s parent company. Speaking at a conference in Istanbul in January 2024, he was filmed saying: “We meet… while the Aqsa Flood is at its peak, a sweeping and roaring flood that will never stop before the occupation of beloved Palestine is defeated.” He went on to call on the conference to “work to criminalise Zionism as a racist and terrorist movement”. Panorama wrote to Mr al-Ahmar but received no reply. Trend told us that the US Treasury’s allegations of links between the company and Hamas were “unfair and unfounded”. The Turkish authorities have said they have investigated Trend and found “no abuse of our nation’s financial system” and that Turkey abides by international financial rules. Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, From an Israeli prison cell, Yahya Sinwar started to forge links between Hamas and Iran, according to a former Israeli security agency officerHamas, however, has also had a variety of other long-term financial sources. One of its most important early fundraisers was Yahya Sinwar, now the head of Hamas’s political wing in Gaza. According to Israel, he began raising funds for Hamas while he was in an Israeli prison cell. In 1988, Sinwar had been jailed for murdering Palestinians he suspected were spying for Israel. Micha Koubi, a former Israel security agency officer says he interrogated Sinwar for more than 150 hours. He said Sinwar managed to forge links with Iran by sending covert messages from prison. In 2007, a year after Hamas was voted into power, Israel and its neighbour Egypt tightened the blockade on Gaza, both saying they were concerned about their security. Mr Koubi said that Sinwar’s Iranian connections helped him to beat the blockade. “He sent messengers to Iran, to start the contact. He asked them to send… weapons and arms. And they agreed to help [Hamas] with everything that they need. “That was the very beginning.” Cash for Hamas also arrived from the Gulf state of Qatar, both overtly and covertly, according to former Mossad officer, Udi Levy. Israel has acknowledged that some of that money was delivered in cash with its blessing. It was allocated to pay the salaries of officials in the Hamas government and provide humanitarian support for the people of Gaza. “The Qataris [had] a special envoy that came every month, with a private jet to Rafah with a suitcase, enter to Gaza, gave it to Hamas, say hello and go back, that’s it,” says Mr Levy. He has told Panorama he believes “a significant sum of this money” went to “support Hamas’s military arm”. Image caption, Hamas has financed and built hundreds of miles of tunnels under GazaBillions more had been provided by UN agencies, the EU, the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, and numerous charities. All intended for humanitarian purposes. Rusi’s Tom Keatinge calls it a “fair assessment” that this money may have been subsidising Hamas’s military wing. “It is money [Hamas] can use on other issues, like building tunnels, like arming its military,” he says. It is impossible to know how much donor cash – if any – Hamas may have appropriated for military purposes. The group denies diverting any aid money. It told Panorama its military wing had its own sources of income. Israel’s Prime Minister has been clear about his opposition to the creation of a Palestinian state, and how that strategic aim was linked to his position on Hamas funding. In 2019, Mr Netanyahu told colleagues in his ruling Likud party: “Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and transferring money to Hamas… This is part of our strategy – to isolate the Palestinians in Gaza from the Palestinians in the West Bank.” Keeping Hamas strong enough to be an effective rival to Fatah – its West Bank rival – would prevent the possibility of a “unified Palestinian leadership with whom you would have to negotiate some kind of final settlement”, says Khaled Elgindy, senior fellow on Palestine and Palestinian-Israeli Affairs at the Middle East Institute think tank in Washington DC. Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin NetanyahuMore recently, Mr Netanyahu has denied he wanted to build up Hamas and said he had only allowed Qatari money into Gaza to prevent a humanitarian crisis. Mr Netanyahu has now vowed to destroy Hamas. There will be “no element” in Gaza that finances terrorism, he says. But, by destroying so much of Gaza and killing so many Palestinian, Israel may achieve the opposite effect. “Iran will probably continue to arm and financially support Hamas,” says Mr Elgindy. “But more than that, as long as there is a reason for a group like Hamas to try to acquire those weapons, and those resources, and those capabilities, they will do that. “Because the justification for it, the reasons for it, are still in place.” Related TopicsMiddle EastIsrael & the PalestiniansIsrael-Gaza warIsraelGazaHamasTop StoriesNavalny’s grieving widow vows to continue his workPublished3 hours agoRow deepens between Badenoch and ex-Post Office chairPublished14 minutes agoBaby was among three children found dead Published4 hours agoFeaturesLyse Doucet: Rafah deadline raises stakes as Ramadan nearsThe unprecedented case of a migrant manslaughter trialWatch Baftas 2024 best bits… in two minutes. 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![BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountLiveNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityWorldAfricaAsiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastUS & CanadaMunich security talks marked by global ‘lose-lose’ anxietyPublished45 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRelated TopicsWar in UkraineImage caption, UN Secretary General António Guterres (2nd left) and EU top diplomat Josep Borrell (2nd right) had a lot to discussBy Lyse DoucetChief international correspondent in MunichIt’s called the Munich Rule: engage and interact; don’t lecture or ignore one another.But this year, at the 60th Munich Security Conference (MSC), two of the most talked-about people weren’t even here. That included former US President Donald Trump, whose possible return to the White House could throw a spanner in the work of the transatlantic relationship, which lies at the heart of this premier international forum. And Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, who was vehemently blamed by one world leader after another for the death of his most prominent critic Alexei Navalny, not to mention his full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which continues to cast a long dark shadow across Europe and far beyond.The staggering news of Navalny’s death, which broke just hours before the conference kicked off on Friday, underlined again the perilous unpredictability of a world carved up by multiple fault lines and entrenched interests.”We live in a world where there is more and more confrontation and less co-operation,” regretted the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell. “The world has become a much more dangerous place,” he told me as the conference drew to a close on Sunday.”Lose-Lose?” was the maxim of this year’s gathering, at a time of deepening geopolitical tensions and jarring economic uncertainties. The MSC’s annual report warned that it could give rise to “lose-lose” dynamics among governments, “a downwards spiral that jeopardises co-operation and undermines the existing international order”.”I think this has been the conference of a disordered world,” reflected David Miliband, the CEO and president of the International Rescue Committee (IRC). “It’s a world dominated by impunity, where the guardrail stabilisers are not working and that’s why there’s so much disorder, not just in Ukraine and in Gaza and Israel, but more widely in places like Sudan, whose humanitarian crisis isn’t even getting on the agenda,” he said.This video can not be playedTo play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.Media caption, Watch Yulia Navalnaya speak following report of husband’s deathThis issue of impunity, one of the toughest of political challenges, was suddenly transformed into a poignant personal story when Navalny’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, unexpectedly appeared on the conference’s main stage in the grand Bayerischer Hof hotel to condemn Russia’s president and urge the assembled presidents, prime ministers, defence chiefs and top diplomats to bring him to justice. Her remarkable composure and clarity stunned the packed hall, which gave her a sustained standing ovation before and after she spoke with palpable pain. This year Russia, as well as Iran, weren’t invited to Munich because the organisers assessed they weren’t “interested in meaningful dialogue”. Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/ShutterstockImage caption, Protesters against Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine made their voices heard during the Munich conferenceIn MSC forums gone by, vitriolic speeches by Russia’s veteran Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov angered and electrified the main hall, and Iran’s visible presence highlighted the rivalries and risks in urgent need of resolution.The imperative of continuing hefty Western military and financial assistance to Ukraine was underscored repeatedly by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, who exhorted participants to act, as he rushed from one high-level meeting to the next. “The year of 2024 demands your response – from everyone in the world,” he beseeched delegates when he spoke from the top podium. Zelensky warns of ‘artificial deficit’ of weaponsThe US’s pivotal support was uppermost in his mind as a vital security package, amounting to $60bn (£48bn), is being held up by a US Congress where Republican lawmakers are increasingly divided over whether to keep backing Kyiv in its fight. Back home in Ukraine, soldiers are even running out of bullets on front lines.Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/ShutterstockImage caption, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh argued that a “serious ceasefire” was urgently needed in GazaUS delegates in Munich, including Vice-President Kamala Harris, were at pains to insist that she and President Joe Biden would not abandon Ukraine, nor America’s leadership in global affairs.But with US elections just nine months away, Mr Trump is already shaping the polarised political debate in Washington and reviving anxiety that he could pull the US out of the Nato military alliance and other international commitments.”They know what they need to do but they can’t get it done, and that’s the gap that has to be filled,” was how Mr Miliband assessed pledges voiced by the US and European allies in Munich.Others were even more stinging in their criticism. “Lots of words. No concrete commitments,” posted Nathalie Tocci, Director of the Institute of International Affairs, on X, formerly known as Twitter. “It’s a sad MSC2024.”The gaps were even more glaring when it came to the devastating Israel-Gaza war, which erupted after Hamas’s murderous assault on southern Israel on 7 October. Israel’s military operations are causing a staggering number of civilian casualties and have ravaged much of this coastal strip.”We have seen a really great interest from the international community and the world leaders who have gathered here in Munich that they would like to see a serious ceasefire and a substantial amount of international aid into Gaza,” Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh remarked in an interview.But Israeli delegates, including former peace negotiator Tzipi Livni, doubled down on the need to keep pressing forward. “I’m a political opponent of [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, but I support the war in Gaza,” she emphasised in a session, which also included Mr Shtayyeh and the Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi. “I support the strategic need to eliminate Hamas as a terrorist organisation and as a regime,” Ms Livni said.This year’s MSC marked a record attendance: more than 900 participants including some 50 heads of state and government from around the world, more than 100 ministers, as well as representatives of think-tanks, non-governmental organisations and leading businesses. Top spooks, feminist foreign ministers, climate warriors, Iranian activists, weapons experts, technology wizards and more – all gathered for their own get-togethers on public stages and in private rendezvous and hushed huddles. It all underlined how the world’s understanding of “global security” keeps shifting shape.Over the decades, this forum – born in 1963 in a Cold War quest for peace and prosperity – has often been a venue for real-time diplomacy, too. But in a year marked by worry over “lose-lose dynamics” Munich was a place for a lot of talking and taking stock as the world nervously wonders where the next blows will fall.Related TopicsWar in UkraineIsrael-Gaza warGermanyAlexei NavalnyMore on this storyWatch Yulia Navalnaya speak following report of husband’s death. 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![BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountLiveNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityWorldAfricaAsiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastUS & CanadaWhy Russia’s Putin backing Biden for the US presidency is not what it seemsPublished17 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRelated TopicsUS election 2024Image source, Sputnik/Alexander Kazakov/PoolImage caption, The Russian president told Russian TV correspondent Pavel Zarubin that Joe Biden was an “old-style politician”By Steve RosenbergRussia Editor, MoscowI’m sure that ahead of the US election President Biden will welcome messages of support. But he won’t have expected this one. “For us, who’s better, Biden or Trump?” Russian TV correspondent Pavel Zarubin asked President Putin. “Biden,” Vladimir Putin replied in a flash. “He’s more experienced, he’s predictable, he’s an old-style politician.” There was more. The Kremlin leader defended President Biden’s ability to do the job.”When I met Biden in Switzerland – true, it was a few years ago – some people were already saying that he was unable to function. I didn’t see anything of the kind. “Yes, he looked down at his papers. To be honest, I did the same. It means nothing. And as for [Biden] bumping his head getting out of a helicopter on one occasion, well, who can say they’ve never bumped their head?”These words coming from a Kremlin leader whom President Biden has labelled “a murderous dictator”, “a pure thug”, and accused of having “a craven lust for land and power”. Putin expresses preference for Biden over Trump So, no hard feelings, then, from the Kremlin? All forgiven? I very much doubt it. Compare what Joe Biden has said about Vladimir Putin and Russia to what Donald Trump has said in the past. Mr Trump has called President Putin “smart” and “a genius”. He has even suggested he would “encourage” Russia to attack any Nato member that fails to pay its bills as part of the Western military alliance. If you were Vladimir Putin, who would you be rooting for? But if he’s a closet fan of Trump, why has the Russian president gone on record as saying he’d prefer Joe Biden back in the White House? Imagine Vladimir Putin had said publicly that he’d prefer a Trump presidency. What a gift for the Biden campaign. Donald Trump’s political enemies would have pounced on such an endorsement and accused the former US president of colluding with the Kremlin, of having ties to Russia two years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Hardly a vote-winner for the Republicans. 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