2013 is winding down. We've already posted the best news of the year, so let's imagine what 2014 might look like if peace and justice somehow overwhelmed the nations of the world.
The late Howard Zinn wrote in A People's History of the United States that the world would be a better place if the United States chose to be a humanitarian, rather than a military, superpower - using "this wealth to improve the living conditions of Americans and people in other parts of the world." This seems like a good place to start. Can you imagine what the world would be like if the US military budget since the end of the Cold War was used for humanitarian purposes? Since 1989, the United States has spent more than $13 trillion on its military budget. The impact that this sum might have had on education, disease eradication, agricultural improvements and poverty reduction is staggering. As Zinn notes "it was estimated by the World Health Organization that a small portion of the American military budget, if given to the treatment of tuberculosis in the world, could save millions of lives."
By implementing policies that advance the world's well-being, we would take a giant step towards reducing some of the traditional causes of unrest and war. And in securing our own safety. It's a myth that terrorists hate us because of our freedoms. They hate us because of our policies. Empire has a cost that there is no need to bear any longer. Peacefully supporting the right to self-determination would show that our concept of democracy extends to all people.
Stopping the flow of arms and military aid would reduce tensions and the possibility of war. Here at home, removing weapons from the streets and keeping them from the hands of felons and the mentally unstable would make our own country a safer place. Finally, the United States and other countries with atomic weapons could provide the world with a real example of non-proliferation by dismantling its nuclear arsenals.
Pope Francis has it right. As the dominant global economic system, capitalism should be regulated so that its benefits accrue to all, not just to a small percentage. Economic inequality can be overcome by a just system of taxation and regulation. Or as Nelson Mandela said, "Poverty is not an accident. Like slavery and apartheid, it is man-made and can be removed by the actions of human beings."
That leads us to a final consideration. What do we do about racism, sectarian violence and tribal and nationalistic hatreds? It all comes down to fear and demonization of "the other". In October Pope Francis stressed the need to fight "all forms of racism, intolerance and anti-Semitism" and noted that "every time a
minority is persecuted and marginalised because of his religious beliefs or
ethnicity, the good of the whole society is in danger”. [Catholic Herald] But what to do about it? Here's Nelson Mandela again: "No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite."
Maybe peace and justice on earth in 2014 are too much to hope for. But we can at least make a step forward in our own lives and behavior. And we can recognize for what they are, those damaging and divisive ideologies and policies that move us away from a better world.
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Sunday Round-Up - December 22,2013
This is the weekly selection of news and opinion from sources outside the US mainstream media.
Iran Sanctions Bill
The Jewish-American group Americans for Peace Now has condemned the proposed Iran sanctions bill circulated Thursday by 26 US Senators. "The mere act of introducing such a bill at this delicate juncture represents a reckless, provocative and wholly gratuitous step. The Geneva interim agreement with Iran demonstrates that sincere, determined diplomacy can deliver results....If the timing of its introduction weren't bad enough, the substance of the bill appears designed to undermine the initiative launched last month in Geneva and, bafflingly, to undermine international cooperation on Iran....Anyone who is truly concerned about curbing Iran's nuclear program should be outraged by this latest sanctions effort. For the first time in decades, there is an historic and promising diplomatic engagement with Iran, and the entire world is focused on the importance of resolving concerns about Iran's nuclear program and nuclear ambitions. Now is the time for members of the House and Senate to stand up to outside pressure, foreswear partisan and political grandstanding, and get behind the efforts of the Obama Administration and the international community to achieve a negotiated final agreement that does just that."
Juan Cole headlines his Informed Comment post of December 21:"Obama will Veto new Iran Sanctions, Israel War Mandate pushed by AIPAC Senators".
He then takes it to the 13 Democrats who are cosponsoring the bill. "This behavior is no surprise coming from the GOP, but the thirteen Democratic senators involved are traitors to the party. They are acting at the behest of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and other American supporters of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who actively wants to torpedo Obama’s Iran talks." Cole provides a transcript of Obama's comments on the matter from the Friday press conference, concluding that "Obama in his gentlemanly way excused the senators on the grounds that they might have tough reelection fights coming up in which hawkish posturing on Iran might be useful for fundraising and vote-getting. Nevertheless, the White House had earlier made clear that Obama would veto any such sanctions bill." But then Cole adds: "In fact, the vast majority of Americans approve of Obama’s Iran negotiations in polling and only a minority is opposed. So the rebel senators aren’t playing to the voters, but rather to determined and very wealthy special interests in the Northeast."
(See December 20 Left Bank Café post for further discussion.)
NSA Surveillance
As President Obama spoke Friday on possible reforms in the NSA spying program (specifically the NSA's holding of telephone records of Americans), new revelations from the documents leaked by whistle blower Edward Snowden were discussed in The Guardian. "British and American intelligence agencies had a comprehensive list of surveillance targets that included the EU's competition commissioner, German government buildings in Berlin and overseas, and the heads of institutions that provide humanitarian and financial help to Africa, top-secret documents reveal. The papers show GCHQ, in collaboration with America's National Security Agency (NSA), was targeting organisations such as the United Nations development programme, the UN's children's charity Unicef and Médecins du Monde, a French organisation that provides doctors and medical volunteers to conflict zones. The head of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) also appears in the documents, along with text messages he sent to colleagues." [The Guardian, December 20]
Selections from recent TomDispatch.com posts
Here are brief selections from and links to several recent posts.
Former Harper's Magazine Editor Lewis Lapham wonders why we have no equivalent of Mark Twain in today's "second Gilded Age" in an essay about that great American writer, laughter and comedy. (To be published in Lapham's Quarterly's Winter 2014 issue.)
Laughter follows from the misalignment of a reality and a virtual reality, and the getting of the joke is the recognition of which is which. The notions of what is true or beautiful or proper held sacred by the other people in the caucus or the clubhouse set up the punch line -- the sight of something where it’s not supposed to be, the story going where it’s not supposed to go, Groucho Marx saying, “Gentlemen, Chicolini here may talk like an idiot and look like an idiot, but don’t let that fool you. He really is an idiot.”
Commentator Bill Moyers, speaking at The Brennan Center, discusses the impact of money on politics and our democracy, the danger of shredding the social contract to privilege the donor class, and the unfinished work of America in "The Great American Class War, Plutocracy vs. Democracy".
We don’t have emperors yet, but one of our two major parties is now dominated by radicals engaged in a crusade of voter suppression aimed at the elderly, the young, minorities, and the poor; while the other party, once the champion of everyday working people, has been so enfeebled by its own collaboration with the donor class that it offers only token resistance to the forces that have demoralized everyday Americans.
Climate change journalist Dahr Jamail explores "what climate scientists just beyond the mainstream are thinking about how climate change will affect life on this planet." After discussing how the continuing rise in global temperatures will lead to an ice-free Arctic, which in turn may lead to a release of methane currently trapped in the ice, Jamail writes:
How serious is the potential global methane build-up? Not all scientists think it’s an immediate threat or even the major threat we face, but Ira Leifer, an atmospheric and marine scientist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and one of the authors of the recent Arctic Methane study pointed out to me that “the Permian mass extinction that occurred 250 million years ago is related to methane and thought to be the key to what caused the extinction of most species on the planet.” In that extinction episode, it is estimated that 95% of all species were wiped out.
(See The $60 Trillion Climate Time Bomb Left Bank Café post for further discussion of the methane release threat.)
Iran Sanctions Bill
The Jewish-American group Americans for Peace Now has condemned the proposed Iran sanctions bill circulated Thursday by 26 US Senators. "The mere act of introducing such a bill at this delicate juncture represents a reckless, provocative and wholly gratuitous step. The Geneva interim agreement with Iran demonstrates that sincere, determined diplomacy can deliver results....If the timing of its introduction weren't bad enough, the substance of the bill appears designed to undermine the initiative launched last month in Geneva and, bafflingly, to undermine international cooperation on Iran....Anyone who is truly concerned about curbing Iran's nuclear program should be outraged by this latest sanctions effort. For the first time in decades, there is an historic and promising diplomatic engagement with Iran, and the entire world is focused on the importance of resolving concerns about Iran's nuclear program and nuclear ambitions. Now is the time for members of the House and Senate to stand up to outside pressure, foreswear partisan and political grandstanding, and get behind the efforts of the Obama Administration and the international community to achieve a negotiated final agreement that does just that."
Juan Cole headlines his Informed Comment post of December 21:"Obama will Veto new Iran Sanctions, Israel War Mandate pushed by AIPAC Senators".
He then takes it to the 13 Democrats who are cosponsoring the bill. "This behavior is no surprise coming from the GOP, but the thirteen Democratic senators involved are traitors to the party. They are acting at the behest of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and other American supporters of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who actively wants to torpedo Obama’s Iran talks." Cole provides a transcript of Obama's comments on the matter from the Friday press conference, concluding that "Obama in his gentlemanly way excused the senators on the grounds that they might have tough reelection fights coming up in which hawkish posturing on Iran might be useful for fundraising and vote-getting. Nevertheless, the White House had earlier made clear that Obama would veto any such sanctions bill." But then Cole adds: "In fact, the vast majority of Americans approve of Obama’s Iran negotiations in polling and only a minority is opposed. So the rebel senators aren’t playing to the voters, but rather to determined and very wealthy special interests in the Northeast."
(See December 20 Left Bank Café post for further discussion.)
NSA Surveillance
As President Obama spoke Friday on possible reforms in the NSA spying program (specifically the NSA's holding of telephone records of Americans), new revelations from the documents leaked by whistle blower Edward Snowden were discussed in The Guardian. "British and American intelligence agencies had a comprehensive list of surveillance targets that included the EU's competition commissioner, German government buildings in Berlin and overseas, and the heads of institutions that provide humanitarian and financial help to Africa, top-secret documents reveal. The papers show GCHQ, in collaboration with America's National Security Agency (NSA), was targeting organisations such as the United Nations development programme, the UN's children's charity Unicef and Médecins du Monde, a French organisation that provides doctors and medical volunteers to conflict zones. The head of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) also appears in the documents, along with text messages he sent to colleagues." [The Guardian, December 20]
Selections from recent TomDispatch.com posts
Here are brief selections from and links to several recent posts.
Former Harper's Magazine Editor Lewis Lapham wonders why we have no equivalent of Mark Twain in today's "second Gilded Age" in an essay about that great American writer, laughter and comedy. (To be published in Lapham's Quarterly's Winter 2014 issue.)
Laughter follows from the misalignment of a reality and a virtual reality, and the getting of the joke is the recognition of which is which. The notions of what is true or beautiful or proper held sacred by the other people in the caucus or the clubhouse set up the punch line -- the sight of something where it’s not supposed to be, the story going where it’s not supposed to go, Groucho Marx saying, “Gentlemen, Chicolini here may talk like an idiot and look like an idiot, but don’t let that fool you. He really is an idiot.”
Commentator Bill Moyers, speaking at The Brennan Center, discusses the impact of money on politics and our democracy, the danger of shredding the social contract to privilege the donor class, and the unfinished work of America in "The Great American Class War, Plutocracy vs. Democracy".
We don’t have emperors yet, but one of our two major parties is now dominated by radicals engaged in a crusade of voter suppression aimed at the elderly, the young, minorities, and the poor; while the other party, once the champion of everyday working people, has been so enfeebled by its own collaboration with the donor class that it offers only token resistance to the forces that have demoralized everyday Americans.
Climate change journalist Dahr Jamail explores "what climate scientists just beyond the mainstream are thinking about how climate change will affect life on this planet." After discussing how the continuing rise in global temperatures will lead to an ice-free Arctic, which in turn may lead to a release of methane currently trapped in the ice, Jamail writes:
How serious is the potential global methane build-up? Not all scientists think it’s an immediate threat or even the major threat we face, but Ira Leifer, an atmospheric and marine scientist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and one of the authors of the recent Arctic Methane study pointed out to me that “the Permian mass extinction that occurred 250 million years ago is related to methane and thought to be the key to what caused the extinction of most species on the planet.” In that extinction episode, it is estimated that 95% of all species were wiped out.
(See The $60 Trillion Climate Time Bomb Left Bank Café post for further discussion of the methane release threat.)
Friday, December 20, 2013
Sabotaging diplomacy? What are they thinking?
Yesterday, thirteen Senate Democrats joined thirteen Republicans and began circulating a new Iran sanctions bill with the potential to derail the Iran nuclear talks. This action came in spite of requests from the White House that Senators hold off on any new Iran legislation while the nuclear talks are in progress. I'm ashamed to say that New Jersey's own senior senator. Robert Menendez, is one of the leading supporters of the proposal and introduced it with Republican Mark Kirk.
These thirteen Democrats should know better. They have put themselves in the camp of conservative hardliners in Iran and the Netanyahu government in Israel - about the only other people on the planet against the historic interim agreement achieved by the G3+3 with Iran just last month.
The influence of the lobbying group AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee), strong supporters of the right-wing Netanyahu, is all over this. Many, if not most, of the Senators pushing the legislation have received significant contributions from pro-Israel groups, who are heavily influenced by AIPAC. Menendez received more than $340,000 in campaign contributions in the six-year period ending December 31, 2012. Mark Kirk, the leading Republican proponent of the current legislation, received more than $925,000. All told, the 26 Senators received nearly $5,000,000 from pro- Israel groups. [maplight.org]
The proposed bill sets strong, and, likely illegal, conditions for a final agreement. "Among those conditions is a provision that only allows Obama to waive new sanctions, even after a final deal has been struck, if that deal bars Iran from enriching any new uranium whatsoever." [Daily Kos quoting Foreignpolicy.com, Dec.19] As a signatory to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, Iran has the right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes such as energy and medicine. Denying them this right to the peaceful use of nuclear power is a clear violation of the meaning of the treaty. This is especially specious when we consider that Israel is a non-signatory to the NNPT and has 80 nuclear weapons sitting 1000 km or so from Iran's borders. This condition all but guarantees that no lasting détente will ever be reached with Iran.
But that isn't the worst part of this bill. The bill includes a non-binding provision that states that if Israel takes "military action in legitimate self-defense against Iran's nuclear weapons program", the United States should support it. Since when does the United States outsource its military and foreign policy to a foreign power?
As Andrew Sullivan writes on The Dish website:
As usual, English is the first casualty in propaganda. Any act of “self-defense” against a mere “program” is not an act of legitimate self-defense. In international law, you are allowed to defend yourself if attacked; you do not have a right to attack another country just because you don’t like one of their military programs (which the Iranian regime has, in any case, sworn it would never use). That would be a license to shred international law and any concept of just warfare. For the US Senate to proactively bless future aggressive military action by a foreign government when it is not justified by self-defense is an appalling new low in the Israeli government’s grip on the US Congress.
If the Senate goes ahead and approves the bill when it comes to the floor next year, President Obama will have no choice but to veto it. If he does not, he should hand back his Nobel Peace Prize. And the Senate should congratulate themselves for caving in to AIPAC and taking us all a step closer to war.
Other Notes
Being pro-Israel does not mean being anti-Iran diplomacy. Americans for Peace Now is a Jewish-American organization that supports the two-state solution and works for peace between Palestinians and Israelis. They recently circulated a petition asking Congress to allow time for the nuclear talks with Iran to succeed. It's a shame that this group of peace activists doesn't have the influence of AIPAC on potential donors.
Update
This afternoon, Americans for Peace Now updated its petition. You can sign the petition here and send it to your Senators.
Links
Link to Wikipedia entry on Americans for Peace Now
Link to Wikipedia entry on AIPAC
Correction
An earlier version of this post indicated that Charles Schumer of New York introduced the bill with Mark Kirk of Illinois. While Schumer was one of the 26 co-sponsors, it was Sen. Menendez, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair, that led the Democrats supporting the bill.
These thirteen Democrats should know better. They have put themselves in the camp of conservative hardliners in Iran and the Netanyahu government in Israel - about the only other people on the planet against the historic interim agreement achieved by the G3+3 with Iran just last month.
The influence of the lobbying group AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee), strong supporters of the right-wing Netanyahu, is all over this. Many, if not most, of the Senators pushing the legislation have received significant contributions from pro-Israel groups, who are heavily influenced by AIPAC. Menendez received more than $340,000 in campaign contributions in the six-year period ending December 31, 2012. Mark Kirk, the leading Republican proponent of the current legislation, received more than $925,000. All told, the 26 Senators received nearly $5,000,000 from pro- Israel groups. [maplight.org]
The proposed bill sets strong, and, likely illegal, conditions for a final agreement. "Among those conditions is a provision that only allows Obama to waive new sanctions, even after a final deal has been struck, if that deal bars Iran from enriching any new uranium whatsoever." [Daily Kos quoting Foreignpolicy.com, Dec.19] As a signatory to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, Iran has the right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes such as energy and medicine. Denying them this right to the peaceful use of nuclear power is a clear violation of the meaning of the treaty. This is especially specious when we consider that Israel is a non-signatory to the NNPT and has 80 nuclear weapons sitting 1000 km or so from Iran's borders. This condition all but guarantees that no lasting détente will ever be reached with Iran.
But that isn't the worst part of this bill. The bill includes a non-binding provision that states that if Israel takes "military action in legitimate self-defense against Iran's nuclear weapons program", the United States should support it. Since when does the United States outsource its military and foreign policy to a foreign power?
As Andrew Sullivan writes on The Dish website:
As usual, English is the first casualty in propaganda. Any act of “self-defense” against a mere “program” is not an act of legitimate self-defense. In international law, you are allowed to defend yourself if attacked; you do not have a right to attack another country just because you don’t like one of their military programs (which the Iranian regime has, in any case, sworn it would never use). That would be a license to shred international law and any concept of just warfare. For the US Senate to proactively bless future aggressive military action by a foreign government when it is not justified by self-defense is an appalling new low in the Israeli government’s grip on the US Congress.
If the Senate goes ahead and approves the bill when it comes to the floor next year, President Obama will have no choice but to veto it. If he does not, he should hand back his Nobel Peace Prize. And the Senate should congratulate themselves for caving in to AIPAC and taking us all a step closer to war.
Other Notes
Being pro-Israel does not mean being anti-Iran diplomacy. Americans for Peace Now is a Jewish-American organization that supports the two-state solution and works for peace between Palestinians and Israelis. They recently circulated a petition asking Congress to allow time for the nuclear talks with Iran to succeed. It's a shame that this group of peace activists doesn't have the influence of AIPAC on potential donors.
Update
This afternoon, Americans for Peace Now updated its petition. You can sign the petition here and send it to your Senators.
Links
Link to Wikipedia entry on Americans for Peace Now
Link to Wikipedia entry on AIPAC
Correction
An earlier version of this post indicated that Charles Schumer of New York introduced the bill with Mark Kirk of Illinois. While Schumer was one of the 26 co-sponsors, it was Sen. Menendez, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair, that led the Democrats supporting the bill.
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Sunday Round-Up: December 15, 2013
This is the weekly selection of news and opinion from outside the US mainstream media. Today we look at the compromise budget, Syria, and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Mother Jones assesses the defense portion of the new compromise budget passed by the House in a Dec. 13 post: "The passage of the Ryan-Murray budget plan in the House sends a strong signal that the Pentagon's budget is basically untouchable. Under the deal, the military's base budget (which doesn't include supplemental funding for overseas operations and combat) will be restored to around $520 billion next year—more than it got in 2006 and 2007, when the United States was fighting in both Iraq and Afghanistan." The post cites as Exhibit A in Pentagon excess and lack of project control the F-35, which is called "the pricey plane with a reputation as the biggest defense boondoggle in history". Originally estimated to cost $233 billion, the program to acquire the new jets now will cost nearly $400 billion.
Another Mother Jones post, "Can't Touch This", examines the Pentagon budget in more detail. Among other topics, it discusses the size of the military budget (the US spends more on its military than the next 10 countries combined), the Pentagon's "inauditable" financial statements (the Pentagon insists that they will "achieve audit readiness" by 2017, 20 years after it was required to do so), and ideas from various think tanks that could save billions in the defense budget.
An Al Jazeera post on Friday reminds us of the harsh conditions facing refugees from the Syrian civil war. Describing the scene at the refugee tent camp in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon, Josh Wood writes: "...snow dumped by Lebanon’s first storm of the season melts when the temperature rises a few degrees above freezing during the day, turning the narrow paths between tents into shin-deep patches of mud. Thursday found children standing shivering by a puddle, their rubber sandals sinking into the mud and their pajama pants rolled up in a futile attempt to keep them clean....At least 80,000 Syrian refugees in Lebanon are living at winter’s mercy in tent settlements like this one, according to Dana Sleiman, a public-information officer with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Hundreds of thousands more are living in unfinished buildings, garages and other structures offering insufficient protection against winter’s bite."
BBC News noted the increasing concern in the West of "the violence perpetrated [across Syria] by the Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), hardline Islamic radicals linked to al-Qaeda." Although the position of the West publically is that Assad must go, privately some are beginning to question that position. "As the year draws to a close, and the West's chosen allies in Syria suffer one setback after another, have policymakers started to ponder the unthinkable - that there's more to be gained from working with Mr Assad than against him?"
Ahead of John Kerry's trip to the Middle East to try to breathe some life into the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, Al Jazeera reported on the pessimistic assessment published on Wednesday by the European Council on Foreign Relations: the two-state solution for Israel and Palestine has become increasingly unlikely. The two-state solution has been the "default negotiating position of the United States and the international community" since the 1993 Oslo Accords. "According to researchers, the two factors found to place the most strain on a two-state solution were the 'territorial issue' and 'the dynamics of the Israeli political and public debate.' Researchers noted strain added by the decreasing physical space available to establish a territorially contiguous Palestinian state, as a result of ongoing Israeli settlement growth. They noted that as of July 2013, there were 367,000 Israeli settlers in the Israeli occupied West Bank, whereas the total had been a little over 100,000 at the beginning of the Oslo process 20 years ago. Israeli discourse also strained the likelihood of realizing two states. Levy said the “indifference of the Israeli public” to the Palestinian issue and “a government that includes – something that is relatively new – a significant cohort opposed to two states, and who say that there are other options” has weakened the appeal of the two-state paradigm in Israel."
Meanwhile, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz opined on November 27 that, with the EU intent on preventing funds from flowing to Israeli companies operating on Palestinian land, "Israel is now beginning to pay the price of its deeds in the occupied territories. Four years after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at Bar-Ilan University, in which he recognized the principle of two states but nevertheless refused to stop construction in the settlements - following the government’s extremist statements and decisions to build thousands of housing units in the settlements; and following Israel’s ongoing harassment of Palestinian residents of the territories - the international community is beginning to take practical measures against Israel’s tactics of deception and the apartheid it practices toward the Palestinians." In an article published December 13, Haaretz reported that "The European Union is expected to announce on Monday that it will offer an unprecedented assistance package to Israel and the Palestinians, if the two parties sign a final-status agreement. The organization also promised to upgrade relations with both parties to the highest level possible for nonmember nations in the event of a peace treaty."
Image of Syrian refugee camp is from the Al Jazeera article and by Ahmad Shalha/Reuters.
Mother Jones assesses the defense portion of the new compromise budget passed by the House in a Dec. 13 post: "The passage of the Ryan-Murray budget plan in the House sends a strong signal that the Pentagon's budget is basically untouchable. Under the deal, the military's base budget (which doesn't include supplemental funding for overseas operations and combat) will be restored to around $520 billion next year—more than it got in 2006 and 2007, when the United States was fighting in both Iraq and Afghanistan." The post cites as Exhibit A in Pentagon excess and lack of project control the F-35, which is called "the pricey plane with a reputation as the biggest defense boondoggle in history". Originally estimated to cost $233 billion, the program to acquire the new jets now will cost nearly $400 billion.
Another Mother Jones post, "Can't Touch This", examines the Pentagon budget in more detail. Among other topics, it discusses the size of the military budget (the US spends more on its military than the next 10 countries combined), the Pentagon's "inauditable" financial statements (the Pentagon insists that they will "achieve audit readiness" by 2017, 20 years after it was required to do so), and ideas from various think tanks that could save billions in the defense budget.
An Al Jazeera post on Friday reminds us of the harsh conditions facing refugees from the Syrian civil war. Describing the scene at the refugee tent camp in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon, Josh Wood writes: "...snow dumped by Lebanon’s first storm of the season melts when the temperature rises a few degrees above freezing during the day, turning the narrow paths between tents into shin-deep patches of mud. Thursday found children standing shivering by a puddle, their rubber sandals sinking into the mud and their pajama pants rolled up in a futile attempt to keep them clean....At least 80,000 Syrian refugees in Lebanon are living at winter’s mercy in tent settlements like this one, according to Dana Sleiman, a public-information officer with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Hundreds of thousands more are living in unfinished buildings, garages and other structures offering insufficient protection against winter’s bite."
BBC News noted the increasing concern in the West of "the violence perpetrated [across Syria] by the Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), hardline Islamic radicals linked to al-Qaeda." Although the position of the West publically is that Assad must go, privately some are beginning to question that position. "As the year draws to a close, and the West's chosen allies in Syria suffer one setback after another, have policymakers started to ponder the unthinkable - that there's more to be gained from working with Mr Assad than against him?"
Ahead of John Kerry's trip to the Middle East to try to breathe some life into the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, Al Jazeera reported on the pessimistic assessment published on Wednesday by the European Council on Foreign Relations: the two-state solution for Israel and Palestine has become increasingly unlikely. The two-state solution has been the "default negotiating position of the United States and the international community" since the 1993 Oslo Accords. "According to researchers, the two factors found to place the most strain on a two-state solution were the 'territorial issue' and 'the dynamics of the Israeli political and public debate.' Researchers noted strain added by the decreasing physical space available to establish a territorially contiguous Palestinian state, as a result of ongoing Israeli settlement growth. They noted that as of July 2013, there were 367,000 Israeli settlers in the Israeli occupied West Bank, whereas the total had been a little over 100,000 at the beginning of the Oslo process 20 years ago. Israeli discourse also strained the likelihood of realizing two states. Levy said the “indifference of the Israeli public” to the Palestinian issue and “a government that includes – something that is relatively new – a significant cohort opposed to two states, and who say that there are other options” has weakened the appeal of the two-state paradigm in Israel."
Meanwhile, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz opined on November 27 that, with the EU intent on preventing funds from flowing to Israeli companies operating on Palestinian land, "Israel is now beginning to pay the price of its deeds in the occupied territories. Four years after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at Bar-Ilan University, in which he recognized the principle of two states but nevertheless refused to stop construction in the settlements - following the government’s extremist statements and decisions to build thousands of housing units in the settlements; and following Israel’s ongoing harassment of Palestinian residents of the territories - the international community is beginning to take practical measures against Israel’s tactics of deception and the apartheid it practices toward the Palestinians." In an article published December 13, Haaretz reported that "The European Union is expected to announce on Monday that it will offer an unprecedented assistance package to Israel and the Palestinians, if the two parties sign a final-status agreement. The organization also promised to upgrade relations with both parties to the highest level possible for nonmember nations in the event of a peace treaty."
Image of Syrian refugee camp is from the Al Jazeera article and by Ahmad Shalha/Reuters.
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Best News of the Year
This is The Left
Bank Café's 200th post. I thought it appropriate to celebrate the occasion with a listing of
some of the best news of 2013 as well as a list of the top 5 viewed Left Bank Café posts. There are still three weeks left in 2013 but I'm not sure
much better will come along in the next couple of weeks. In roughly chronological order, here are some of
the best of this year's stories.
In March, the College of Cardinals elected Argentinian Jorge Mario Bergoglio Pope. Choosing his papal name after Francis of Assisi, he gave an early indication of what would become the priorities for his papacy. The poor of the world moved to front and center. The Catholic Church has, for centuries, taught that all have an obligation to the disadvantaged. What was different about this Pope were the emphasis he placed on it and his symbolic actions of empathy. Then in late November he issued his first apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (Joy of the Gospels). Evangelii Gaudium covers much ground (full text and Porta Fidei website summary) but the items getting the most attention in the Western, and particularly the US, press are his comments on "trickle down" economics and income inequality. Here are a couple of widely quoted passages that spell out in the clearest terms possible what the application of the Gospel means in a poorly regulated capitalistic system.
In May, Maryland became the 18th state to abolish the death penalty and thereby join the rest of the civilized world. The death penalty is still imposed in 32 US states. In 2012 the US was the sixth highest executioner of prisoners - only China, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen killed more. Quite a group to be in with...
State legislatures introduced and/or passed legislation to control gun violence and foster clean energy initiatives. In the absence of any Congressional action, this comes as good news. Needless to say, the state initiatives are already under attack from conservative lobbyists and special interest groups. On gun violence, the New York Times noted on September 15: "Since the Newtown shooting, robust background check laws or packages of gun legislation were enacted in four states with Democrat-controlled governments — Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland and New York — as well as in Colorado, the site of two mass shootings, in Aurora in 2012 and in Columbine in 1999. Others states, including Alabama, South Carolina, Texas and Utah, enacted far more modest legislation to strengthen restrictions on the possession of guns by people with mental illnesses or those involved in domestic violence cases." On clean energy, this year at least 44 pieces of legislation to strengthen "renewable portfolio standards" were proposed or enacted in 18 states. [CleanEnergyStates.org] A Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) is "a regulation that requires the increased production of energy from renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal." [Wikipedia] Special kudos to Nevada, Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. These states did not also have counterbalancing legislation introduced that would weaken RPS's.
In November, the G3+3 reached an interim agreement with Iran on limiting its uranium enrichment and allowing complete inspection of the country's nuclear facilities. This is the year's most important diplomatic victory and the decade's most important action to stabilize the Middle East. Reuters said the agreement signalled "the start of a game-changing rapprochement that would reduce the risk of a wider Middle East war." [Left Bank Café Post of Nov 25] Le Monde Diplomatique compared it to "the historic meeting between US president Richard Nixon and China’s Mao Zedong in February 1972... [which] transformed the entire geopolitical scene." [Left Bank Café Post of Dec 7]
The US Senate revised its filibuster rule. The change reduces the threshold from 60 votes to 51 votes for Senate approval of executive branch and non-Supreme Court judicial nominees. The move was prompted by the unprecedented Republican use of the filibuster during Obama's two terms to block Obama nominations. Passed on November 21, the rules change has just seen its first success - Patricia Millett's confirmation to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on December 10. [Left Bank Café post of Aug 5 ranked the filibuster as the #5 threat to American democracy]
Finally, two items from the world of science and medicine make the best news list - the Argus II bionic eye and a gene therapy treatment for blood cancers. Popular Science in its December issue named the Argus II bionic eye "The Innovation of the Year". The first FDA-approved artificial retina uses a video camera and a microprocessor to send images to an electrode array implanted in the back of the eye. "The optic nerve picks up these signals and sends them to the brain, where they are interpreted as rudimentary gray-scale images....trials are planned to test the treatment of macular degeneration, the most common cause of blindness in Americans over the age of 60." On the gene therapy treatment, NBC News writes: "In one of the biggest advances against leukemia and other blood cancers in many years, doctors are reporting unprecedented success by using gene therapy to transform patients' blood cells into soldiers that seek and destroy cancer." The treatment has been successfully applied to adults and children who were "gravely ill patients out of options."
Top 5 (or 6) Viewed Posts on the Left Bank Café
#1 Most Viewed: Night Fishing at Antibes
#2: 2312 (a novel by Kim Stanley Robinson)
#3: Sunday Round-Up May 26, 2013
#4: When the Blue Shift Comes; End of Time Sci-Fi
#5 (tie): Existence (a novel)
#5 (tie): Masters of War
Correction upon a recount: The Leader and the Demagogue post had several more views than either Existence or Masters of War.
====
Image and quote of Pope Francis is from the usmessageboard.com website
In March, the College of Cardinals elected Argentinian Jorge Mario Bergoglio Pope. Choosing his papal name after Francis of Assisi, he gave an early indication of what would become the priorities for his papacy. The poor of the world moved to front and center. The Catholic Church has, for centuries, taught that all have an obligation to the disadvantaged. What was different about this Pope were the emphasis he placed on it and his symbolic actions of empathy. Then in late November he issued his first apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (Joy of the Gospels). Evangelii Gaudium covers much ground (full text and Porta Fidei website summary) but the items getting the most attention in the Western, and particularly the US, press are his comments on "trickle down" economics and income inequality. Here are a couple of widely quoted passages that spell out in the clearest terms possible what the application of the Gospel means in a poorly regulated capitalistic system.
“...some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world. This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system. Meanwhile, the excluded are still waiting."
“While the earnings of a minority are growing exponentially, so too is the gap separating the majority from the prosperity enjoyed by those happy few. This imbalance is the result of ideologies which defend the absolute autonomy of the marketplace and financial speculation. Consequently, they reject the right of states, charged with vigilance for the common good, to exercise any form of control. A new tyranny is thus born, invisible and often virtual, which unilaterally and relentlessly imposes its own laws and rules."
(Time named Pope Francis its "Person of the Year" today. [Reuters])
(Time named Pope Francis its "Person of the Year" today. [Reuters])
In May, Maryland became the 18th state to abolish the death penalty and thereby join the rest of the civilized world. The death penalty is still imposed in 32 US states. In 2012 the US was the sixth highest executioner of prisoners - only China, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen killed more. Quite a group to be in with...
State legislatures introduced and/or passed legislation to control gun violence and foster clean energy initiatives. In the absence of any Congressional action, this comes as good news. Needless to say, the state initiatives are already under attack from conservative lobbyists and special interest groups. On gun violence, the New York Times noted on September 15: "Since the Newtown shooting, robust background check laws or packages of gun legislation were enacted in four states with Democrat-controlled governments — Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland and New York — as well as in Colorado, the site of two mass shootings, in Aurora in 2012 and in Columbine in 1999. Others states, including Alabama, South Carolina, Texas and Utah, enacted far more modest legislation to strengthen restrictions on the possession of guns by people with mental illnesses or those involved in domestic violence cases." On clean energy, this year at least 44 pieces of legislation to strengthen "renewable portfolio standards" were proposed or enacted in 18 states. [CleanEnergyStates.org] A Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) is "a regulation that requires the increased production of energy from renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal." [Wikipedia] Special kudos to Nevada, Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. These states did not also have counterbalancing legislation introduced that would weaken RPS's.
In November, the G3+3 reached an interim agreement with Iran on limiting its uranium enrichment and allowing complete inspection of the country's nuclear facilities. This is the year's most important diplomatic victory and the decade's most important action to stabilize the Middle East. Reuters said the agreement signalled "the start of a game-changing rapprochement that would reduce the risk of a wider Middle East war." [Left Bank Café Post of Nov 25] Le Monde Diplomatique compared it to "the historic meeting between US president Richard Nixon and China’s Mao Zedong in February 1972... [which] transformed the entire geopolitical scene." [Left Bank Café Post of Dec 7]
The US Senate revised its filibuster rule. The change reduces the threshold from 60 votes to 51 votes for Senate approval of executive branch and non-Supreme Court judicial nominees. The move was prompted by the unprecedented Republican use of the filibuster during Obama's two terms to block Obama nominations. Passed on November 21, the rules change has just seen its first success - Patricia Millett's confirmation to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on December 10. [Left Bank Café post of Aug 5 ranked the filibuster as the #5 threat to American democracy]
Finally, two items from the world of science and medicine make the best news list - the Argus II bionic eye and a gene therapy treatment for blood cancers. Popular Science in its December issue named the Argus II bionic eye "The Innovation of the Year". The first FDA-approved artificial retina uses a video camera and a microprocessor to send images to an electrode array implanted in the back of the eye. "The optic nerve picks up these signals and sends them to the brain, where they are interpreted as rudimentary gray-scale images....trials are planned to test the treatment of macular degeneration, the most common cause of blindness in Americans over the age of 60." On the gene therapy treatment, NBC News writes: "In one of the biggest advances against leukemia and other blood cancers in many years, doctors are reporting unprecedented success by using gene therapy to transform patients' blood cells into soldiers that seek and destroy cancer." The treatment has been successfully applied to adults and children who were "gravely ill patients out of options."
Top 5 (or 6) Viewed Posts on the Left Bank Café
#1 Most Viewed: Night Fishing at Antibes
#2: 2312 (a novel by Kim Stanley Robinson)
#3: Sunday Round-Up May 26, 2013
#4: When the Blue Shift Comes; End of Time Sci-Fi
#5 (tie): Existence (a novel)
#5 (tie): Masters of War
Correction upon a recount: The Leader and the Demagogue post had several more views than either Existence or Masters of War.
====
Image and quote of Pope Francis is from the usmessageboard.com website
Saturday, December 7, 2013
Sunday Round-Up - December 8, 2013
This is the weekly selection of news from sources outside the US mainstream media. Today we look at the passing of Nelson Mandela, the Iran nuclear deal, the New Zealand climate refugee case, and the activities of ALEC - the conservative group behind some of the most regressive legislation in the country.
"This is the moment of our deepest sorrow. Our nation has lost its greatest son," President Jacob Zuma said last night following the death of the world's most loved statesman, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. Thus leads the Times (of Johannesburg) article announcing the death on Thursday of the iconic South African. Nelson Mandela was instrumental in ending apartheid in his country and his passing is being mourned by millions around the world. The Times reports on his fellow South Africans' reactions to his passing and concludes: "His charisma, generosity of spirit, and an unwavering commitment to the wellbeing of his fellow humans, earned him love and acclaim across the globe. It earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 and as an elder statesman he continued to champion the cause of reconciliation, peace and human rights, speaking out strongly on issues including Aids and armed conflict." He was 95. [Link to Times Live "Nelson Mandela: A Timeline"]
Don't listen to the critics of the Iran nuclear deal. As James Action writes in his post at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace that criticism is wrong. The agreement will slow Iran's nuclear progress. "To accurately assess the Geneva deal, four questions need to be answered. First, if Iran abides by the agreement, how much further will it be from the bomb than if there had been no agreement? Second, has the P5+1 made disproportionate concessions to get the deal? Third, if Iran violates the terms of the Geneva agreement, is its noncompliance likely to be detected? And, fourth, if noncompliance is detected, can anything meaningful be done about it? The answers to all of these questions demonstrate that the deal is a good one." He explores the answers to these questions in detail in the post. Serge Halimi presents the same message in Le Monde Diplomatique, adding that "after 30 years of confrontation, direct or through intermediaries, Iran and the US are preparing to normalise relations. The event recalls the historic meeting between US president Richard Nixon and China’s Mao Zedong in February 1972... [which] transformed the entire geopolitical scene. The thaw between Iran and US, Halimi writes, "could also help to settle conflicts in Syria and Afghanistan."
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The well-funded conservative group ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) is behind many of the most regressive, anti-government and anti-democracy efforts in the country - including, but certainly not limited to, voter suppression laws. The Guardian has some of the best coverage of their efforts. At a time when Citizens United threatens to undermine the foundations of American democracy and rampant partisanship threatens to make government dysfunctional, ALEC is an organization that deserves careful scrutiny. Here are links to some of The Guardian's recent coverage. Scary reading...
December 4: ALEC calls for penalties on 'freerider' homeowners in assault on clean energy
December 3:ALEC facing funding crisis from donor exodus in wake of Trayvon Martin row (yes, they are behind the stand your ground laws)
November 20: Obamacare faces new threat at state level from corporate interest group Alec
(This one is too shameless not to summarize: "A new ALEC proposal, approved by its annual meeting in Chicago in August and published as a model bill for adoption by state assemblies across the nation, would scupper the federal health insurance exchanges set up under Obamacare. The Health Care Freedom Act, as ALEC calls its model bill, threatens to strip health insurers of their licenses to do new business on the federal exchanges should they accept any subsidies under the system.")
August 8: US lobbying group Alec pushing pro-gun agenda despite promise to stop
After New Zealand's high court rejected his appeal for asylum as a climate refugee, Ioane Teitiota has decided to take the case to the Court of Appeals. Radio New Zealand reported on Wednesday that "Mr Teitiota's lawyer Michael Kidd said on Wednesday the father-of-three will now take his case to the Court of Appeal, where he will argue that rising sea levels are making his homeland uninhabitable." With a predicted rise of sea level of a half meter or more according to the latest IPCC assessment report, much of Kiribati will be under water by the end of the century. The Kiribati native's island country's "elevation is no more than 2 meters above sea level. Its fresh water comes from aquifers. Saltwater intrusion into the aquifers is expected to make the islands uninhabitable before rising water overtakes settlements." [Conservation International website]
Nelson Mandela Images and Quotes
Hate and love - quotespick.com
Poverty - activatingthoughts.blogspot.com
"This is the moment of our deepest sorrow. Our nation has lost its greatest son," President Jacob Zuma said last night following the death of the world's most loved statesman, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. Thus leads the Times (of Johannesburg) article announcing the death on Thursday of the iconic South African. Nelson Mandela was instrumental in ending apartheid in his country and his passing is being mourned by millions around the world. The Times reports on his fellow South Africans' reactions to his passing and concludes: "His charisma, generosity of spirit, and an unwavering commitment to the wellbeing of his fellow humans, earned him love and acclaim across the globe. It earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 and as an elder statesman he continued to champion the cause of reconciliation, peace and human rights, speaking out strongly on issues including Aids and armed conflict." He was 95. [Link to Times Live "Nelson Mandela: A Timeline"]Don't listen to the critics of the Iran nuclear deal. As James Action writes in his post at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace that criticism is wrong. The agreement will slow Iran's nuclear progress. "To accurately assess the Geneva deal, four questions need to be answered. First, if Iran abides by the agreement, how much further will it be from the bomb than if there had been no agreement? Second, has the P5+1 made disproportionate concessions to get the deal? Third, if Iran violates the terms of the Geneva agreement, is its noncompliance likely to be detected? And, fourth, if noncompliance is detected, can anything meaningful be done about it? The answers to all of these questions demonstrate that the deal is a good one." He explores the answers to these questions in detail in the post. Serge Halimi presents the same message in Le Monde Diplomatique, adding that "after 30 years of confrontation, direct or through intermediaries, Iran and the US are preparing to normalise relations. The event recalls the historic meeting between US president Richard Nixon and China’s Mao Zedong in February 1972... [which] transformed the entire geopolitical scene. The thaw between Iran and US, Halimi writes, "could also help to settle conflicts in Syria and Afghanistan."
.jpg)
The well-funded conservative group ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) is behind many of the most regressive, anti-government and anti-democracy efforts in the country - including, but certainly not limited to, voter suppression laws. The Guardian has some of the best coverage of their efforts. At a time when Citizens United threatens to undermine the foundations of American democracy and rampant partisanship threatens to make government dysfunctional, ALEC is an organization that deserves careful scrutiny. Here are links to some of The Guardian's recent coverage. Scary reading...December 4: ALEC calls for penalties on 'freerider' homeowners in assault on clean energy
December 3:ALEC facing funding crisis from donor exodus in wake of Trayvon Martin row (yes, they are behind the stand your ground laws)
November 20: Obamacare faces new threat at state level from corporate interest group Alec
(This one is too shameless not to summarize: "A new ALEC proposal, approved by its annual meeting in Chicago in August and published as a model bill for adoption by state assemblies across the nation, would scupper the federal health insurance exchanges set up under Obamacare. The Health Care Freedom Act, as ALEC calls its model bill, threatens to strip health insurers of their licenses to do new business on the federal exchanges should they accept any subsidies under the system.")
August 8: US lobbying group Alec pushing pro-gun agenda despite promise to stop
After New Zealand's high court rejected his appeal for asylum as a climate refugee, Ioane Teitiota has decided to take the case to the Court of Appeals. Radio New Zealand reported on Wednesday that "Mr Teitiota's lawyer Michael Kidd said on Wednesday the father-of-three will now take his case to the Court of Appeal, where he will argue that rising sea levels are making his homeland uninhabitable." With a predicted rise of sea level of a half meter or more according to the latest IPCC assessment report, much of Kiribati will be under water by the end of the century. The Kiribati native's island country's "elevation is no more than 2 meters above sea level. Its fresh water comes from aquifers. Saltwater intrusion into the aquifers is expected to make the islands uninhabitable before rising water overtakes settlements." [Conservation International website]
Nelson Mandela Images and Quotes
Hate and love - quotespick.com
Poverty - activatingthoughts.blogspot.com
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