Sunday Roundup - April 6, 2014

This is the weekly selection of news and opinion from sources outside the US mainstream media.  Today we look at climate change and, in brief, Syria, Ukraine and the EU economy.

"Nobody on this planet is going to be untouched by the impacts of climate change"

Climate Change Effects Map from IPCC "Summary for Policy Makers"

Spanish cargo ship hitting sea dyke in France during winter storm - Euronews

The second part of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Fifth Assessment Report on global warming was released last week.  Computer simulations backed by empirical data "repeatedly drew causal links between the punishing natural phenomena [observed in recent years] and extended human activity."  Presenting the findings in Yokohama, IPCC Chairman Rajendra Pachauri said: “We have assessed impacts as they are happening, and impacts on natural and human systems on all continents and oceans. And I would like to emphasise that nobody on this planet is going to be untouched by the impacts of climate change." Speaking with euronews, Daniela Schmidt, the lead author of the report, said "what our findings very clearly spell out is that since the time of the dinosaurs we have not had climate change at rates as rapid as it’s currently happening."  [euronews, April 2]

The report assesses various options for adaptation to climate change and shows that "adaptation is an option only if efforts to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions are strengthened substantially. Without mitigation, the impacts of climate change will be devastating."  RealClimate.org has a summary of the key findings in the IPCC report.  Highlights from the post by climate scientist Wolfgang Cramer follow.

Impacts of anthropogenic climatic change are observed worldwide and have been linked to observed climate using rigorous methods. Such impacts have occurred in many ecosystems on land and in the ocean, in glaciers and rivers, and they concern food production and the livelihoods of people in developing countries - See more at: http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2014/04/impacts-of-climate-change-part-2-of-the-new-ipcc-report-has-been-approved/#sthash.JFUgl8SE.dpuf

Impacts of anthropogenic climatic change are observed worldwide and have been linked to observed climate using rigorous methods. Such impacts have occurred in many ecosystems on land and in the ocean, in glaciers and rivers, and they concern food production and the livelihoods of people in developing countries - See more at: http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2014/04/impacts-of-climate-change-part-2-of-the-new-ipcc-report-has-been-approved/#sthash.JFUgl8SE.dpuf

Impacts of anthropogenic climatic change are observed worldwide and have been linked to observed climate using rigorous methods. Such impacts have occurred in many ecosystems on land and in the ocean, in glaciers and rivers, and they concern food production and the livelihoods of people in developing countries - See more at: http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2014/04/impacts-of-climate-change-part-2-of-the-new-ipcc-report-has-been-approved/#sthash.JFUgl8SE.dpuf

• Impacts of anthropogenic climatic change are observed worldwide and have been linked to observed climate using rigorous methods. Such impacts have occurred in many ecosystems on land and in the ocean, in glaciers and rivers, and they concern food production and the livelihoods of people in developing countries.
• "High” scenarios of climate change...will likely result in catastrophic impacts on most aspects of human life on the planet. 
• Significant reductions [in agricultural yields] are highly likely to dominate in later decades of the present century [from 2030 onwards]...The situation for global fisheries is comparably bleak...[with] a loss of marine productivity to be expected in nearly all tropical waters....
• Urban areas in developing countries will be particularly affected.  Improved urban planning, focusing on the resilience of residential areas and transport systems of the poor, can deliver important contributions to adaptation. This would also have to include better preparation for the regionally rising risks from typhoons, heat waves and floods.
• Enhanced global warming may significantly increase risks of future violent conflict.
• Economic losses will be most tangible for countries, regions and social groups already disadvantaged compared to others....[the] economic impacts of climate change will push large additional numbers of people into poverty and the risk of malnutrition, due to various factors including increase in food prices.
• There is no globally acceptable “one-fits-all” concept for adaptation....[Context-specific solutions] can provide opportunities to enhance the quality of life and local economic development in many regions – this would then also reduce vulnerabilities to climate change.

I was intrigued by the "context-specific solutions" for adaptation to climate change in the "Summary for Policy Makers"..  The tool kit for the adaptation solutions is contained in Assessment Box SPM.2 Table 1 and Table SPM.1 in the IPCC "Summary for Policy Makers."  The Assessment Box provides a summary of the major risks for each region and potential adaptation strategies.  Table SPM.1 covers everything from human development factors to ecosystem and disaster risk management to engineering, technological, and ecosystem-based options.  Will nations have the political will to prioritize the necessary actions?  Will they make the necessary effort to significantly mitigate greenhouse gas emissions?  Without this latter, the adaptation strategies will be for naught.

In Brief

“high” scenarios of climate change (those where global mean temperature reaches four degrees C or more above preindustrial conditions – a situation that is not at all unlikely according to part one of the report) will likely result in catastrophic impacts on most aspects of human life on the planet. - See more at: http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2014/04/impacts-of-climate-change-part-2-of-the-new-ipcc-report-has-been-approved/#sthash.JFUgl8SE.dpuf

Syria
The transport of containers packed with 40% of Syria's chemical weapons to the port of Latakia for shipment outside the country is being has been delayed because of violence in the area.  Islamist insurgents launched an offensive in the region around March 20.  Syrian authorities have assigned forces to provide security for the convoys to deal with the increased violence in the area.  Meanwhile, the Syrian government and insurgents traded charges on chemical weapons last week.  The number of Syrian refugees who have fled to Lebanon officially topped 1 million on Thursday, highlighting the growing humanitarian catastrophe caused by Syria's civil war and the huge burden placed on its poorly prepared neighbors. [Reuters, April 2 and 3]

Ukraine
In a March 24 op-ed blog at The Guardian, Richard Norton-Taylor writes that instead of indulging in bluster and provocative rhetoric on Russia's annexation of the Ukraine, the UK and NATO commanders should make clear that NATO has no designs on the country. NATO has extended enough.  In a Le Monde Diplomatique post of April 3, Jean-Arnault Dérens and Laurent Geslin write that Ukraine’s president has fled and there is an interim government, but the power brokers who will make or break the country’s future include many of the same oligarchs who backed the last regime.  

European Economy
The International Business Times reported on April 1 that "In the EU, the unemployment rate was recorded at 10.6 percent in February, down from 10.7 percent in January and 10.9 percent in February 2013."  The lowest unemployment rates were in Austria (4.8%) and Germany (5.1%) while the highest were in Greece (27.5% in December) and Spain (25.6%).  The European recovery from the worldwide recession has been slower in Europe than in the US - primarily because of the European emphasis on austerity/deficit reduction.  In a January 2014 analysis of the different rates of recovery that appeared in The Guardian, Mark Weisbrot wrote: "After some stimulus..., the eurozone governments...engaged in more and earlier budget tightening than the United States did; and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has shown a clear relationship between this fiscal tightening and reduced GDP growth."  France is trying to do something about this overemphasis on deficit reduction.  In an April 2 post,  Euronews reports that: "Reversing France’s economic decline is high on the list of President Hollande’s priorities and his cabinet reshuffle means a more powerful role as economy minister for outspoken leftist politician Arnaud Montebourg...The fiery Montebourg has accused the European Union of hurting growth with austerity measures he says are misguided and called the policies of German Chancellor Angela Merkel 'dangerous and suicidal'.  As industry minister, he has been openly protectionist to secure French jobs, repeatedly sided with trade unions against bosses."



Other Links
Left Bank Cafe posts on the first part of the IPCC report published in 2013 can be found at this October 3 post and this October 6 post.

Sunday Roundup - March 2, 2014

This is the weekly selection of news and opinion from sources outside the US mainstream media.  Today we look at voter suppression, the plight of Palestinian refugees in Syria, climate change and coffee, Britain's diminished role in Europe, the protests in Venezuela, and the Carnival in Rio.

"The War Against Early Voting Heats Up"
Along with the voter id laws, the second prong in the Republican voter suppression effort is the reduction in early voting hours.  In a February 26 article in The American Prospect, Brent Mock writes: "The ink is barely dry on the report from President Obama’s election administration commission and states are already disregarding its blue-ribbon recommendations, namely around early voting."  The trigger for the article was Ohio's Secretary of State Jon Husted's release of a new voting schedule that deletes both of Ohio's pre-Election Day Sundays from the early voting formula.  "The Sunday erasures come in conflict with the 'souls to the polls' black church-led campaigns to take their congregants to vote after worship services....In 2008, over 77 percent of people who voted early in Ohio were African-American....The early voting cuts come on top of another controversial decision to move one of the state’s most heavily used early voting locations from downtown Cincinnati to a neighborhood that voting rights advocates say is far less accessible for those of low-income and the disabled."  Other red states are also working to reduce African-American turnout.  "In Georgia, legislators have introduced a bill that would reduce the early voting period from 21 days to six. When civil rights groups appeared at a hearing to voice their opposition to the bill, they were not allowed to speak, according to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund."

Food Queue in Syria's Yarmouk Refugee Camp
"It is a vision of unimaginable desolation: a crowd of men, women and children stretching as far as the eye can see into the war-devastated landscape of Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus. A photograph released on Wednesday by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, shows the scene when thousands of desperate Palestinians trapped inside the camp on the edge of the Syrian capital emerged to besiege aid workers attempting to distribute food parcels." 18,000 people have been trapped in the camp since last July and many are now weak, malnourished and prone to disease. "Yarmouk camp, about five miles from the centre of Damascus, was home to more than 100,000 registered Palestinian refugees before the war. Many have fled to other areas of Syria, or abroad. Some have made their way to Gaza."  [The Guardian, February 26]

Climate Change and Your Morning Joe
An avid coffee drinker, I was not at all happy to read this in a Mother Jones/Slate/Climate Desk article:  "Climate change has already taken the Winter Olympics, your Eggos, and the McDonald's dollar menu, and now it's coming for your coffee, too.  An epic drought—Brazil's worst in decades—is threatening exports from the world's largest coffee exporter and driving up wholesale prices worldwide...Arabica coffee futures are up more than 50 percent in just the last two months in response. The current run on coffee is an example of the kinds of follow-on effects to be expected as the climate warms and rainfall patterns become more erratic. The ongoing lack of rainfall, coupled with record high temperatures across the whole of southeast South America during the current Southern Hemisphere summer, is just the kind of extreme weather event that's been becoming more common over recent years."   [Mother Jones, Feb 27]  Okay, it's admittedly not the worst thing that will happen as climate change kicks in over the coming years - but it is a reminder of how everyday life is going to change.  (As if this winter hasn't been enough!)

Britain's Role in the Europe Union
In an article adapted from his new book for Der Spiegel Online, Labour Party member Will Straw writes that, given its phenomenal success "in shaping [European Union] institutions to British strategic goals,...Britain might have been expected to play a constructive role in helping the EU deal with the two most fundamental challenges of the current crisis: [economic] growth and democracy."  Instead the current Tory government "has created a degree of instability for the British business community by calling for a repatriation of powers [that is to return powers that Tories believe should reside with the UK to the UK]  and a referendum on the continued membership of the EU."  On the whole, the EU austerity policies have so far failed to achieve either economic growth or a reduction in public debt while inflicting "painful cuts to public spending". Straw notes several ways that the UK could have helped in the Euro-zone economic crisis.  Among the measures advanced by Mr. Straw, the EU should have encouraged "greater flexibility on fiscal targets so that countries suffering rapid increases in employment could ease off spending cuts (a policy belatedly adopted by the Commission) , developed a more stringent and symmetrical monitoring of current account imbalances to prevent core countries like Germany building up massive surpluses at the expense of deficits on the periphery [Spain, Greece, etc.]", and "looking forward, the UK should encourage the appointment of a new growth commissioner within the next European Commission."

Venezuelan Protests
What started as student protests demanding greater security after an allegation of attempted rape in early February escalated when hard-liners in Venezuela's opposition movement joined the demonstrations to protest the government's leftist policies.  Anti-government factions took to the streets to protest the high inflation rate (~52%), the shortage of basic items and the high crime rate - all problems that have been endemic to Venezuela for decades.  More than a dozen people have been killed in the ensuing violence.  Pro-government demonstrations and marches have also been held.  In an attempt to balance its coverage, The Guardian also presented some of "the other side" of the story which has gotten scant attention in the Western press.  On February 24, The Guardian published a letter signed by a range of figures "including former London Mayor Ken Livingstone and the filmmaker John Pilger denouncing the violence, and pointing to the links between prominent opposition leaders and the attempted coup of 2002."  On February 27, The Guardian's "guardianwitness" blog presented views of people who did not take part in the protests.  Here are brief extracts from a couple of them:

"As a student in the nineties I participated in several demos. We used to fight for free access to education, healthcare and such. Under Chávez’s government we improved as a society in many of these aspects." - blogger Coromoto Jaraba Pineda

"Doing all this for the ideal that everything is going to be perfect if Maduro goes is stupid: corruption, economic situation and insecurity are deep problems that comes from Venezuelan culture, including the economical situation, because inflation and shortages are a result of speculation and corruption." - Ana Maria Castro via GuardianWitness, 22 February 2014


Carnival in Rio

 (Brazilian Tourist Board image is of the samba competition that traditionally kicks off the long weekend and appeared in The Independent.)

The Venezuelan protests may have throttled the Carnival celebrations there, but Rio's Carnival is getting into full swing.  The festivities began Friday night and before they end on Tuesday, Brazil will play host to millions of visitors coming to enjoy the parades and costumes.  "In defiance of the economic turmoil and political unrest that has marred the country’s image on the international stage in recent months, some regions are [expecting] visitor numbers to “more than double” this year, in a much-needed boost to the nation’s tourism industry.  The biggest party will centre on Rio de Janeiro, and the city expects to welcome 920,000 tourists over the course of the long weekend."  [The Independent, Feb 27]

Sunday Round-Up October 27, 2013

In this week's selection of news and opinion from outside the US mainstream media, we look at European reaction to NSA spying, climate refugees, Syria and an update on the Bo Xilai case.  Sources include The Guardian, Deutsche Welle and BBC News.

The Guardian, which played a key role in bringing the NSA spying documents to the public's attention, had several stories on the European reaction to recent revelations. 

On October 25, Ian Traynor reported on warnings from Europeans that fallout from the spying was jeopardizing the international fight against terrorism:

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"Germany and France are to spearhead a drive to try to force the Americans to agree new transatlantic rules on intelligence and security service behaviour in the wake of the Snowden revelations and allegations of mass US spying in France and tapping of the German chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone.  At an EU summit in Brussels that was hijacked by the furor over the activities of the National Security Agency in the US and Britain's GCHQ, the French president, François Hollande, also called for a new code of conduct agreed between national intelligence services in the EU, raising the question of whether Britain would opt to join in.  Shaken by this week's revelations of NSA operations in France and Germany, EU leaders and Merkel in particular warned that the international fight against terrorism was being jeopardised by the perception that mass US surveillance was out of control."
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The Guardian's Lizzie Davies and Angelina Chrisafis reported on additional revelations from Italy and France noted in  L'Espresso and Le Monde:

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"The weekly L'Espresso magazine said it had learned that documents obtained by the whistleblower Edward Snowden showed the intensive monitoring of Italian telecoms networks by both the NSA and GCHQ.  L'Espresso ...said it had ascertained that Italy - and particularly Sicily - had become a focus of activity because of its strategic location between Europe, north Africa and the Middle East...

In France, the daily newspaper Le Monde published an internal NSA document which it said showed the "tensions and distrust between Paris and Washington".  The document, a preparatory note before a visit to the NSA by two top French intelligence officials in April 2013, shows that French officials suspected the US could have been behind a now well-known cyber-attack on the French presidential computer network at the Elysée in May 2012....The NSA document states that no US intelligence agency or of its close allies in Britain and Canada were behind the electronic attack...[and] shows that the US maintained it had no role in the cyber-attack."
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Deutsche Welle had an October 24 article on the Kiribati climate refugee case now being considered by New Zealand immigration authorities and the "legal void" that surrounds such cases.   

The case should be decided by the end of this month - just several weeks before UN-organized Warsaw Climate Change Conference. Migration because of climate changes - rising seas, increased extreme weather events and desertification - will increase as global warming takes its toll. Recent estimates have put the possible total at 700 million by mid-century.   (See also Left Bank Café post "Sunday Round-Up October 6, 2013) 

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"Recently, Kiribati's government suggested relocating the entire island state's population of over 100,000 people, if predictions prove accurate that the sea will rise by one meter (3.25 feet) by the end of the century. At the moment, half of the population is crammed on to the central island of Tarawa, which comprises 32 square kilometers (12.4 square miles) of land. New Zealand and Australia, the two most developed countries in the South Pacific, have in recent years resisted calls to change immigration rules in favor of Pacific people displaced by climate change....

But, while conditions in Kiribati are difficult, they do not fall within the scope of the UN refugee convention, said Ska Keller, a migration policy expert with the German Greens party in the European Parliament. At the moment, Finland and Sweden are the only countries in the world to have passed legislation allowing people to apply for asylum for environmental reasons, but the processes there remain largely untested."
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As the effort to secure and destroy Syrian chemical weaponry proceeds and the Syrian civil war continues, Deutsche Welle reports on alleged Jihadist attacks against Christians and moderate Muslims in an October 23 article.    

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 "They want to drive us out of Syria," [says] 29-year-old Jalal Gazouha, whose brother was killed by al Qaeda fighters...  By "they," he's referring to Jihadists from countries neighboring Syria...who have joined in the Syrian civil war to fight against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. According to Gazouha, they're also targeting Christians.. ..When Gazouha received death threats, he fled the country. "I saw my name on a list on the Internet. That list contained names of Christians who were supposed to be killed, he says, written by "the terrorists of al Qaeda."

 

Jean Kawak, a Syriac bishop from Damascus, chose his words carefully when he spoke about the subject with DW. "We Christians have recently felt threatened by particular radical Islamist groups," he said....These radicalized groups are not only targeting Christians though, Kawak says. "Moderate Muslims are also being threatened."

 

"Reconciliation is possible," says Kawak - of that he is convinced.  But what kind of reconciliation could be possible between Bashar al-Assad and the rebels, the latter of whom have rejected any form of political solution that leaves Assad in power? .... Jochen Langer, Middle East expert at the International Society for Human Rights, shares the bishop's concerns. "The Syrian army is trying, as well as they can, to protect Syria's Christians," he told DW. "But that's only possible to a limited extent."...

 

Sadiq Al-Mousslie, a member of the Syrian National Council in Germany that forms part of the Syrian National Coalition, acknowledges that there were cases of "sporadic attacks by sick individuals" [but denies they were targeted attacks.]"

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Update

[BBC News, October 25] Bo Xilai's appeal of his life sentence was rejected by a Chinese court. "The former Chongqing Communist Party leader was convicted [on charges of bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power].in September....Bo only receives one chance to appeal and his sentence is now final. He could submit a complaint to the Supreme People's Court in Beijing, but the vast majority of such complaints are rejected and do not result in another trial." (See also Left Bank Café post of September 29.)

Sunday Round-Up - July 20, 2013

This is the weekly selection from sources outside the US mainstream media.  Today we look at the preliminary talks soon to get underway in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and Florida's stand your ground law, which played a major role in the acquittal of George Zimmerman for the death of Trayvon Martin.  Sources are The Guardian, Al Jazeera, Haaretz and Mother Jones.

Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process
This weekend The Guardian, Al Jazeera, and Haaretz all had posts dealing with the apparent movement toward preliminary talks in the long stalled Israeli-Palestinian final status negotiations.  The Guardian post noted that the Israelis had agreed to the release of Palestinians held in Israeli jails: "Yuval Steiniz, Israel's minister for international relations, said a prisoner release would be carried out in stages. 'I don't want to give numbers but there will be heavyweight prisoners who have been in jail for tens of years,' he told Israel Radio."  Somewhat more pessimistically they noted that Steiniz "said Israel would balk at agreeing on the pre-1967 border as the parameter for territorial negotiations. 'There is no chance we will agree to enter any negotiations that begin with defining territorial borders or concessions by Israel, nor a [settlement] construction freeze'. "  As for the Palestinian position, The Guardian reported "A senior Palestinian official said President Mahmoud Abbas had signed up 'not to a resumption of negotiations but only talks about talks'. The Palestinians would demand a written statement that the 1967 border would be the basis for territorial negotiations, he said, but the expectation was that Israel would refuse."  Al Jazeera also noted the prisoner release although they quoted Steiniz that the number would be limited.  " 'There will be a limited release of [Palestinian] prisoners,' Steinitz, the minister in charge of international relations and strategic affairs, told public radio on Saturday without giving numbers."  Al Jazeera's Rosalind Jordan, reporting from Washington, said "There's been concern about the number of settlements being built in the Occupied West Bank and a growing sense of dread that the prospect of a two state solution was slipping away.  It could be said that, if nothing else, Kerry has made a full throated effort to try to keep the two state solution alive." Haaretz reported on the role of European sanctions against the illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land in getting the parties to at least be at the same table: "The officials said the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas felt that the EU sanctions supported his position and therefore encouraged him to give up on his demand for a complete settlement freeze. Netanyahu, on the other hand, was alarmed by the sanctions’ effect on Israeli markets and on its international standing; furthermore he feared that Israeli public would blame him personally for Israel’s isolation."

Stand Your Ground
Florida's "stand your ground" law, which played a major role in the acquittal of George Zimmerman has been the object of rightful outrage in the past week.  In The Daily Show’s take on it, "acting-host John Oliver cuts to the quick, beginning with this:

 “… According to Florida law, you can get a gun, follow an unarmed minor, call the police, have them explicitly tell you to stop following them, then choose to ignore that, keep following the minor, then get into a confrontation with him, and if at any point during that process you get scared, you can shoot the minor to death and the state of Florida will say, ‘Well, look, you did what you could.’”

Meanwhile, Mother Jones debunks the conservative argument that the stand your ground law did not play a role in the acquittal.  From the Florida authorities' early mishandling of the case to the judge's instructions to the jury, the existence of the law was clearly the determining factor in the acquittal.  The July 19 post concludes that, in spite of the defense team not raising the issue of the statute, "in the end the statute still helped the defense.  In a follow-up statement to CNN after her interview sparked criticism, Juror B-37 said: 'My prayers are with all those who have the influence and power to modify the laws that left me with no verdict option other than 'not guilty' in order to remain within the instructions.'  And she and her fellow jurors may never have had to endure the trial if it weren't for Stand Your Ground, suggests  [Laura] Cutilletta, [a senior attorney at the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence]. "The increased paranoia that comes with being armed combined with the sense of legal entitlement to kill at will, we think, all contributed to the incident even occurring in the first place."