Sunday Roundup - December 21, 2014

This is the weekly selection of news and opinion from sources outside the US mainstream media. Today we look at Cuba, the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Pakistan, nuclear weapons, US-Russia relations, and in brief, the US federal judiciary, the death penalty, Venezuela and Colombia.   

Cuba
President Obama took a major step towards normalizing relations with Cuba on Wednesday.  The shift will see the reopening of a U.S. embassy in Havana and an easing of the decades-long trade embargo of the island.  Obama detailed the changes in a White House address that coincided with a prisoner swap with Cuban authorities. U.S. citizen Alan Gross, a USAID contract worker whom Havana accused of spying, was released in exchange for three Cuban nationals jailed in Florida.  “We will end an outdated approach that for decades has failed to advance our interests, and instead we will begin to normalize relations between our two countries," Obama said...The policy shift amends existing regulations of the executive branch governing U.S. Cuba policy...These changes will allow an expansion of authorized travel categories by Americans to Cuba, increased caps for legal remittances from the U.S. to Cubans, greater commercial ties to the Cuban private sector and additional allowances between mutual exports and imports and authorizations for additional financial and banking transactions.  The reset in relations also includes a review of the U.S. designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism. Pope Francis and Uruguayan President José Mujica each played a role in the recent events which followed after more than a year of back-channel communications.  [Al Jazeera, Dec. 17]  The embargo has been opposed by the vast majority of nations - 188 of 193 nations voted to strike it down at this year's UN General Assembly vote on the embargo.  Latin American nations, which have long been especially critical of the embargo, welcomed the move.
Related

Pope John Paul II with President Fidel Castro in Cuba, 1998
Photo Credit: AP/Jose Goitia

"The US – not Cuba – comes in from the cold: Obama shifted US policy on Havana towards that of the rest of world, saying that decades-long embargo had failed" [Al Jazeera, Dec. 17]
"The spirit is willing: Papal role in Cuba thaw started with John Paul II" [Al Jazeera, Dec. 17]
John Paul II had raised eyebrows in 1996 when he granted a Vatican audience to the former seminarian-turned-revolutionary Fidel Castro. Even more remarkable, back then, was the apparent meeting of minds the two men had at the U.N. World Food conference in Rome that year on the question of hunger — and embargoes.

Occupied Palestinian Territory
With the US warning of a possible veto, Palestinian leaders and negotiators are pressing ahead with a Palestinian statehood resolution.  Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki said the draft would be submitted to the Security Council after the Palestinians agreed with France on a merged text...The new text would set a two-year deadline for wrapping up negotiations on a final agreement paving the way to a new Palestinian state with Jerusalem as the shared capital...The Palestinians pushed for action at the United Nations as the European parliament overwhelmingly backed recognition of a Palestinian state..."The draft that will be presented...is the French draft based on Palestinian observations and decisions," Malki told AFP...UN diplomats however cautioned that action may not be imminent. Jordan was due to meet with Britain, France and the United States later before deciding on whether to submit the Palestinian text.  Secretary Kerry is meeting with Israel's Netanyahu, Palestinian negotiators, and European ministers in an attempt to head off a Security Council confrontation.  The Palestinian envoy to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, warned this week that the international community could not simply ignore the Palestinian question.  "The Palestinian question is not going to evaporate," he said.  Mansour warned of more confrontation on the ground and said the Palestinians were ready to take action at the General Assembly and at the International Criminal Court. [AFP/Yahoo News, Dec. 18] 

To hold out hope that the Israeli government will negotiate in good faith on Palestinian statehood without serious international pressure is a cruel hoax.  It's been 21 years since the Oslo 2 Accord, which provided for a two-state solution.  Progress on Oslo has been virtually non-existent since the assassination of Nobel-Peace-Prize-winner Yitzhak Rabin by an Israeli right-wing extremist.  Kerry's failed peace talks are just the latest indication of the long-standing Israeli intransigence.  

After 47 years of military occupation, with the Gaza Strip devastated by a blockade and military assaults, with a government defying international law by illegal settlements and collective punishment, with an Israeli President who has built a political career on preventing a two-state solution, it is time for Palestinian statehood to be imposed by the world community.  Palestinians are only asking for what every other people have - a homeland (193 at last count).  As it is, the land sought by Palestinians has been reduced to just 40 percent of that proposed for their state by UN Resolution 181.  

If the world has learned anything after Israel's sabotage of the "Kerry":peace talks and after its brutal assault against Gaza this summer, it's that a two-state solution will never happen as long as the United States enables Israeli oppression by its arms sales and Security Council vetoes.  To continue this policy is morally reprehensible and makes a mockery of the United States's view of itself as a defender of human rights.  

Related
"Hamas taken off EU terror blacklist: Move comes as European parliament adopts resolution supporting principle of Palestinian statehood" [The Guardian, Dec. 17]

Pakistan
Seven heavily-armed Taliban gunmen carried out an attack on a school in Pakistan that left at least 141 people, mostly teenagers and younger children, dead.  Whatever these lunatics were thinking, unmitigated outrage spread quickly across the world  - even other terrorists denounced the attack.  It takes something unusually vile for the world to pay much attention to a terrorist outrage in Pakistan. Since 2007 the annual toll of murders by jihadists has never dropped below 2,000 and in 2012 and 2013 it was not far off 4,000....But the horror of the attack by the Pakistani Taliban, an umbrella organisation of militant groups officially known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), on an army-run school in Peshawar stands out for the scale and nature of its brutality....The army, and previous governments, must take much of the responsibility for the violence the country has suffered in recent years. The growth of the TTP is a direct consequence of neurotic fear of encirclement by India which is widespread in Pakistan’s ruling class and has led to the disastrous policy of exploiting and encouraging jihadist groups...After Nawaz Sharif became prime minister in June 2013 and Raheel Sharif (they are not related) took over as chief of army staff a year ago this disastrous policy began to change. Both men came to the conclusion that jihadist terrorism poses a greater threat to their country than India does....Reining in other terrorist groups that the state has cultivated will ultimately require moves towards a rapprochement with India over Kashmir. For that to happen India’s government will also have to show vision. [The Economist, Dec. 20]
Related
"3 Problems Pakistani Politics has to Resolve after Grisly School Attack" [Informed Comment, Dec. 17]

Nuclear Weapons
James Carroll at TomDispatch plots the long, sad course from Obama's 2009 Prague speech on banishing nuclear weapons ("As the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act... So today, I state clearly and with conviction America’s commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.") to his role as an enabler of their renewal, Obama’s timing in 2009 was critical. The weapons and delivery systems of the nuclear arsenal were aging fast....massive reductions in the arsenal had to begin before pressures to launch a program for the wholesale replacement of those weapons systems grew too strong to resist...Obama, in other words, was presiding over a golden moment, but an apocalyptic deadline was bearing down. And sure enough, that deadline came crashing through.  Thanks to Pentagon pressure, Russia's ambition to return to world power status, and extremist Republicans taking Congress hostage,  Obama has become the "Ahab of Nuclear Weapons".  In order to get the votes of Senate Republicans to ratify the START treaty, Obama made what turned out to be a devil’s bargain.  He agreed to lay the groundwork for a vast “modernization” of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, which, in the name of updating an aged system, is already morphing into a full-blown reinvention of the arms cache at an estimated future cost of more than a trillion dollars. Carroll wonders what might happen if the President went directly to the people and passionately made the case today that he made in Prague five years.  Although there is no sign that the president intends to do such a thing any longer,... if a commander-in-chief were to order nuclear reductions into the hundreds, the result might actually be a transformation of the American political conscience. In the process, the global dream of a nuclear-free world could be resuscitated and the commitment of non-nuclear states (including Iran) to refrain from nuclear-weapons development could be rescued. Ending on a pessimistic note, Carroll writes: Because of decisions likely to be taken this year and next, no American president will ever again be able to embrace this purpose as Obama once did. Nuclear weapons will instead become a normalized and permanent part of the twenty-first century American arsenal, and therefore of the arsenals of many other nations. [TomDispatch, Dec. 11]

Russia
On Thursday, President Obama signed a bill that will allow the White House to levy further sanctions on Russia over Ukraine, though the Administration has said it has no immediate plans to introduce them....US entities would be forbidden from investing in gas giant Gazprom, and the company would face additional sanctions if it broke off supplies to key eastern European countries.... Other sanctions would involve Russia’s arms exporter Rosoboronexport. Perhaps most crucially, organizations in [Russia’s] embattled financial sector would be barred from dealing with any US banks...In a related move, the bill authorizes Obama to supply anti-tank weapons, surveillance drones and other sophisticated equipment for Petro Poroshenko's government in Kiev, though White House officials said the President had no immediate plans to allow US weapons to be used to put down the uprising in the east of the country...Two factors appear to have put a brake on the plan. Obama is loathe to impose new measures without backing from Brussels, where there is no unity on the need for future sanctions...and the Russia rouble has collapsed over the past week - partly due to oil prices. [Russia Times, Dec. 18]
Dmitri Trenin at The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace believes that the West and Russia may now be entering a state of permanent crisis.  Conflict resolution is not on the agenda. It is time for permanent crisis management. ...Crisis management must ensure, at minimum, that there is no resumption of hostilities in eastern Ukraine. Should Kiev, with Washington's blessing or its acquiescence, attempt to retake Donetsk and Lugansk, the Kremlin may not confine itself to restoring the status quo...The best one can do now is to engage in practical steps to make life less miserable for the people directly affected. The trilateral Russia-Ukraine-EU agreement on gas supplies to Ukraine finally concluded at the end of October is a useful first step...Ukraine and Europe...should not overreact to the November 2 elections in Donbass. They would be wise to engage with newly elected leaders of the region. Talking with people, including adversaries, and dealing with them does not imply recognition of an entity, but can be useful in managing important practical issues.  Europeans need to find a way to relate to Russians, even if, in Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel's memorable phrase, Putin may "live in another world." If Europe and Germany want to be a serious player..., they have to build a relationship with Russia on a new foundation of realism and pragmatism.  [CEIP, Nov. 4]

In Brief - Links
US Federal Judiciary
"The Senate Just Cemented Obama's Judicial Legacy" [Huffington Post, Dec. 18]
The number of vacancies in the Federal courts is now 41 out of 874 judgeships.  This is down from 86 vacancies in March.

Colombia
"Colombia rebuffs FARC ceasefire offer: Government says peace deal must be reached before it will accept rebels’ demand that truce be verified by other countries" [The Guardian, Dec. 18]

Venezuela
"Venezuela sanctions highlight US hypocrisy on human rights: Obama should follow his example on Cuba and engage with, not punish, Venezuela" [Al Jazeera, Dec. 18]

Death Penalty
In 2014, 35 people were executed, the fewest in 20 years. Death sentences dropped to their lowest level in the modern era of the death penalty, with 72 people sentenced to death, the smallest number in 40 years. Just seven states carried out executions, and three states (Texas, Missouri, and Florida) accounted for 80% of the executions.  [Death Penalty Information Center, Dec. 18]

The Immigration Debate: The Emergency at the Border

Comprehensive immigration reform is dead.  There will be no action on this until Democrats regain control of Congress - an impossibility in the upcoming midterm elections given the gerrymandered and "safe" House districts. Only an overwhelming Democratic victory with strong Congressional "coat-tails" in the 2016 presidential race will change the composition of the House.  Otherwise, we'll need to wait until after the 2020 census and hope Democrats at least regain control of state legislatures in swing states.

Let's admit it.  The Republican stance on immigration is driven by the same political calculation that led to the voter suppression laws passed in Republican-controlled states.  People of color, with good reason, usually do not vote for Republican candidates.  Republicans are in the minority in terms of registered voters.  They cannot win future elections if the white male portion of the electorate dwindles significantly.  Throw in a bone to those in the Republican base that are racist and the development of their position becomes clear.  Republicans would rather continue in power and continue to represent the wealthy and corporate interests than do what is right.  Contrast this with Lyndon Johnson's enactment of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts in the mid-1960's.  He did the right thing in spite of the knowledge that, in his words, "we [Democrats] have just lost the South."

The most pressing immigration issue right now is the large number of unaccompanied minors seeking asylum in the United States.  Conditions in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and Salvador are driving this. The flow of children seeking refuge has overwhelmed the ability of border officials to deal with it.  The Republicans are making much of it - the former half-term governor of Alaska even calling for President Obama's impeachment.

Unaccompanied immigrant children in a holding cell in Texas
(Image appeared on ThinkProgress website)

Data from the Pew Research Center for the 20 month period between October 1,2012 and May 31, 2014 shows that more than 85,000 unaccompanied minors have been apprehended at the US-Mexico border. The best analysis of the crisis I've seen is the July 24 article by Alice Speri on the VICE News Website. Speri correctly notes that the unaccompanied minors crisis is not really about border enforcement.  It's about managing an emergency refugee flow. "Most of these minors — as well as most of the families also crossing the border, usually mothers with young children — are arriving through Mexico from other Central American countries, and especially from Honduras and El Salvador, where they are fleeing poverty and some of the worst violent crime in the world."

A Federal anti-trafficking law mandates that, unlike their Mexican peers, the Central American children cannot just be turned back at the border.  The law requires that they receive temporary relocation, assistance, and an immigration hearing.  President Obama has asked for $3.7 billion to deal with the influx of minors.   Competing proposals for dealing with the situation have been made but the Republican and Democratic proposals are so far apart that there is little hope of action being taken.

Speri notes that "as the numbers of unaccompanied minors and anti-immigrant protests across the country have grown, some have called for those provisions — or 'the Central American exception,' as some critics of it have dubbed it — to be repealed."

Referring to the "downright racist and xenophobic reactions of some Americans (and politicians) towards the Central American children", Jose Antonio Vargas, an advocate for undocumented immigrants, asks, “I understand the argument that a civilized country needs to determine and protect its borders. I get that. But with all the billions of dollars and manpower that we’ve spent on the ‘border’, what exactly are we protecting ourselves from? Who exactly are we fearing?”

Mary Giovagnoli, director of the Immigration Policy Center, is also quoted in the VICE News article: “It is really imperative that we do not overreact to this situation by thinking that changing laws that are designed to protect kids is the solution. The protections are there because we know just how grave the circumstances can be....The children and families that are from Central America are coming because of extraordinary violence and threats to their wellbeing. That can’t be overlooked.”

As xenophobes and right-wing politicians mistakenly treat this as a border security issue, Pope Francis delivered a clear message for the world's political leaders: "This humanitarian emergency requires, as a first urgent measure, these children be welcomed and protected. These measures, however, will not be sufficient, unless they are accompanied by policies that inform people about the dangers of such a journey and, above all, that promote development in their countries of origin."  Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin added, "Whether they travel for reasons of poverty, violence or the hope of uniting with families on the other side of the border, it is urgent to protect and assist them, because their frailty is greater and they're defenseless, they're at the mercy of any abuse or misfortune." [Huffington Post, July 16]

Links
The Hill: "We should help children at the border, not criminalize them"

Think Progress: "Why kids are crossing the border alone to get to America"

Daily Kos: Who are you and what have you done with George Will?   (Something you probably didn't expect to hear on a Fox News show)

Sunday Roundup - June 1, 2014

This is the weekly selection of news and opinion from outside the US mainstream corporate media. Today we look at the Greenpeace and the Amazon rainforest, Pope Francis in Bethlehem, the New Populism conference, US gun violence, Guantanamo, and Ukraine.


Greenpeace and the Amazon

Amazon parrot (Greenpeace)

Greenpeace has turned its focus once again towards the Amazon rainforest - specifically, the illegal logging there. Besides being one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world (an estimated one-quarter of all known land and fresh water species live there), the rainforest is also one of the world's largest "carbon sinks", thus playing a major role in reducing the impact of human-induced climate change.  On May 15, Greenpeace released its report "The Amazon's Silent Crisis".  Describing how deforestation increases the risk of runaway climate change, the report warns that as climate change impacts are felt, there are concerns that the Amazon forest may reach a ‘tipping point’ in which it undergoes a rapid transition to savannah.  Besides deforestation (or clear-felling), selective logging is an important agent of forest fragmentation and degradation of the forest’s ecological integrity.  Even though the damaging selective logging of mahogany of the past has been stopped, selective logging remains a massive problem in the Amazon...If left unchecked, forest fragmentation will ultimately lead to the disappearance of whole tracts of forest. One of the main drivers of fragmentation today is the demand for high-value species such as Ipê.  In some states, as much as half to three-quarters of the logging is done illegally.  According to the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources, the federal environmental agency responsible (alongside state environmental secretariats) for monitoring and inspecting the Amazon timber industry, in Maranhão and Pará states alone almost 500,000m³ of timber had fraudulent documents in 2013 – enough to fill 14,000 trucks.  Greenpeace calls for a different way of approaching the forest and those whose livelihoods depend on forest products... Investment and capacity building need to be focused on giving communities the skills to undertake quality community forest management. The Brazilian government must strengthen the regulation of timber harvesting, and the enforcement of regulations. Command and control measures and monitoring systems should be transparent and able to operate in real time.  

Pope Francis in Bethlehem

Pope Francis at the separation barrier (AP photo appeared in The Guardian)

Pope Francis' trip to the Holy Land drew much attention from the world's press.  The Guardian, May 25:  It is an image that will define Pope Francis's first official visit to the Holy Land. Head bowed in prayer, the leader of the Catholic church pressed his palm against the graffiti-covered concrete of Israel's imposing "separation wall", a Palestinian girl holding a flag by his side. It was, as his aides conceded later, a silent statement against a symbol of division and conflict.

Al Jazeera, May 25:  On his second day of a visit to the Holy Land, the pope on Sunday called for Palestinians and Israelis to work together, saying the breakdown in talks between the two sides earlier this year was "unacceptable".  "In this, the birthplace of the Prince of Peace, I wish to invite you, president Mahmoud Abbas, together with president Shimon Peres, to join me in heartfelt prayer to God for the gift of peace," he said during mass in Manger Square. The offer was accepted by both sides.  He then made [an] unscheduled stop at the Israeli separation wall, which divides Bethlehem and Jerusalem. The pope prayed for five minutes near an Israeli military watchtower, near graffiti which read, "Pope, we need someone to speak about justice", "Free Palestine" and a reference to the Warsaw ghetto.  The pontiff had earlier made references to Palestinian statehood, and addressed Christians with words of encouragement....The pope called for forging a peace that "rests on the acknowledgment by all of the right of two states to exist and to live in peace and security within internationally recognised borders".  

New Populism
As I see it, the drivers behind the "New Populism" in the US are simple:

• The majority of the American people support economic fairness and other progressive tenets
• But this doesn't translate into public policy because politicians are too timid and/or too influenced by big money to enact populist measures
• All popular social movements start with the people and it's up to us to influence our political leaders - to bring them along, so to speak, to the progressive positions held by the majority.

Whether or when the movement will be successful is a matter of debate.  It's certainly not going to happen any time soon.  Almost no coverage was given to May 22's New Populism Conference in the press or media.  I guess it's easier to get attention when you're spouting divisive, fear-mongering rhetoric than when you're proposing measures to promote justice and fairness.  People's World covered highlights of the conference, which was held at the Washington Court Hotel and attended by about 500 activists.  

Maya Rockeymoore, President of Global Policy Solutions, noted that the X and Y generations have been so badly economically screwed by the great recession they will not recover for the rest of their lives. Black families have been excluded from the economy for 80 percent of U.S. history. The Supreme Court is in the back pocket of the Republican majority that has taken over state government in multiple states....Sen. Elizabeth Warren spoke of the moneyed interests who spent more than $1 million per day for one year to fight the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau....She reminded us that rebuilding the middle class, equal pay for equal work and raising the minimum wage are not just slogans but legislative bills. She urged the audience to "make (legislators) vote as often as possible" on these and other progressive issues....Sophia Zaman, president of the U.S. Student Association, concluded her talk stating that what the millennial generation needs...is a strong progressive movement; one that supports quality union jobs, reduction of student debt, divestment from fossil fuels. In return, progressive youth are building power that goes beyond elections...Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) ...cautioned..."Now is not the time to turn our backs on the political process." Rather we need to continue to push the middle class's issues of jobs, rebuilding infrastructure, raising minimum wage, creating more daycare, making higher education free, and amending the constitution to end the unlimited power of billionaires.  "There are more people living in poverty than ever in U.S. history," he said, but by increasing workers' participation in elections by only 5 percent (from 60 percent to 65 percent) progressive goals can be achieved.

Link to video of full New Populism conference 

US Gun Violence
A few of the posts in the aftermath of the UC-Santa Barbara tragedy last weekend:

This is what legislative courage on gun control looks like [Daily Kos, May 28]

The Mother Jones Facebook page has a discussion of its Jan 2013 post "10 Pro-Gun Myths Shot Down"

The Onion, the digital news satire organization, condemns the political  paralysis that prevents a solution: ‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens [The Onion, May 27]

Guantanamo
On May 29, Andy Worthington wrote in Al Jazeera of the lack of progress on releasing prisoners from Guantanamo.  A year after Obama's promise to resume releasing prisoners from Guantanamo, 78 men cleared for release are still there.  Worthington notes the Congressional obstacles and Obama's inability to overcome those obstacles.  Obama touched on Guantanamo in a speech about America's foreign policy at the United States Military Academy at West Point.  The president said, "I believe in American exceptionalism with every fibre of my being. But what makes us exceptional is not our ability to flout international norms and the rule of law; it's our willingness to affirm them through our actions. That's why I will continue to push to close GTMO - because American values and legal traditions don't permit the indefinite detention of people beyond our borders." One year on from his promise to resume releasing prisoners from Guantanamo, the president's words were as commendable as ever, but unless they are followed up with relevant actions they will reveal nothing but a gulf between words and action that has become rather predictable over the last five and a half years. 

Ukraine
The partially-boycotted presidential elections in Ukraine provided an overwhelming majority vote to EU-leaning billionaire Petro Poroshenko.  Violence between the government and separatist forces continued unabated in the ensuing days.  The Guardian May 26 editorial struck a somewhat optimistic note - not about the ongoing violence but about the hope for an eventual end to it.  It may be that, in spite of the dangers represented by events like the battle for Donetsk airport, Ukraine has turned the corner. Invasion is yesterday's threat, the extreme federalisation which Russia apparently wanted at an earlier stage has also faded as an idea, and the separatists in the east now seem more on their own than they were before. We are perhaps heading back to a more "normal" situation in which Moscow will still have a great deal of leverage in Ukraine, especially through its control of gas supplies and prices, and will lay down some red lines, but otherwise accept that for the time being the country has made a European and not an Eurasian choice.

Sunday Roundup - May 25, 2014

This is the weekly selection of news and opinion from sources outside the US mainstream corporate media.  Today we look at Israeli-Palestinian relations,  honeybees, the World Cup, and, in brief, Memorial Day, Libya, escalating food prices, and Pope Francis on climate change.

Quote of the Week

“Creation is not a property, which we can rule over at will; or, even less, is the property of only a few: Creation is a gift, it is a wonderful gift that God has given us, so that we care for it and we use it for the benefit of all, always with great respect and gratitude.”

- Pope Francis

Israeli-Palestinian Relations
The "Price Tag" movement has been around since 2008 but has been little covered by the US media.   "Price Tag" attacks "target mosques, churches, Arab and Jewish homes and property, Israeli military bases and vehicles, as well as other Israeli Jews. They involve the desecration of property with anti-Arab and anti-government slogans including the phrase 'price tag', often accompanied by hateful and racist slogans."  The attacks are carried out "by extremist Israeli Jews against Israeli Arabs and Palestinians, often in reprisal for Israeli government action against illegal settlement activity." [Anti-Defamation League, May 7]  Price Tag is getting some attention in the Western press as Pope Francis plans a trip to the Holy Land and a US State Department report has issued a travel warning.  Much to the dismay of Israelis and the powerful Jewish Lobby in Washington DC, the US State Department have even issuing travel warnings now regarding extremist ‘Jewish hate groups’ in Israel [with]... Israelis ...angry that such warnings have been posted on a US government website.  [21st Century Wire, May 11] The attacks have been roundly condemned by the Anti-Defamation League and Peace Now but they continue as enforcement or punishment has been absent or ineffective.  Haaretz reported on May 19 of a demonstration by Israeli Army reservists against ongoing attacks against Palestinians.  Dozens of Israeli reservists staged a protest against what they termed "hate crimes and racism" outside the radical West Bank settlement of Yitzhar on Sunday evening.  Yair Fink, one of the organizers, told the rally: "We regard defending Israel to be the highest value – both against terrorists from the outside and terrorists from within."  

It's a shame that it took the defamation of Christian churches and an upcoming papal visit to get coverage in the Western press of these hate crimes.  But this is no surprise here in the US.  The widespread ignorance of the facts of the Israeli Occupation and the strength of right-wing Israel lobbyists pretty much assure that.  Aaron Mann writes in New Jersey Jewish News on May 15: In March, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie spoke at an RNC fundraiser hosted by extreme right-wing “superdonor” -- and prominent Likud supporter -- Sheldon Adelson. The governor’s comments about Israel were just as uncritically hawkish and hardline as one would expect. Until a bit of uncomfortable truth slipped out when Christie mentioned the “Occupied Territories.”  It mattered little that Christie had referenced a term used by almost the entire world, including previous Republican presidents. Many in the audience were aghast, and the governor subsequently offered a personal apology to Adelson for the supposed affront.  Thus, Christie joined ranks with occupation-deniers...[but] the reality is not that complicated. Israel has never annexed the West Bank or Gaza, and the Palestinians living there are under Israeli control, subject to Israeli military law, and have no political rights in Israel. The occupation exists, and the only way to end it is through a two-state solution that brings an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict...To deny the occupation and oppose a two-state solution might make one pro-Likud, but that’s not the same thing as being pro-Israel. 

Americans for Peace Now's "Price Tag" Escalation Timeline: Jan 2011 - Present [APN website, May 9]


Honeybee Colony Collapse

European honeybee extracting nectar (Wikipedia)

Honeybees pollinate several hundred billion dollars worth of global crops every year.  So when honeybees started dying off in Europe and North America at unprecedented rates in the 2000's, scientists worked to find the cause. Studies have pointed to neonicotinoid pesticides as a contributor to colony collapse disorder.  The EU voted to impose a two-year moratorium on these pesticides last April but the US is still studying the problem.  On May 20, Mother Jones reported on a Harvard study that strengthens the argument against this widely used pesticide class.  Harvard researcher Chensheng Lu and his team treated 12 colonies with tiny levels of neonics and kept six control hives free of the popular chemicals....Come winter,...the bees in six of the treated hives vanished, leaving behind empty colonies—the classic behavior of colony collapse disorder. None of the six control hives experienced a CCD-style disappearing act....What makes the new Harvard study remarkable is that it actually simulated colony collapse disorder—neonic-treated bees suddenly abandoned hives that had been healthy all summer, while untreated bees hung around and repopulated their hives....More research is needed to identify the mechanism by which neonic pesticides trigger the evacuations, they write, but the results point to "impairment of honeybee neurological functions, specifically memory, cognition, or behavior."  There is a bit of good news.  The USDA has released a preliminary report on its nationwide survey asking beekeepers how their hives fared over the winter. The report found that 23.2 percent of hives collapsed—the lowest levels since CCD began in 2005-06, and down from a peak of about 35 percent in the winter of 2007-08. The previous year's losses clocked in 31 percent.  Note that this is an average for the entire country with some areas exhibiting much higher losses.  Ohio, for example, reported losses from 50 to 80 percent.

Link to other posts on honeybee colony collapse

World Cup
The World Cup tournament kicks off in Brazil on Thursday June 12.  Team USA plays its first game against Ghana on June 16.  The Azzurri's opener is against England June 14.  You can find the complete Group Stage schedule here.  The pre-tournament favorite, currently at 3 to 1, is Brazil.  Italy is 28 to 1.  USA is 225 to 1.  Oh well.

The May 21 Sydney Morning Herald carried a story on Pele's thoughts on the preparations for the games: Brazil legend Pele was critical of his country's preparations.  "It's clear that politically speaking, the money spent to build the stadiums was a lot, and in some cases was more than it should have been," Pele said.  He said "some of this money could have been invested in schools, in hospitals.... Brazil needs it. That's clear. On that point, I agree (with the protests)." 4 billion US$ have been spent on stadiums alone.  Several are still incomplete with just 3 weeks to go until the first game.  Pele was particularly critical of the stadium in Sao Paulo, the venue for the opening match between Brazil and Croatia on June 12.  Officials acknowledged last week that a portion of the roof won't be completed until after the World Cup ends on July 13.  

Brazilian star Marta Vieira da Silva (from The Far Post article)

The April 29 article in The Far Post series from Roads & Kingdoms relates the slow development of women's soccer in Brazil.  The article leads with the story of Marta Vieira da Silva (aka "Pele in skirts").  Marta’s game—like Pelé’s—is Brazilian football: quick, explosive, and exhibiting the impeccable ball control that comes from a childhood spent playing in the streets and in the country’s ubiquitous enclosed concrete courts.She also shares the narrative so common to male Brazilian footballers, of rising to stardom from humble origins. ...she played street football as a child but like the neighborhood girls (and most girls in the country), she was discouraged from participating...She would rise through the ranks of the women’s team associated with Rio’s Vasco de Gama club,...has played for numerous professional clubs in her country and abroad, and has starred for the Brazilian women’s national team, becoming a World Cup and Olympic medalist, a five-time FIFA Player of the Year, and an international icon.  As striking as Marta’s story is, her success is even more striking in the context of her country. In the land of the jogo bonito, women still face immense hurdles to simply participating in the sport, let alone achieving recognition for their footballing talent.  The article also relates the story of Aline Pellegrino, another Brazilian woman soccer star, and former American player Caitlin Fisher who played in Brazil and was a co-founder of the Guerreiras Project.  Led by professional female football players, the project ...uses football as the language with which to address gender justice. The group runs workshops...to open discussions about gender norms, it trains young girls to be leaders, and it encourages the creation of more opportunities for girls and women to play.

In Brief
Link to The Left Bank Cafe post "Remembering the Fallen" (Memorial Day 2013)

While House Republicans play politics on Benghazi, Libya is on the verge of imploding.  The Guardian May 22 post describes "Khalifa Haftar: renegade general causing upheaval in Libya".

The price of popular breakfast cereals is set to soar over the next 15 years as a result of climate change...Staples like corn and rice will double in cost by 2030, with half of that increase due to climate change [Mother Jones]

Pope Francis made the religious case for tackling climate change...calling on his fellow Christians to become “Custodians of Creation” and issuing a dire warning about the potentially catastrophic effects of global climate change: “Safeguard Creation,” he said. “Because if we destroy Creation, Creation will destroy us!" [Think Progress/Climate Progress]

Sunday Roundup - May 11

This is the weekly selection of news and opinion from sources outside the US mainstream corporate media. Today we look at Obamacare, Republicans' economic myths, Iran's nuclear program, Pope Francis' comments on inequality to UN officials, Obama's last chance on the environment, and Ukraine.

Obamacare
The first open enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act is complete and the numbers are in. Total enrollments came to at least 17.8 million, once you add together numbers from Medicaid [expansion], marketplace enrollments and the lowest estimates of how many people bought new ACA-compliant policies outside the exchanges. [NPR Shots blog, May 2]  That didn't stop Republicans from holding yet another hearing to convince people that the program is a failure.  House Republicans brought in insurance executives on Wednesday and tried to get them to say that only 2/3 of the enrollees had paid their premiums.  The executives were having  none of it.  As Salon.com reported: A slate of health insurance industry executives sat down in front of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee for oversight and gave their estimates for how many people who signed up for health coverage through the Affordable Care Act actually paid their first month’s premium....Across the board, the health insurance executives testified that the payment rate for premiums was somewhere between 80 and 90 percent, while stressing that these data are preliminary and that outstanding payments are still coming in.  After this latest rebuke to their fact-free view of reality, Republicans are apparently now turning to Plan B - using the Benghazi tragedy as something to stir up their base and raise money.

Economic Myths
Health care is just one of the many issues where Republicans refuse to face reality.  Sean McElwee in an April 28 article in Rolling Stone enumerates the extensive studies that show just about everything the Republicans believe about the economy to be wrong.  After quoting economist John Maynard Keynes famous line "When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?", McElwee writes: Sadly, in their quest to concentrate economic and political power in the hands of the wealthiest members of society, today's Republicans have held the opposite position – as the evidence has piled up against them, they continue spreading the same myths.  McElwee proceeds to demolish right-wing myths about the minimum wage, the stimulus, taxing the rich, global warming and the Affordable Care Act.  It's a great, quick read and a good antidote to the nonsense that will be spewing in ever greater quantities from Republican mouths and right-wing media as the election season approaches.

Iran's Nuclear Program
John Glaser relates the comments of the former head of Israel's Atomic Energy Commission in a May 8 post at antiwar.org: The former head of Israel’s Atomic Energy Commission believes Iran is more than a decade away from a nuclear weapon and that the Islamic Republic may not even want “the bomb,” according to the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronoth (Ynet news)....Brigadier General (res.) Uzi Eilam, who for a decade headed the Israel Atomic Energy Commission, does not believe that Tehran is even close to having a bomb, if that is even what it really aspires to.  Glaser points out that this is consistent with US intelligence estimates and that Eilam is not the first Israeli insider to counter the political rhetoric of the Israeli right and Prime Minister Netanyahu, who have opposed the Iran nuclear negotiations.  Glaser wonders why despite Iran’s cooperation and compliance in unprecedented negotiations with world powers that aim to partially retard and comprehensively limit their civilian nuclear program, Western commentators of all stripes continue to refer to Iran's "nuclear weapons program".


"Legitimate Redistribution of Wealth to the Poor"

The Pope and Un Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon
(Vatican Network website)

Pope Francis spoke to UN officials in Rome May 9, urging world leaders to resist the economy of exclusion and serve the poor.  As reported at the Common Dreams website: Pope Francis on Friday issued another indictment of inequality, saying that equitable economic and social progress are only possible through solidarity and generosity, and require the legitimate redistribution of wealth..."A contribution to this equitable development will also be made both by international activity aimed at the integral human development of all the world's peoples and by the legitimate redistribution of economic benefits by the State, as well as indispensable cooperation between the private sector and civil society," he continued.  HoundDog's May 9 blog at the DailyKos added:  Pope Francis' authentic Christianity comes as such an unfamiliar shock to many, that Pope Francis has had to deny he was a Marxist. He had a similar message to the World Economic Forum in January...Pope Francis' passion to improve the conditions of the world's poor, support for social justice inspires me....What will right-wing conservatives have to say about this? I can not wait to see how Representative Paul Ryan revises his draconian budget proposal which contains harsh cut backs in programs for the poor. Ryan has proclaimed his budgets are consistent with Catholic teachings, a claim I assert is simply impossible to support now.

Obama and the Environment
Calling it Obama's "last shot" to do something on the environment, Jeff Goodell wrote in an April 23 post in Rolling Stone magazine: In the next few months, [Obama] will take one of the biggest gambles of his presidency by testing the radical proposition that even SUV-loving Americans believe that global warming is real and are ready to do something about it....It's a gamble that could have a profound impact on energy politics, our economy and our ability to stabilize the climate. But if the president is wrong, it could not only cost his party control of the Senate this fall but also blow the last opportunity we have to save ourselves from life on a superheated planet.  Obama will take action in three key areas.

• In June, the EPA is expected to announce new rules for power plants, setting limits on carbon pollution.  Obama will be using his presidential powers to effectively hasten the phase-out of dirty coal from America's energy system. Right now, coal-fired power plants generate about 40 percent of the electricity in the U.S. and are by far the largest single source of heat-trapping gases.  
• A decision on the Keystone XL pipeline has been delayed while lawsuits on the pipeline's route go through the courts.  These are not expected to be resolved until after the November elections.  Goodell writes:  Although no final decision has been made, two high-level sources in the Obama administration told me recently that the president has all but decided to deny the permit for the pipeline.
• The next global climate summit will be in Paris in December 2015.  The objective is an international treaty to reduce carbon pollution.  Climate change, of course, is a global problem, and ultimately what matters is the degree to which Obama's actions in the U.S. inspire the world.  Regarding the international summit, Goodell quotes John Podesta, Obama's point man on climate policy: "Are we going to be on track to come to an agreement that will limit warming to 2 degrees Celsius, which is the threshold scientists have set for dangerous climate change?  Our goal is to give leadership and credibility to that effort."

Map is from infoplease.com

Ukraine

Ukraine is moving towards civil war as the government in Kiev cracks down on pro-separatists and as Donetsk, defying both Kiev and Putin, goes ahead with a referendum Sunday to create a quasi-independent statelet there.  [The Guardian, May 10]

Links
Complete text of Pope Francis' comments to UN

Sunday Roundup - April 20, 2014

This is the weekly selection of news and opinion from sources outside the US mainstream media.  Today we look at the Iran nuclear talks, the Ukraine  agreement, the passing of Gabriel García Márquez, and Pope Francis' Easter Urbi et Orbi blessing.  

Iran Nuclear Talks
Hardliners on all sides of the Iran nuclear talks have put pressure on the negotiators trying to hammer out an historic agreement.  On Wednesday April 16, Reuters reported on Iranian hardliners' stepped up criticism of the nuclear talks:  The hardliners, unsettled by the shift to a more moderate foreign policy since President Hassan Rouhani took office in August, have repeatedly criticized the talks in recent months but Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei backs them....In their latest charge, critics of the negotiations leaked an audio recording purporting to show Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi criticizing Rouhani's view of the nuclear program, the official IRNA news agency reported.  Araghchi,[ a key negotiator in the talks that produced the November interim deal,] lashed out at his critics on Wednesday, saying the audio filed was "selected and distorted" and urging them not to play politics with what he called Iran's nuclear rights...Foreign Minister Javad Zarif told Reuters he did not fear opposition from hardliners and was optimistic about reaching a comprehensive agreement with world powers by the July 20 deadline.

Hardliners aside, Iran continues to reduce its nuclear enrichment capabilities as demanded by the West.  Reuters/The Star Online (Malaysia) reported on Thursday's release of the IAEA's monthly update: The monthly update by the International Atomic Energy Agency , which has a pivotal role in verifying that Iran is living up to its part of the accord, made clear that Iran so far is undertaking the agreed steps to curb its nuclear programme.  The IAEA update noted that Iran has cut its most sensitive nuclear stockpile by nearly 75 percent and diluted half of its higher-grade enriched uranium reserve to a fissile content less prone to bomb proliferation. A planned facility needed to convert low-enriched uranium gas (LEU) to a non-weaponizable oxide has been delayed, likely due to technical issues.  Western diplomats said earlier that this matter was of no immediate consequence as Iran's commitment concerns the size of the reserve towards the end of the deal, in late July, meaning it has time both to complete the site and convert enough LEU.

Ukraine
Some progress was made on resolving the crisis in the Ukraine.  The Guardian reported Thursday: The US, Russia, Ukraine and the European Union have reached agreement on a series of immediate steps aimed at pulling eastern Ukraine back from the brink of war.  The deal, clinched after a dramatic extended meeting in Geneva, calls for the disarming of all illegal groups. In the next few days they would have to vacate all the government buildings and public spaces they have occupied over the course of the crisis.  In return, the protesters in eastern Ukraine would be offered amnesty for all but capital crimes and the government in Kiev would immediately start a process of public consultation aimed at devolving constitutional powers to the provinces.  However, pro-Russian groups in eastern Ukraine are staying put for the time being.  The Guardian reported Friday: Pro-Russian groups in eastern Ukraine have accused the authorities in Kiev of violating an agreement to defuse tensions across the country, adding that they have no intention of leaving buildings they have occupied...At a press conference on Friday..., Denis Pushilin, the self-styled leader of the Donetsk People's Republic, said his supporters would stay put until a referendum on the region's future status took place. The current pro-western government in Kiev was illegitimate, he said...Pushilin – speaking from the occupied regional administration building in central Donetsk – said that Kiev had already violated the Geneva deal by refusing to withdraw its military units from eastern Ukraine. 


Gabriel García Márquez
Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez, the greatest Latin American writer of the 20th century, passed away Thursday at the age of 87.   His "magical realism" works are his best known.  In 1982, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature "for his novels and short stories, in which the fantastic and the realistic are combined in a richly composed world of imagination, reflecting a continent's life and conflicts". Tributes poured in from around the world for the beloved author.  And beloved he was.  In the late 1990's, I was in Cartagena, where he maintained a home even during his many travels abroad. Painted on a rock wall not far from the Caribbean Sea were the words "Te amo Gabo".  Originally a law student, "Gabo" turned to journalism and eventually to fiction.  His breakout novel was "One Hundred Years of Solitude", published in 1967.  He counted Bill Clinton and Fidel Castro among his many admirers.  Because of his outspoken anti-imperialist views, García Márquez was denied travel visas to the US for many years.  The ban was lifted by Bill Clinton after he became President.

The City Paper (Bogotá) writes: García Márquez was among the vanguard of the ‘Latin American Boom,’ a literary movement to which Julio Cortázar, Carlos Fuentes and Mario Vargas Llosa also belonged.  García Márquez’s use of magical realism, a style in which events are so extraordinary and unbelievable they seem fantastical, inspired a generation of writers and drew readers into an unforgettable world filled with poetry and imagination...“Gabo,” as he was affectionately known in Colombia, will be sorely missed in Colombia and abroad. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has declared 3 days of mourning for the passing of this native son of letters. 

The Scotsman writes of One Hundred Years of Solitude: García Márquez combines miraculous and supernatural events with the details of everyday life and the political realities of Latin America. The characters are visited by ghosts, a plague of insomnia envelops Macondo, a child is born with a pig’s tail and a priest levitates above the ground....García Márquez, a stocky man with a quick smile, thick moustache and curly hair, said he found inspiration for the novel by drawing on childhood memories of his grandmother’s stories - laced with folklore and superstition but delivered with the straightest of faces.  The Scotsman article concludes with this tribute from Colombian pop star Shakira: “Your life, dear Gabo, will be remembered by all of us as a unique and singular gift, and as the most original story of all,” Colombian pop star Shakira wrote on her website alongside a photograph of her hugging Garcia Marquez.


Urbi et Orbi (to the city and to the world)
Happy Easter!  Pope Francis delivered the traditional Urbi et Orbi blessing after celebrating the Easter liturgy. Under clear blue skies in Rome, Pope Francis gave his Urbi et Orbi ("to the city and to the world") blessing.  At the heart of his message was a call to live the Good News of the Gospels in our treatment of the most vulnerable:  "In every human situation, marked by frailty, sin and death, the Good News is no mere matter of words, but a testimony to unconditional and faithful love: it is about leaving ourselves behind and encountering others, being close to those crushed by life's troubles, sharing with the needy, standing at the side of the sick, elderly and the outcast."  He prayed for the vulnerable and for peace throughout the world. As reported in Deutsche Welle:     The holiest day in the Christian calendar attracted more than 100,000 people to the square to hear the Pope speak on Sunday at mid day.  Easter celebrations in Rome again sent out the message of social solidarity which has characterised Pope Francis' papacy since it began last year.  He made reference to killings and violence around the world, including in Nigeria, Ukraine and Jerusalem and urged warring sides in Syria to negotiate "boldly."


Images
Gabriel Garcia Marquez is from El Espectador.
Pope Francis giving the "Urbi et Orbi" blessing is from La Corriere della Sera/L'Osservatore Romano

In Brief
"The Guardian and the Washington Post have been awarded the highest accolade in US journalism, winning the Pulitzer prize for public service for their groundbreaking articles on the National Security Agency’s surveillance activities based on the leaks of Edward Snowden." [The Guardian, April 14]

El Espectador, a Colombian newspaper for which Gabriel García Márquez wrote, has an extensive appreciation of his life, including a time line, slide shows and images.

Complete English text of Pope Francis' Urbi et Orbi Blessing [Huffington Post/AP, April 20]

Sunday Roundup - March 16, 2014

This is the weekly selection of news and opinion from sources outside the US mainstream media.  Today we look at Pope Francis, Ukraine, six ways America lags the rest of the developed world, Syria, Venzuelan food shortages, and the new Jimi Hendrix stamp. 


Quote of the Day

"I wonder...how...foreign policies...would look if we wiped out the national boundaries of the world, at least in our minds, and thought of all children everywhere as our own. Then we could never...wage war anywhere, because wars, especially in our time, are always wars against children, indeed our children."

- Howard Zinn, A People's History of the Untied States

Pope Francis' First Anniversary
"A group of young people from around the world have launched a campaign called Grazie Francesco – Thank You Francis – to send the Pope messages marking the first year of his pontificate March 13...Thousands of messages from around the world in eight different languages can be read on the campaign's website, which was created by the Argentinian group Lindo Lio...Lindo Lio said its name comes from the Holy Father's call to young people at World Youth Day Rio 2013 to “stir things up in your dioceses. I want to the Church to go out onto the streets!” [Catholic News Agency, March 11]


Ukraine
The Guardian reported Friday that "11th-hour talks in London between the US secretary of state, John Kerry, and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, broke up without resolving the standoff."  Russia has refused to postpone the Crimean referendum Sunday.  Should the referendum to rejoin Russia pass (and it looks like it will), Western nations will impose sanctions on Russia starting Monday.  Kerry challenged Lavrov over "sudden Russian troop movements along the Ukrainian border over the past few days....Lavrov, at a press conference at the talks, insisted the referendum would go ahead as planned. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, 'will respect the will of the Crimean people', Lavrov said. Lavrov expressed concern over violence in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine overnight on Thursday. Casualties mounted from clashes between pro- and anti-Russian protesters there" with one reported death and 26 to 28 injured.

"Six Ways America Is Like A Third World Country"
Rolling Stone magazine's March 5 post by Shawn McElwee notes that although "the U.S. is one of the richest societies in history, it still lags behind other developed nations in many important indicators of human development."  McElwee discusses  "six of the most egregious examples that show how far we still have to go" to catch up with the rest of the developed world:
Criminal justice - "The only country that incarcerates a higher percentage of its population than we do is North Korea. The U.S. is also the only developed country that executes prisoners...[and] 42 percent of those on death row are black, compared to less than 15 percent of the overall population."
Gun violence -"The U.S. leads the developed world in firearm-related murders, and the difference isn't a slight gap – more like a chasm. According to United Nations data, the U.S. has 20 times more murders than the developed world average."
Healthcare - "A study last year found that in many American counties, especially in the deep South, life expectancy is lower than in Algeria, Nicaragua or Bangladesh. The U.S. is the only developed country that does not guarantee health care to its citizens"
Education - "America has one of the highest achievement gaps between high income and low income students, as measured by the OECD [Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development]....Students in the average OECD country can expect about 70 percent of their college tuition to be publicly funded..."; in the United States, it's about 40 percent,
Income inequality - "By almost every measure, the U.S. tops out OECD countries in terms of income inequality, largely because America has the stingiest welfare state of any developed country....[In] many parts of the United States...children born in the poorest quintile have a less than 3 percent chance of reaching the top quintile"
Infrastructure - "The United States infrastructure is slowly crumbling apart and is in desperate need for repair. One study estimates that our infrastructure system needs a $3.6 trillion investment over the next six years."

Syria

Location Map of Syria is from www.mapsnworld.com

With no end in sight to the violence and no prospects on the horizon for negotiations, the bad news just keeps coming for the Syrian people. Al Jazeera reported on March 10 on a new report by the charity Save the Children.  "Syria's civil conflict has left the country's health system so severely crippled that some patients are 'opting to be knocked out with metal bars for lack of anaesthesia,' a new report by the Save the Children charity says.  The report, A Devastating Toll, looks at the impact of three years of war on the health of the country's children.  'We received a little girl with critical injuries; we could do nothing but wait for her to die because we didn't have the equipment or the medicines. Till now I can't remove her face from my mind,' said one health worker...The charity said more than 10,000 young lives had been lost as a direct result of the violence....'The extent of the decline in Syria’s health system is demonstrated in many horrific ways, including children having limbs amputated because the clinics they present to don't have necessary equipment to treat them,'the report said."

As I see it, the only way out of this devastating civil war is for an arms embargo on all sides in the conflict and an immediate and unconditional cease fire.  Once the fighting is stopped, humanitarian aid can flow freely to the people of Syria.  Then a power-sharing agreement between the government and the rebel forces should be secured.  As one of Syria's allies, Iran must be given a role in bringing the Assad government to the negotiating table. 

In Brief Links
Link to the Grazie Francesco website

Are hoarding and bootlegging causing Venezuela's food shortages?

Jimi Hendrix is now on a US postage stamp

Sunday Round-Up - February 2, 2014

 

Being generous of spirit is a wonderful way to live.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/p/pete_seeger.html#VmFfacgEv5oWbgDW.99

 Being generous of spirit is a wonderful way to live. - Pete Seeger

This is the weekly selection of news and opinion from outside American mainstream media.  Today we remember Pete Seeger, look at the Year of the Horse, and, in brief, the Syrian peace talks, the surprise cover of the Rolling Stone, and John Kerry's quest for an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.

Folk singer and activist Pete Seeger passed away on January 27 at the age 94.  Infamously blacklisted after his appearance before the McCarthy-era "House Un-American Activities Committee", he was a tireless advocate for workers, civil rights, the environment and peace.  Pete Seeger influenced generations of songwriters.  "Once called 'America's tuning fork,' Pete Seeger believed deeply in the power of song," President Barack Obama said in a statement on Tuesday. "Over the years, Pete used his voice—and his hammer—to strike blows for worker's rights and civil rights; world peace and environmental conservation. And he always invited us to sing along." [Mother Jones, Jan 28]  Mother Jones has a phenomenal musical tribute to Pete Seeger which you can reach by clicking this link.  For more on his appearance before HUAC and the "black list", see Corey Robin's excellent post of January 29.  Pete Seeger was a genuine force for good and he will be missed.




The Year of the Horse has begun.  Lunar (aka Chinese) New Year celebrations started January 31 with as many as 2 billion people joining in across the globe - particularly in the Far East.  The celebrations continue for 15 days.  In China alone 3.62 billion journeys are expected to be taken in the 40 day period surrounding the New Year. "The staggering figure of passengers is set to make Chunyun, which literally means Spring Festival, transportation the largest seasonal human migration on the globe." [Xinhua news agency]  According to Chinese Zodiac lore, "People born in the year of the horse are said to be a bit like horses: animated, active and energetic – they love being in a crowd. They are quick to learn independence – foals can walk minutes after birth – and they have a straightforward and positive attitude towards life. They are known for their communication skills and are exceedingly witty." [The Guardian, January 31]

(Lunar New Year images appeared in the International Business Times and are by Reuters)

In Brief

The first round of peace talks to end Syria’s civil war have concluded with little tangible progress to speak of, delegates said Friday, as rights groups reported nearly 1,900 deaths in Syria as the summit was being held in Switzerland.  A second round has been scheduled to start February 10. [Al Jazeera, January 31]

Pope Francis made it to "the cover of the Rolling Stone".  A feature-length article on "a man whose obvious humility, empathy and, above all, devotion to the economically disenfranchised has come to feel perfectly suited to our times" appears in the February 13 issue. [Rolling Stone website, January 28]


US Secretary of State John Kerry and an elite team of US diplomats return to Israel as goals shift for the US's once-ambitious peace plan.  [The Guardian, January 30]

Do you know the difference between education and experience? Education is when you read the fine print; experience is what you get when you don't. 

- Pete Seeger

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.  

“...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])

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