Sunday Roundup - March 30, 2014

This is the weekly selection of news and opinion from sources outside the US mainstream media.  Today we look at the happiest cities, the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the Iran nuclear talks, the US surveillance reforms, and Venezuela.

The Happiest Cities

Provo looking towards the mountains-from utahvalley.com website

Not sure what it is about the Spring but, in the past week, I've read two lists of "happiest cities" - one for the US and one for Italy.  Maybe it was occasioned by the UN declaration of March 20 as the International Day of Happiness.  Gallup teamed with Healthways to rank the US cities based on a "well-being index" that  looked at sense of purpose, social, financial, community, and physical well-being factors. [Gallup Poll website]   The top five US metropolitan areas using the well-being index are: Provo-Orem, Utah; Boulder, Colorado; Fort Collins-Loveland, Colorado; Honolulu, Hawaii, and San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California.  The Italians, on the other hand, analyzed 40 million tweets, characterizing them as happy (or not) using the iHappy Index..  Corriere Della Sera reports: Analysis of more than 40 million tweets collected daily from Italy’s 110 provinces reveals that in 2013, Italy’s happiness capital was Genoa. The Ligurian capital’s province topped the rankings with 75.5% of its tweets classified as happy. Hard on Genoa’s heels was Cagliari with 75.1% while other top ten towns included Parma (fourth with 72.9%), Bari (seventh on 71.7%) and Bologna (71.4%), which came second in 2012 but last year slid down to ninth place.  It appears that, more than anything else, weather affects the people's happiness in Italy.  Monday is the saddest day of the week and Christmas is the happiest holiday, followed closely by Mother's Day.  Living further south in Italy or in a coastal city also increases people's happiness.

Genoa Bay - from miriadna.com website

  
Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process
John Kerry met with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in Amman, Jordan, in an attempt to rescue the faltering peace process.  As reported in the The Guardian on March 26: Kerry arrived in the Jordanian capital hours after an Arab League summit in Kuwait released a statement emphatically declaring that Arab leaders would never recognise Israel as a "Jewish state", a key demand Netanyahu has made of Palestinians.  Increasingly harsh rhetoric is coming from both sides centered around Israeli settlement building on Palestinian land and the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.  After months of deadlock Kerry has given up hopes of brokering a deal and is instead concentrating his efforts on convincing the sides to agree to extend talks.  Otherwise, the negotiations are planned to end in April.

Iran Nuclear Talks
Writing for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Arms Control Today, George Perkovich recommends the Obama Administration and Congress divert a fraction of the time and energy now spent debating whether to add sanctions on Iran to the more difficult challenge of figuring out how to cooperate in removing them if a final agreement is reached.  Perkovich notes that the US and its negotiating partners seem to have reached a general understanding regarding key components that should be included in a satisfactory deal.  Iran must significantly constrain its activities related to uranium enrichment, revise plans to build a heavy-water reactor, resolve outstanding questions with the IAEA about Tehran’s past activities, and implement additional protocols to strengthen the IAEA’s ability to carry out inspections in the country and...[to] require Iran to provide design information as soon as decisions are made to construct a nuclear facility. To these Perkovich adds four less talked about components that would result in a well-rounded nuclear deal: constraints on enrichment activities, irreversible safeguards, circumscribed R&D, and new transparency and verification measures.  These measures would help build confidence “that under no circumstances will Iran ever seek or develop any nuclear weapons” and thus open the way to the final removal of sanctions.

Surveillance Reforms
President Obama confirmed on Tuesday March 25 that US plans to end the NSA's bulk collection of telephone records.  The House Intelligence Committee is close to an agreement with the White House to revamp the surveillance program.  The bipartisan USA Freedom Act, under consideration in both the House and Senate, would, in addition to ending bulk record collection, put limits on Patriot Act practices targeting people in the US, require the government obtain a court order before using information about Americans collected during foreign intelligence operations, and create a public advocate to advise the secret surveillance court. [ACLU webpage]   

The Guardian was instrumental in bringing NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden's revelations to the world's attention. A Guardian March 25 article gave Snowden's and Obama's comments on the surveillance reforms:  In a statement through the American Civil Liberties Union, Snowden said the plans outlined by Obama were a “turning point”...Snowden said none of these reforms would have happened without the disclosures he precipitated. “I believed that if the NSA's unconstitutional mass surveillance of Americans was known, it would not survive the scrutiny of the courts, the Congress, and the people.” ...Obama said he believed that reform proposals presented to him by the US intelligence agencies were “workable”, and would “eliminate” the concerns of privacy campaigners. “I am confident that it allows us to do what is necessary in order to deal with the threat of a terrorist attack, but does so in a way that addresses people's concerns."
[The Guardian, March 25]


Venezuela

"Chavismo" pro-government rally in Caracas (Feb 2014) (axisoflogic.com)

Democracy is under attack in Venezuela as opposition leaders attempt to thwart the will of the Venezuelan people.  Misinformation in the Western press and on social media have added to the problems facing the Maduro government.  On March 14, Al Jazeera published an open letter from 46 experts on Latin America calling on US Secretary of State John Kerry to "stand by democratic institutions and the rule of law" and to respect the legitimacy of the Maduro government in Venezuela.  The authors note that Maduro won the Presidential election in 2013 by a greater margin than did Kennedy in 1960, Nixon in 1968 and Bush in 2000.  They continue: Just two months ago, Maduro’s United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) and allied parties won a majority of municipal elections nationwide by a 10-point margin over the opposition. Those elections were widely seen by the Venezuelan opposition, the Venezuelan private media and the international media as a plebiscite on Maduro’s government, and the pro-government parties clearly won...It appears that a sector of the political opposition is determined to use those who want to protest peacefully as part of an effort to...overturn the results of democratic elections.  The authors note the histories of the two most prominent opposition leaders in trying to remove elected officials from office - in particular the role played by Leopoldo Lopez in the 2002 coup against Hugo Chavez.  We are troubled to note that so far the U.S. government has taken the most aggressive and partisan stance of any country in the hemisphere regarding the recent violence....the U.S. State Department has made statements that will only encourage the most radical, violent sectors of the opposition to continue on their current path.

Links
Lists of Most and Least Happy US Cities [Business Insider, March 25] 

The Top 10 Places in the World for Beautiful Weather [care2.com based on March/April 2014 Weatherwise Magazine article]

Viña del Mar, Chile - #1 for best weather (care2.com)

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."

Here's a link to APN's petition to the US Senate. 

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.)

Sunday Round-Up - November 17, 2013

This is the weekly selection of news and opinion from outside the US mainstream media.  Today we look at the Republican stranglehold on Congress, the Euro-recession, war spending and the deficit, The Guardian editor's upcoming appearance before Parliament, and bee colony collapse.

In an article posted on its website on November 11, Rolling Stone magazine takes up the lock on Congress that Republicans have in spite of the growing gap between their policies and the wishes of the majority of the electorate.  Tom Dickinson explains how national Republicans have rigged the game by "waging an unrelenting campaign to exploit every weakness and anachronism in our electoral system.  Through a combination of hyperpartisan redistricting of the House, unprecedented obstructionism in the Senate and racist voter suppression in the states, today's GOP has locked in political power that it could never have secured on a level playing field."  The redistricting of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan is described in some detail.  The vast sum of money spent by Republicans in North Carolina to take over the state legislature in 2010, voter suppression laws, activist judges and the unprecedented use of the filibuster in the Senate are exposed.  And, as Dickinson notes, the Republicans are not done yet.  "In a project with the explicit blessing of Republican National Committee Chairman..., a half-dozen Republican-dominated legislatures in states that swing blue in presidential elections have advanced proposals to abandon the winner-take-all standard in the Electoral College. These states would instead apportion electoral votes by the favored candidate of each congressional district – a method currently practiced by only two, small, homogenous states, Maine and Nebraska. Thanks to the GOP's gerrymandering, such a change would all but guarantee that a Democratic presidential candidate in a big, diverse state like Michigan would lose the split of electoral votes even if he or she won in a popular landslide."

"The EU economy will remain flat in 2013, EU economic affairs commissioner Olli Rehn said on Tuesday (5 November), as he downgraded the bloc's growth forecasts for 2014 and 2015...There was little to cheer for Europe's jobless. Unemployment levels are likely to remain virtually unchanged, although they are forecast to fall from 12.2 percent to 11.8 percent across the eurozone by 2015."   The November 13 EU Observer article should be a reminder to us of how austerity programs implemented to reduce deficits slow recovery from a recession.  The "sequestration" cuts, our own version of misguided austerity, will begin having a greater impact in 2014.  Combine this with the fiscal cliff negotiations and the possibility of another government shutdown and we may be in for an interesting ride leading to the 2014 mid-term elections.

Speaking of the US deficit, a Harvard report out earlier this year put the eventual total monetary cost of the Iraq and Afghan wars as high as 6 trillion dollars - or 35% of the 17 trillion dollars total national debt.  The DNA India website noted that this corresponds to $75,000 for every household in the country.  "There's a sense that we are turning the corner, but unfortunately, the legacy of these wars, because of decision about the way we fought and funded these wars, means we will be paying the costs for a long time to come," [Harvard Professor Linda] Bilmes said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph. "We may be mentally turning the page, but we are certainly not from a budgetary and financial perspective."   As the Congressional budget discussions proceed, it should be helpful to keep in mind this graphic from the National Priorities Project.



 

In the UK, Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger has been asked to appear before Parliament to give evidence regarding the intelligence files leaked by American whistleblower Edward Snowden.  Rusbridger will appear at a meeting of the home affairs select committee amidst rising criticism from British intelligence agencies and Tories.  "Alan has been invited to give evidence to the home affairs select committee and looks forward to appearing next month," a Guardian spokeswoman said.  A New York Times editorial  warns that the freedom of the press so essential to democratic accountability, is being challenged by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government of Prime Minister David Cameron.



Finally, here's an update on the bee colony collapse that's been occurring around the world and threatening to impact fruit and vegetable production.  Ars Technica reported on October 21 that Italian researchers had cut through the complexity of causes that had surrounded the bee colony collapse.  Infections, insecticides and agricultural practices were all thought to be involved.  "Previous toxicology work in mammals indicated that a specific class of insecticides, the neonicotinoids, could influence the activity of genes involved in the innate immune system."  The researchers started by showing that the same is true in insects. Initially, they worked with everyone's favorite fruit fly, Drosophila, showing that the equivalent genes responded in the same ways in the flies. They then showed that the innate immune response isn't activated when these same flies are exposed to an infection.... Various infections may still be doing the ultimate job of killing the bees, but their virulence could be explained by compromised immune function, caused by a combination of insecticide use and agricultural practices. The results will also provide further support for the European Union's attempt to ban the use of neonicotinoid pesticides."  The relationship between insecticides and colony collapse had been legally challenged by Bayer and Syngenta earlier this year.  

The image of the European honey bee is from Wikipedia.

Sunday Round-Up - November 3, 2013

This is the weekly selection of news and opinion from sources outside the US mainstream media.  Today we look at Iran, Syria, and the self-fulfilling prophecy of perpetual war.  Sources include The Christian Science Monitor, The Guardian, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and TomDispatch.com.

Iran

Nuclear talks with Iran are showing signs of progress and hope. Unfortunately that doesn't stop some in Congress from threatening additional sanctions against Iran as the next round of talks gets underway. The increasingly-ridiculous House of Representatives has passed a resolution requiring additional sanctions. In the Senate, which should know better, the Banking Committee is now considering a similar move. These actions do nothing but poison the negotiating atmosphere. The Christian Science Monitor reports on the comments of Iran Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, speaking in Turkey on November 1. Zarif "warned that the international community risked missing a chance to strike a deal over Iran’s nuclear program and lambasted a “zero-sum” diplomatic approach in which each side tried to make gains at the expense of the other." That approach has failed to achieve any progress in the one and half years of talks and both sides need a fresh approach. Zarif said that "Iran was ready to “do everything in our negotiations with the P5+1 to ensure that even the perception that Iran has anything but peaceful intentions for its nuclear program will be removed, because we believe that even the perception that Iran pursues a nuclear weapons program is not only wrong, but dangerous.” 

 

The Obama Administration is not standing still in the face of the hawkish Congressional rhetoric. The Guardian.in an October 25 article, reported Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman's comments to Voice of America that a delay in new sanctions will let the US see if talks over Iranian nuclear ambitions can gain traction. "The public nature of Sherman's statement was seen as a significant gesture to Tehran. 'I thought it was a very positive statement...the most forward-leaning statement that I can recall an Obama administration official using, when discussing sanctions, at any time over the past four to five years.' said Reza Marashi, research director at the National Iranian American Council. "It was very specific. That not only sends a message to Congress but it also sends a message I think to the Iranians as well. That shows a certain level of seriousness to make these kinds of statements publicly."

 

Syria

Syria has met the first deadline set by arms inspectors for the destruction of its chemical weapons.      "The Organisation for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) announced ...that Syria's declared chemical weapons production and mixing facilities had all been destroyed – a day ahead of the target it had set. It means that Syria can no longer produce any new chemical weapons, although it has yet to start destroying its existing stockpile. This is estimated at about 1,000 tonnes of chemicals and weapons, including mustard gas and the deadly nerve agent sarin."  But the humanitarian crisis continues with the recent confirmation of a polio outbreak among Syrian children.  David Miliband, a former British foreign secretary and head of the International Rescue Committee called it a "terrifying indication of what can happen when a country falls apart under the weight of war".[The Guardian, October 31]

 

Besides polio, other diseases are taking hold along the Syria-Turkey border.  "According to doctors struggling to cope with minimal state help in the frontier region, measles and other infectious diseases such as cutaneous leishmaniasis [which causes skin sores] have started to appear on both sides of the border. The World Health Organisation has already raised an alert about the revival of polio in northern Syria. All were previously illnesses under control in the neighbouring countries...."Communicable diseases like measles, typhoid or TB are now popping up in Turkish cities," said Dr. Ramazan Kaya, a specialist for internal diseases. Speaking of Qamishli refugee camp, Kaya said "Sanitary conditions are dismal. Water is no longer chlorinated, rubbish isn't collected anymore.  Syria is known to have had very good healthcare. Since the beginning of this conflict, the system has started to break down, and it is getting worse by the day. There are shortages of everything – medicine, vaccines, medical equipment." [The Guardian, November 1]

 

In an October 28 article, The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace notes Saudi Arabia's increasing involvement in the Syrian civil war. "The shift to an increasingly assertive stance on the Syrian crisis reflects the Saudi leadership’s dismay about the U.S.-Russian agreement on dismantling Syria’s chemical weapons capability. The effort effectively removes the specter of U.S.-led military action against the regime and potentially rehabilitates Assad as a partner of the international community. Riyadh has long pushed for a tougher line. The additional prospect of a U.S.-Iranian understanding on the nuclear file has only made the Saudi leadership more grimly determined to bring down Assad."  As CEIP's Yezid Sayigh explains, the "Saudi plan to build a new national army for the Syrian opposition is polarizing the rebels and potentially undermining Riyadh’s objectives in Syria." The Saudi effort will complicate the planned Geneva II peace conference.   Sayigh concludes "The Saudi leadership should be careful what it creates in Syria: [the rebel group] Muhammad’s Army may eventually come home to Mecca." 

 

Bringing both sides to the negotiating table without preconditions is the only hope for an end to this tragic conflict.  The United Nations Security Council should consider imposing an immediate arms embargo on Syria.  With neither side having a clear advantage, the humanitarian crisis will only worsen as long as this civil war, fueled by imported arms, continues.

 

The Self-fulfilling Prophecy of Perpetual War

 

The October 29 TomDispatch post presents the case against drone warfare.  Along with the blanketing surveillance (including that of allied world leaders), the increased use of drones is a symptom of  a larger disease. "Devoted since [9/11] to perpetual war across significant parts of the planet and to a surveillance apparatus geared to leave no one anywhere in privacy, the U.S. now resembles a rogue superpower to an increasingly resistant and restless world."   The post contains, in its entirety, the epilogue to Jeremy Scahill's Dirty Wars: The World is a Battlefield.  Tom Englehardt writes: "No single reporter has done more than Jeremy Scahill to bring us back news of how, in the post-9/11 years, Washington took its wars into the darkness, how it helped create a landscape of blowback abroad, and just how such roguery works when it comes to a superpower."  Recent investigations of drone attacks that resulted in civilian deaths in Yemen and Pakistan were investigated by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.  Human Rights Watch found evidence of  the killing of civilians "indiscriminately in clear violation of the laws of war."  Amnesty International "has serious concerns that this attack [in Pakistan] violated the prohibition of the arbitrary deprivation of life and may constitute war crimes or extrajudicial executions."  Besides the ethical and legal arguments, there is also the practical argument.  After a recent visit to Pakistan, UN special rapporteur on drones Ben Emmerson said, “The consequence of drone strikes has been to radicalize an entirely new generation."  Addressing drone attacks in his epilogue, Scahill writes that today "decisions on who should live or die in the name of protecting America’s national security are made in secret, laws are interpreted by the president and his advisers behind closed doors, and no target is off-limits, including U.S. citizens....At the end of the day, U.S. policymakers and the general public must [ask]...are our own actions, carried out in the name of national security, making us less safe or more safe?...As large-scale military deployments wound down, the United States had simultaneously escalated its use of drones, cruise missiles, and Special Ops raids in an unprecedented number of countries. The war on terror had become a self-fulfilling prophecy. The question all Americans must ask themselves lingers painfully: How does a war like this ever end?"

 

 

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 - August 4, 2013

This is the weekly selection of news and opinion from sources outside the US mainstream media.  This week we cover ongoing developments in the NSA spying story, the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, and the coming drought in the American West.  Sources include The Guardian, The Moscow Times, Pravda, Al Jazeera, Haaretz and TomDispatch.com.

NSA Spying
On Wednesday in The Guardian, Glenn Greenwald reported on the latest revelations from the documents released by whistle blower Edward Snowden - the NSA tool X-Keyscore.  The program "allows analysts to search with no prior authorization through vast databases containing emails, online chats and the browsing histories of millions of individuals."  US officials issued disclaimers but, Greenwald continues, "training materials for XKeyscore detail how analysts can use it and other systems to mine enormous agency databases by filling in a simple on-screen form giving only a broad justification for the search. The request is not reviewed by a court or any NSA personnel before it is processed....Beyond emails, the XKeyscore system allows analysts to monitor a virtually unlimited array of other internet activities, including those within social media."  See The Guardian article for a more detailed look at this invasive tool. 

Congress may try one more time to rein in the NSA.  As reported in an article in Friday's Guardian: "Members of Congress are considering 11 legislative measures to constrain the activities of the National Security Agency, in a major shift of political opinion in the eight weeks since the first revelations from whistleblower Edward Snowden.  The proposals range from repealing the legal foundations of key US surveillance powers to more moderate reforms of the secretive court proceedings for domestic spying. If enacted, the laws would represent the first rollback of the NSA's powers since 9/11....Justin Amash, the Republican congressman whose measure to terminate the indiscriminate collection of phone data was narrowly defeated 10 days ago, said he was certain the next legislative push will succeed." 

Meanwhile Edward Snowden has received one year temporary asylum in Russia.  The Moscow Times reported some details on Friday: "The temporary refugee status granted to Snowden will expire July 31, 2014. It can then be subsequently extended for another year upon request or upgraded to 5-year permanent asylum. Snowden can eventually be granted Russian citizenship."   The Guardian reported on the US reaction on Thursday: "The White House expressed anger and dismay on Thursday after Russia granted temporary asylum to the American whistleblower Edward Snowden and allowed him to leave the Moscow airport where he had been holed up for over a month."  White House spokesman Jay Carney noted that the granting of asylum may put in jeopardy the bilateral summit between Obama and Putin planned during the G20 meeting in Russia in September.  Perhaps anticipating the granting of asylum,  Pravda describes the internal Russian debate in a July 26 op-ed by Yuri Ursov, the former head of the press service of the Russian Security Council: "What can you say to those who believe that the actions of Snowden are betrayal? Betrayal is when a person takes actions that cause harm to their country, violates the oath, the duty, when their actions lead to significant financial losses. What did Snowden do? Snowden said that the U.S. government, the CIA, violated their own laws, in particular, the 4^th and 5^th amendment to the Constitution of the United States by organizing surveillance of members of the online community, organizing wiretapping, and recording telephone conversations. Can we call information of the impending or committed crime a betrayal?"  Ursov opines that Snowden actions were completely legitimate: "Snowden acted out of two legitimate reasons. First, observing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1947, which prohibits interference with private life, and second, following the U.S. legislation that threatens prosecution to citizens who do not report a deliberation of a crime or a committed crime. Snowden reported the crime, and called the authorities and intelligence services criminals. The accused, of course, immediately blamed him for a violation of the oath and espionage."

Israeli-Palestinian Peace Talks
The past week has seen the official resumption of the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.  Al Jazeera praises Kerry's efforts and presents a round-table discussion on whether the talks are likely to resolve the conflict, which "has defied resolution for six decades, and resisted 20 years of US efforts to broker a solution."   As one participant (Hussein Ibish, a senior fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine) notes: "One can only welcome the resumption of the negotiations, because in the end the only way to resolve this conflict is through an agreement. One way or another you are going to end up with the sides agreeing to some sort of neutral acceptable arrangement. And given how far apart the sides have become, both before, and certainly since 2010, it was always going to look like this … without any real expectation of any immediate breakthrough."  He also pointed out the importance of international support for changing conditions "on the ground" - improvements in the daily life of the Palestinians, for example - as the talks get underway.  These are after all talks about the talks - setting an agenda for the final talks.  Daniel Levy in an August 1 opinion article in Haaretz discusses whether Netanyahu has entered peace talks "to do business or to filibuster".  To Levy the most positive outcome of the talks would be for Netanyahu to deliver a historic peace.  "That would mean belatedly acknowledging the 1967 lines and ceasing to introduce expansionist territorial demands via the backdoor of “security needs”. More significantly, it would mean acknowledging that a collective history, narrative and set of rights is not something reserved only for the Jewish people. Either one must drop all talk of recognizing a Jewish state or one must deal with the legitimacy of a second narrative, a Palestinian narrative."  Pessimistically, though, Levy notes "Whether in relation to the Palestinians in the territories or the Palestinians who are citizens of Israel, Netanyahu’s entire discourse and actions, including his current promotion of the Prawer plan, indicate that he has crossed no Rubicon of understanding.  All of which means that peace will probably have to await a new Israeli leadership and/or mindset. But it does not render the U.S. peace effort a wasted exercise."  Pointing out the stress that the peace talks put on Bibi's coalition, Levy writes "the forty-plus remaining months of the Obama Administration could challenge Israeli rejectionism more than its dismissive responses to this week’s talks would have us believe."

Climate ChangeTomDispatch in a July 30 post reminds us of the ongoing and increasing dangers of climate change, a subject noticeably lacking in the corporate media news-and weather-casts.  William DeBuys asks 'the crucial question for Phoenix, for the Colorado, and for the greater part of the American West: How long will the water hold out?"  Sobering reading:  "Until now, the ever-more-complex water delivery systems of that basin have managed to meet the escalating needs of their users....Those days are gone.  The Lower Basin states [California, Arizona, and Nevada] now get only their annual entitlement and no more. Unfortunately for them, it’s not enough, and never will be."  Then there is the even worse situation on the Rio Grande regarding New Mexico and Texas: "In May, New Mexico marked the close of the driest two-year period in the 120 years since records began to be kept. Its largest reservoir, Elephant Butte, which stores water from the Rio Grande, is effectively dry."

Democracy: The What's Left of It Edition (Part 1)

Democracy - a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections. - Merriam Webster Dictionary

Think you live in a democracy? Think again. Yes, the most egregious offense against democracy - slavery - was officially ended long ago. All citizens, including women, over the age 18 now have the right to vote thanks to some Constitutional amendments.   On paper, the United States appears to qualify as a democracy.  In reality, American democracy is now under assault. Attacks against the "supreme power.. vested in the people" and against "periodically held free elections" have been ongoing for a long time. But recent Supreme Court decisions, legislative actions at the State level, the unchecked influence of special interest money, the rampant disregard for the truth, the abuse of the filibuster, and the continuing excesses of the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act have made a mockery of the concept.

Over the next two posts, I'll present my personal top 10 list for the assault on democracy in America. Feel free to add your own or reorder as you see fit.

Numbers 10 through 6 in the assault on democracy:

#10 - Disparity in the distribution of wealth

In this country, elections are almost always determined by the amount of money spent during a campaign. In 2008 elections. for example, "in 93 percent of House of Representatives races and 94 percent of Senate races that had been decided by mid-day Nov. 5, the candidate who spent the most money ended up winning, according to a post-election analysis by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics." The interests of the ruling and contributing classes are well represented; those of the not-so-well-off, less so. How else can you explain the opposition to tax increases on the wealthiest in society and the demand that benefits be taken from the less well off so that we can balance the budget?

#9 - Misinformed citizenry

An informed citizenry is critical to the functioning of a democracy. Corporate media misrepresentations of the facts (think Fox News viewers who thought that Saddam Hussein was connected to the 9/11 attacks) and government secrecy and distortions (think pre-Iraq invasion intelligence reports and non-existent WMD) are the primary bad actors. Antidotes to this toxic misinformation: teach critical thinking in the schools, support organizations like FactCheck.org.

#8 - Government Spying

Government spying on its own citizens - either warrantless or by using overly broad warrants - has no place in a democracy. It is part and parcel of totalitarian regimes. Germany's current president Joachim Gauck, who helped expose the workings of East Germany's secret police, said whistleblowers like U.S. fugitive Edward Snowden deserved respect for defending freedom. Gauck knows of what he speaks. He lived in communist East Germany before the fall of the Iron Curtain. Instead of "respect for defending our freedom", our government prosecutes and punishes those who, like Bradley Manning or Edward Snowden, shine a light on these undemocratic goings-on. Where will it end? Who knows? Just today a powerful NSA tool has been unveiled. As reported in The Guardian on July 31: "A top secret National Security Agency program allows analysts to search with no prior authorization through vast databases containing emails, online chats and the browsing histories of millions of individuals, according to documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden." See the Guardian article for more details on this latest revelation ("XKeyscore").

#7 - Special interest money

When 80-90% of the public favors a piece of legislation and it is not passed, you know something is wrong in the democracy. In one of the most egregious examples of this, the NRA's political money was enough to kill universal background checks for gun purchases in the Senate. If the filibuster had been broken in the Senate, what do you think the chances for passage would have been in the House where Republicans hold a 34 vote majority? In a political system where money wins elections, where politicians must raise inordinate amounts to compete, where special interest groups are free to lie and distort at will, we should not be surprised at such outcomes. 

 

#6 - Third-party political attack ads

Considering the role of political advertising in the outcome of elections, you would think that there would be some control over lying in attack ads. Unfortunately there is none. An interest group can pretty much make up anything they want without ever being held accountable. Combine this "license to lie" with the shielding of the names of supporters of these shadow organizations and you've got a powerful tool for the hate and fear mongers to use.

Sunday Round-Up July 14, 2013

This is the weekly selection from sources outside the US mainstream media.  Today we look at NSA Spying and Kerry's efforts to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Sources include Pravda, Mother Jones, Haaretz, and the Calgary Herald.

NSA Spying and Edward Snowden

Edward Snowden, the whistle blower who brought to everyone's attention details of the extent of the NSA surveillance programs, is reported ready to request political asylum from Russia - at least until he can arrange safe passage to one of the Latin American countries that have offered him asylum. He is currently confined to the Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport and is prevented from flying to other countries because US allies are denying him access to their airspace. Pravda reported Friday on Snowden's airport meeting with human rights activists. "During the meeting, Snowden thanked all countries that sent him their offers - Russia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Ecuador. Snowden said that he could not fly anywhere from Sheremetyevo, so he could not address...international organizations because...his personal presence would be required....Snowden wants to stay in Russia and the only way to do it is to receive political asylum...'No actions I take or plan are meant to harm the U.S. .. I want the U.S. to succeed,' Snowden said. In a July 12 post in Mother Jones, Kevin Drum writes: "One of the arguments about Edward Snowden that I've occasionally gotten caught up in is: What difference has he made? Has he really told us very much we didn't know before? In a broad sense, you can argue that he hasn't." Much of what Snowden has revealed was either known or at least suspected by the more paranoid among us. But, Drum continues: "It's one thing to know about this stuff in broad strokes. It's quite another to have specific, documented details. That's what Snowden has given us, and it makes a big difference in public debate. A Quinnipiac University poll released this week demonstrates this vividly. Three years ago, only 25 percent of Americans thought the government had gone too far in its anti-terrorism efforts. Policywise, nothing much has changed since then, but in 2013 that number has shot up to 45 percent....This is how change happens. The public gets hit over the head with something, lawmakers are forced to take notice, and maybe, just maybe, Congress holds oversight hearings and decides to change the law."

Israeli-Palestinian Peace Talks

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz

reported on July 4: "Palestinian officials said...that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is closing in on an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians to relaunch peace talks for a period of six to nine months....Two Palestinian officials familiar with the negotiations said that Kerry has floated a compromise in which Israel would freeze settlement construction outside of major "blocs" that Israel expects to keep.... 'Kerry is trying to pave the way for relaunching the peace process. He is serious and we encouraged him. He made progress and we hope he can conclude a deal in the coming week,' said one official." A week has passed since then and nothing concrete has happened. 

Michael Gerson, commenting from Tel Aviv in the Calgary Heraldon July 11 quotes

former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and reviews the impediments to an early breakthrough: "The arguments for Israel to define its borders through a two-state settlement remain strong. 'Given the history and heritage of the Jewish people,' Olmert says, 'we can’t occupy forever three or four or five million people without equal rights.' ....An agreement, he argues, would increase Israeli legitimacy, open global markets and make a Jewish state more demographically sustainable. But these arguments seem abstract and long-term ....The majority of Israelis vaguely support a two-state solution, but there is no critical mass of political support for concessions in that cause." Gerson reluctantly concludes: "Majorities of Israelis and Palestinians support a two-state solution. The broad parameters of a deal have been clear since the Clinton administration....The American secretary of state is energetically on the job. But little is likely to change."

Sunday Round-Up - June 23, 2013

Iranian Elections

In what nearly all observers think is a good sign for Iranian relations with the West, Hassan Rouhani won a landslide victory in the Iranian presidential elections "promising better relations abroad and more freedom at home".   Rouhani won the election outright after securing more than 50% of the vote - far ahead of the next candidate, who received just 16% of the vote - and thereby avoiding the need for a run-off.   Al Jazeera reported: "In a statement, reported by the Iranian media on Saturday, the president-elect hailed his election as a victory of moderation over extremism:  'This victory is a victory for wisdom, moderation and maturity... over extremism.' "  The jubilant crowds celebrating in the streets were a marked contrast to the demonstrations following the 2009 presidential election, when results showed the conservative Ahmadinejad had won over the reformist candidate.   According to Al Jazeera's analyst: "The outcome will not soon transform Iran's long tense relations with the West, call into question its disputed pursuit of nuclear power or lessen its support of Syria's president in the civil war there - matters of national security that remain the domain of [Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei. But the president runs the economy and wields important influence in decision-making and Rouhani's meteoric rise could offer latitude for a thaw in Iran's foreign relations and more social freedoms at home after eight years of confrontation and repression under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad." The pace of change will ultimately be decided by the Ayatollah Khamenei, whom Rouhani visited on Sunday (June 16) after the election. [Reuters]

[Photo: Al Jazeera]

 

NSA Surveillance, Snowden and Hong Kong

The US has charged 29 year old whistle-blower Edward Snowden with espionage. Kind of ironic, isn't it?   They are charging the person who blew the cover on the NSA's warrantless surveillance with spying.   Snowden meanwhile remains in Hong Kong.   Thursday's South China Morning Post reported on the commentary in China's "party newspapers."  Reporting on an article in the Global Times, it noted the Times commentary "that Hong Kong should follow public opinion in handling the case, not worry about Sino-US relations and 'be more spontaneous'."   Public opinion in Hong Kong is strongly supportive of Snowden.  The People's Daily said "the Prism scandal was America's trouble in the first place", but some US politicians were trying to "create a new link between China and the scandal with their own imagination" by hinting that Snowden was a Chinese spy. It said such a link was 'nonsense' and Beijing should ask the 'big mouths' to shut up. "Pouring dirty water on China shows how American politicians are embarrassed and anxious," it said. Both articles indicate that China is determined to separate the Snowden case from overall Sino-American relationship.

[Photo from South China Morning Post A banner supporting Edward Snowden, a former contractor at the National Security Agency, is seen at Central district. Photo: David Wong]

 

UPDATE - 9AM EDT, 6/23/13

Edward Snowden is reported as having left Hong Kong today.  Hong Kong officials had rejected the US request for extradition "since the documents provided by the U.S. government did not fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law."  Hong Kong had requested more information from the US and said that "there is no legal basis to restrict Mr. Snowden from leaving Hong Kong."

Palestinian Diaspora Forgotten?

Thursday was World Refugee Day. Press TV reported on the plight of the victims of what they termed the world's largest and longest standing refugee crisis:  "Following World Refugee Day, The Palestinian Liberation Organisation called upon the international community to hold Israel accountable for one of the largest refugee crises, since Israel displaced Palestinians from their homeland in 1948.   Palestinian refugees constitute the largest and longest standing refugee crisis in the world with up to 6 million 1st and 2nd generation Palestinian refugees scattered around the world unable to return to Palestine." Palestinian refugees have the right of return per UN resolution 194 which resolves "that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date. It further states that compensation should be paid if they do not wish to return." In the on again/off again push towards a two-state solution and the attempts to resuscitate the long-moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace process, many Palestinians feel that international law is being ignored as all parties "continue to insist that refugees should wait indefinitely to return home."   The Syrian Civil War has added significantly to the plight of the refugees.  530,000 Palestinians are registered with the UN as refugees in that country.  The United Nations News Centre reported on June 17: "Warning that the centrifugal force of the Syria crisis continues to imperil the region, a senior United Nations agency official today said that more than half of the Palestinian refugee camps in Syria have become 'theatres of war,' where killings and kidnappings have become the norm.  According to the Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Filippo Grandi, seven out of 12 of the agency’s camps are now virtually inaccessible." 

[Photo: UNRWA]

Brazil 2014 World Cup Protests

Brazil has won five World Cups - more than any other nation. It is the fifth most populous country and, depending on what list you use, has between the sixth and ninth largest economy. Still its social inequity has been as legendary as its Rio de Janeiro slums. Things have been improving somewhat for Brazil's poor especially since the election of "pink revolution" hero Lula (Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva) as President in 2002 and his succession by Dilma Rousseff.  Pulsamerica opined in a January article: "Though Brazil remains a country of stark contrasts, its strides against poverty and inequality cannot be underestimated. It can be argued that until recently the focus in Brazil has always been on reducing poverty rather than combating income and social inequality overall, however, an emphasis on distribution, creating more job opportunities, investing in structural education systems and addressing discrimination are being implemented to ensure more equality in the future." But the movement towards more social equality is far from complete. (See, for example, Harper's Magazine's June 2013 article "Promised Land" by Glenn Cheney about the efforts of Sister Leonora Brunetto for agrarian land redistribution.) Just how far from complete the march towards equality is was demonstrated this past week as protests erupted against the money being spent on 2014 World Cup preparations (~18 bln USD) . As reported Friday in the Daily Mail: "More than a million Brazilians took to the streets of at least 80 Brazilian towns and cities in demonstrations that saw violent clashes and renewed calls for an end to government corruption and demands for better public services. Riot police battled protesters in at least five cities, with some of the most intense clashes in Rio de Janeiro, where an estimated 300,000 demonstrators swarmed into the city's central area." At least one person has been killed in the rioting.  President Rousseff , who was "a former Marxist rebel who fought against Brazil's 1964-1985 military regime and was imprisoned for three years and tortured by the junta, pointedly referred to earlier sacrifices made to free the nation from dictatorship. 'My generation fought a lot so that the voice of the streets could be heard,' Rousseff said. 'Many were persecuted, tortured and many died for this. The voice of the street must be heard and respected and it can't be confused with the noise and truculence of some troublemakers.' " The protests continued Saturday.

[Photo from Daily Mail website (copyright Marco Isensee/Demotix: "Revolution: A football shirt-clad protester waves the Brazilian flag through clouds of smoke and teargas during violent clashes between protesters and police in Rio de Janeiro"]