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  “We will end an outdated approach that for decades has failed to advance our interests, and instead we will begin to normalize relations between our two countries," Obama said...The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 machinery of death

"From this day forward, I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death."

- Justice Harry Blackmun

Twenty years ago, Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun wrote an emotional dissent from the Court's decision not to hear the appeal of a mentally impaired Texas inmate on death row.  Blackmun had become convinced that the death penalty could no longer be carried out in a constitutional manner in our country. Several recent news items brought Justice Blackmun's dissent to mind. There may yet be some hope that the United States will join the rest of the civilized world in abolishing the death penalty.

On July 16, a federal judge ruled California's death penalty unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of "cruel and unusual punishment".  From CNN and KFOR: "Judge Cormac J. Carney vacated the 1995 death sentence of Ernest D. Jones...Carney wrote: 'Allowing this system to continue to threaten Mr. Jones with the slight possibility of death, almost a generation after he was first sentenced, violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment...In California, the execution of a death sentence is so infrequent, and the delays preceding it so extraordinary, that the death penalty is deprived of any deterrent or retributive effect it might once have had...Such an outcome is antithetical to any civilized notion of just punishment.' "  

Through year-end 2013, there had been 317 post-conviction DNA exonerations in the United States. Earlier this month, we witnessed yet another case in which DNA evidence was used to exonerate two innocent men.  The New York Times reported on September 2, "Thirty years after their convictions in the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl in rural North Carolina, based on confessions that they quickly repudiated and said were coerced, two mentally disabled half brothers were declared innocent and ordered released Tuesday by a judge here. The case against the men, always weak, fell apart after DNA evidence implicated another man whose possible involvement had been somehow overlooked by the authorities even though he lived only a block from where the victim’s body was found, and he had admitted to committing a similar rape and murder around the same time." One brother was on death row and the other had served 30 years of a life imprisonment.

This North Carolina case was actually cited in 1994 by Justice Antonin Scalia justifying the use of the death penalty even in the case of mentally impaired defendants.  Heather Digby Parton writing at Salon.com excoriates Scalia and his views on the death penalty, which include his contention that the state is not doing anything immoral if it executes an innocent man as long as he has been given a fair trial. "Worst of all, Justice Scalia and other death penalty proponents who find nothing immoral in the state’s conscious, coldblooded taking of a life are equally unconcerned that they might be taking the life of an innocent person....This man claims that he could not be a judge if he thought his participation in the death penalty was immoral and yet he does not believe it matters under the Constitution if the state executes innocent people. How on earth can such a depraved person be on the Supreme Court of the United States? On what basis can our country lay claim to a superior system of justice and a civilized moral order when such people hold power?"

The problem goes well beyond Justice Scalia.  Although polls are showing a continuing downward trend towards the death penalty, 55% of the country still approve of the "state's conscious, coldblooded taking of a life." As a nation, we have a very long way to go before we brag about our moral superiority. Our executions in 2013 were exceeded only by China, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and North Korea. In fact, the United States is one of just 22 nations that executed prisoners last year. The death penalty has been abolished outright or is under a moratorium in 155 countries. Just 40 countries still maintain a death penalty. With the sole exception of the United States, all of these 40 nations are in Asia, Africa or the Caribbean.   

There was a brief period, from 1972 until 1977, when the death penalty was suspended in the United States. By a 5 to 4 vote, the Supreme Court in its Furman vs. Georgia decision voided the death penalty statutes of the 40 states that had them. While we won't ever have again those enlightened justices (Douglas, Brennan, Stewart, White and Marshall), it should be noted that one of the dissenting justices in Furman vs. Georgia was Blackmun. Twenty-two years after that dissenting vote, Blackmun decided that the death penalty could not be imposed in a manner consistent with the Constitution. If some of the justices currently in favor of the death penalty change their opinions, that may be enough to declare it unconstitutional once and for all.

Demographically, younger people tend to oppose the death penalty more than older people. For example, a Barna Group poll found that just 23% of practicing Christian millenials supported the death penalty. They see it as a human rights as well as a moral issue.

Many religious leaders have spoken against the death penalty and that same Barna Group poll found that there was a significant difference in opposition to the death penalty between practicing Christians and the overall population. Perhaps no church has been more clear in its opposition to the death penalty in recent decades than the Catholic Church.   In 1999, Pope John Paul II speaking at a Papal Mass in St. Louis, Missouri, said,"The new evangelization calls for followers of Christ who are unconditionally pro-life: who will proclaim, celebrate and serve the Gospel of life in every situation. A sign of hope is the increasing recognition that the dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil. . . . I renew the appeal I made . . . for a consensus to end the death penalty, which is both cruel and unnecessary." In 2005, the National Conference of Catholic Bishops wrote in A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death, "Twenty-five years ago, our Conference of bishops first called for an end to the death penalty. We renew this call to seize a new moment and new momentum. This is a time to teach clearly, encourage reflection, and call for common action in the Catholic community to bring about an end to the use of the death penalty in our land." 

(Just a thought - six of the justices on the Supreme Court (including all five conservatives) are Roman Catholics. Okay, I get the need for separation of Church and State but surely one's conscience should play some role in deciding the justice and fairness of a law or statute.) 

Finally, there are the justice, fairness and practicality arguments against the death penalty.

• It has never been shown to be a deterrent.
• It is seldom applied to individuals who can afford a strong defense team and is disproportionately applied to persons of color. (The total death row population as of April 2014 was 43% white, 42% black, 13% Latino, and 2% other races.)
• Innocent people have been executed.
• The cost of capital cases are prohibitively high.

Although a SCOTUS ruling against the death penalty does not appear imminent, the states are taking action. The death penalty has now been abolished in 18 states and the District of Columbia. Moratoriums are currently in effect in another 7 states, and 2 states have not executed a prisoner in more than 15 years. (Source: The Death Penalty Information Center) 

Our Constitution, human rights' considerations, the teachings of religious leaders, the example of the world's other democracies, and justice, fairness, and practicality concerns all argue for an end to the death penalty. This barbaric and unnecessary practice, this cruel and unusual punishment, this "conscious, coldblooded taking of a life" by the state is a blot on our national character. We should rejoin the democracies of the world in barring it as soon as possible. If not now, then we'll need to wait until our wiser, more humane, less vengeful sons and daughters bring it about.

Links

Death Penalty Information Center

Amnesty International USA - US Death Penalty Facts

The Innocence Project

Crime and Punishment in America

Ramsey Clark, 1968 (Wikipedia)

During my politically formative years in the 1960's and '70's, there was a lot going on. The civil rights and anti-war movements were operating at full throttle. Lyndon Johnson's Great Society programs and the environmental movement were getting underway. In addition to the events and ambiance of that time, two books played a major role in the development of my political positions. One was The Other America: Poverty in the United States by Michael Harrington. The other was Crime in America: Observations on its Nature, Causes, Prevention and Control by Ramsey Clark, Lyndon Johnson's Attorney General from 1967-1969. So much of the discussion on these subjects was, and is, nothing more than an unthinking reaction to effects. What distinguished these books from others and from today's general discourse was their attempt to understand the causes of these conditions in America - on the one hand, poverty, and, on the other, crime.

A few relatively recent news items on our criminal justice system caused me to think back on Ramsey Clark's excellent work and wonder about the fairness and effectiveness of our system.

Let's start with mandatory drug sentences. Historically, mandatory sentencing has discriminated against minorities - for example, in the disproportionate sentencing for crack as opposed to powder cocaine.  The Fair Sentencing Act signed into law in August 2010 remedied this. The Act was passed just before the Republican takeover of the House in the November 2010 elections. Fast forward to May 2014 and this lead paragraph from a story in the Huffington Post: "The head of the Drug Enforcement Administration is refusing to support a bill backed by the Obama administration that would lower the length of mandatory minimum sentences for federal drug crimes, putting her at odds with her boss Attorney General Eric Holder on one of the criminal justice reform initiatives he hopes to make a centerpiece of his legacy." Needless to say, the DEA head is a holdover from W's administration. What was Obama thinking when he asked her to stay on?   

Addiction is an illness that needs to be treated. Addressing the hopelessness and the life conditions that lead to addiction is necessary if we really want to solve the problem. Unfortunately, it serves the interests of law-and-order demagogues to treat it as a crime. The result: "The incarceration rate in the United States of America is the highest in the world. As of 2009, the incarceration rate was 743 per 100,000 of national population (0.743%). While the United States represents about 5 percent of the world's population, it houses around 25 percent of the world's prisoners. Imprisonment of America's 2.3 million prisoners, costing $24,000 per inmate per year, and $5.1 billion in new prison construction, consumes $60.3 billion in budget expenditures." [Wikipedia entry on "United States Incarceration Rate"]   

Speaking of law-and-order, the wing nuts of the right rose to defend the armed men who threatened Bureau of Land Management agents trying to remove illegally grazing cattle from Federal land. The dead beat rancher, to whose "defense" these gun-toting, self-styled militia came, owes the United States more than $1,000,000 in grazing fees! "When the Bureau of Land Management tried to round up the illegal cattle, [Cliven Bundy, the rancher,] violated yet another court order by meeting them with a band of armed militia thugs, several of which pointed semi-automatic assault rifles at federal police officers." [azcentral blog, May 3]  Captured in a video is one of these lunatics saying he thought it would be wise to put women and children in front as human shields (of course, he didn't use that term). The Federal agents withdrew to avoid a potential shootout. The FBI is now looking into the armed standoff and the threats. Seems pretty clear to me - threaten someone with a lethal weapon, you've violated some law; threaten a Federal agent with a semi-automatic, you've probably violated a Federal law.   

Cecily McMillan at the start of her trial (The Guardian)

On the other hand, there's the story out of New York where a woman faces up to 7 years in prison for "assault on a police officer" as he tried to remove her from an Occupy demonstration - apparently she hit him in the eye with her elbow as she was being taken away. The harshness of the potential sentence is incredible but what is just as unbelievable is that this first time offender, who never missed a court hearing date, was denied bail. "Judge Ronald Zweibel ordered that McMillan, 25, a graduate student at the New School, be detained. He rejected a request from her lawyers for bail." [The Guardian, May 5] So she'll be spending time on Riker's Island until she's sentenced on May 19. Various groups are supporting McMillan. Nine of the twelve jurors who convicted her - unaware of the sentence she was facing if convicted- have appealed to the judge for leniency.  This is the same judge who denied bail.  Good luck.

So let's see if I have this straight - engage in a peaceful protest, go to prison; point lethal weapons at Federal agents, be hailed as patriots. Kafka-esque to say the least.

Update 5/19/2014: Cecily McMillan was sentenced to 3 months behind bars and 5 years probation today.

Finally, let's talk about the death penalty. I oppose it. The United States is the only industrialized Western nation that still adheres to the barbaric practice of state executions.

The recent events in Oklahoma where a death-row prisoner was, in essence, tortured to death when the lethal injection process went horribly wrong (I mean more horribly wrong than the basic inhumanity of the death penalty itself ) make the "cruel and unusual punishment' clause of the Constitution meaningless.   

There is not now, nor ever has been, a deterrent justification for state executions. Plainly and simply put, and supported by many studies, executions do not deter. Vengeance is not an acceptable reason either. The United States is, or should be, long past the vigilante stage of government. The death penalty is inconsistent with both our Judeo-Christian heritage, with our democracy and our Constitution's cruel and unusual punishment clause.

Add to this the increasing evidence that numerous people on death row are innocent of the crimes for which they've been convicted, that the death penalty is imposed disproportionately on people of color and those who cannot afford legal defense, and that it is an expensive process. It soon becomes clear that, in addition to the moral and legal objections to its practice, the death penalty is unjust, impractical, and ineffective.

We can only hope that the death penalty will be abolished by the states quickly. We haven't had a Supreme Court willing to consider the unconstitutionality of the practice in decades. As of now, just 18 states plus the District of Columbia have abolished the death penalty. But there is a growing states' movement towards rejoining the civilized world. At least seven states are reconsidering the death penalty either by declaring a moratorium or by staying executions.

Links

March 7, 2012 The Left Bank Cafe post: "The Other America"

Death Penalty Information Center homepage

Root cause analysis is a powerful "quality tool" for problem solving in (to name just a few areas) technical and design issues, risk management, efficiency studies and safety incident investigations.  By understanding root causes, you can prevent the recurrence of the undesired event.   Here's a link to an introductory description of the process.  (Or you can use the method I employed for much of my working career: "Ask why five times".)

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.


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Image and quote of Pope Francis is from the usmessageboard.com website

 







   

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday Round-Up: October 13, 2013

This is the weekly selection of news and opinion from sources outside US mainstream media.  Today we look at the Nobel Peace Prize, Syria, the West's inadvertent role in the spread of terrorist groups, the German elections, World Cup European qualifiers and the death penalty.  Sources include The Guardian, Le Monde Diplomatique, Al Jazeera and the Death Penalty Information Center.

The Guardian reported on Friday's selection by the Nobel Committee of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) as the winner of the 2013 Peace Prize.  "The international chemical weapons watchdog, a relatively new global body, set up in 1997 in The Hague, with a relatively tiny annual budget of around £60m, trumped the established bookmakers' favourites of Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl turned advocate for female education, and Denis Mukwege, the Congolese gynecologist who has helped huge numbers of rape victims."  The announcement was made by Nobel Committee chair Thorbjørn Jagland.  The prize was awarded for OPCW's " 'extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons'and nudge the few remaining nations that had not yet signed up to the organization."  Angola, Egypt, North Korea, South Sudan, and Syria (which have not yet signed the Chemicals Weapons Convention) plus Israel and Myanmar (which have signed but not yet ratified the convention) are considered non-member states. "Addressing reporters, Jagland said the award was a reminder to nations with remaining chemical weapons, such as the US and Russia, to get rid of them, "especially because they are demanding that others do the same, like Syria". He added: "We now have the opportunity to get rid of an entire category of weapons of mass destruction … That would be a great event in history if we could achieve that."

In the October issue of Le Monde Diplomatique, Serge Hamili takes on Obama detractors, who claim America's credibility was lost when Obama did not bomb Syria.  "The warmongers urged him to take a strong line in Syria: to violate international law by resorting to force without Security Council authorisation; to take no notice of anything Congress had to say; to disregard what it did say if that contradicted his expressed wishes; and to launch a military operation with far fewer allies than Bush’s “coalition of the willing” in 2003."  As for credibility, he notes America lost much of its credibility in pursuing unjustifiable, misguided wars such as "domino-theory" Vietnam ("Three million Indochinese perished. In 1979, four years after the US defeat, China and Vietnam were [engaged in a border] war") and "axis-of-evil" Iraq ("Today, Iraq is in ruins and the Baghdad government established by US soldiers is closer than ever to Iran.")  In October 2002, a young Senator Obama, in defining his opposition to the coming invasion of Iraq declared his opposition to what he called "dumb wars."  By pursuing a diplomatic solution to Syria, Obama "seems to have concluded that his credibility would easily survive a refusal to enter another dumb war in the Middle East."

In the same issue of Le Monde Diplomatique, Philippe Rekacewicz writes of the West's inadvertent role in the spread of the influence of jihadist terrorists: "Since 9/11 there have been four major western interventions in the Middle East and North Africa (not counting Israel’s wars in Lebanon and Gaza), which have contributed to the weakening of states and spread of jihadist groups."  He cites Afghanistan ("...the Taliban are stronger than ever [since their expulsion]. The conflict has spread to Pakistan, mainly through the use of drones."), Iraq ("Al-Qaida, not previously present, forms, drawing thousands of volunteers, mainly from the Caucasus and the Gulf, and mujahedin who first took up arms in Afghanistan. The state is struggling to rebuild itself."), Libya ("Thousands of fighters, largely African, who were enrolled in the Libyan army, swarm across the region, abandoning their arsenals, which are plundered. No one controls the border areas."), and Mali ("Although UN troops take over, France remains the central pivot of security in a phantom state. Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) fighters are scattered across the region.") 

 



Al Jazeera reports on the start of the regimen to destroy the Syrian weapons.  "On Sunday [Oct 6], the U.N. began the long process of securing and destroying Syria's estimated 1,000-ton stockpile of chemical weapons. Syrian personnel, under the supervision of international disarmament inspectors, are working under a Nov. 1 deadline set by the U.N. to destroy the Assad government's capability to produce and use the weapons."  But Al Jazeera also reminds us that the Syrian civil war continues "Syrian government warplanes bombed rebel positions near a strategic northern town Tuesday...The warfare is a reminder that the agreement to destroy the Assad regime's unconventional weapons doesn't address an ongoing civil war that has seen more than 100,000 killed with conventional arms."

"Angela Merkel and her Christian Democrat party (CDU/CSU) have won a resounding victory in Germany’s general election," writes Chris Bickerton in October's Le Monde Diplomatique.  This is not surprising since Germany has uniquely survived the Eurozone crisis.  German industry "reformed itself in the early 2000's and rode an export-led boom that continues today....Germany’s current account surplus, at $246bn over the last year (6.6% of GDP), is greater than China’s."  Another factor in the victory was Merkel's steady drift leftwards.  Her adopting  "policies that first came from the left...had the effect of emptying much of the campaign of any traditional ideological conflict.... Instead, the campaign was fought around the language of risk and of personality. Germans preferred Merkel’s low-key, homely aspect to Steinbrück’s debonair image and, seeking reassurance in the widespread depoliticisation, voted for Merkel’s motherly, risk-averse approach."   As for the meaning of Merkel's victory for the rest of Europe: "It is possible that Merkel will soften her stance to some extent now the election is over... [She also] may compromise...on measures to boost domestic demand. If Germans were to consume a little more rather than save so much, that would help pull other Eurozone economies out of their deep depression."

An October 10 article in The Guardian shows once again the divergence between the United States and other advanced industrialized nations on executions.  "A German manufacturer confirmed on Thursday it had taken the extraordinary step of suspending shipments of a widely used drug to a US distributor this year after 20 vials were mistakenly sent to the state of Missouri to be used in executions."  The death penalty is banned in the European Union, and it bans the export of drugs for use in executions.  Missouri had been expected to "become the first US state to use the drug in an execution scheduled for 23 October...The German company's confirmation it had suspended the shipments came a day after Missouri announced that it would return the drugs to the distributor. Missouri is taking the unusual step some 11 months after the distributor frantically pleaded for the return of the vials, according to emails recently made public."  The Death Penalty Information Center reported on October 11 that "Missouri Governor Jay Nixon has stayed the execution of Allen Nicklasson, which was scheduled for October 23, due to concerns surrounding the use of propofol in executions. Gov. Nixon has directed the Department of Corrections to modify the execution protocol to include a different form of lethal injection."

The qualifying rounds for the 2014 World Cup move towards completion over the next few weeks, with many important games occurring through October 15.  The Guardian lists "10 things to look out for" in these qualifiers in an entertaining October 11 post.  Some European teams that haven't been to the World Cup tournament for a while (e.g., Belgium) are in a position to qualify for the slate of 32.

Photos
Map of the multiplying jihadist paths is from Le Monde Diplomatique
Photo of chemical weapons inspectors by Mohamed Abdullah/Reuters was published in Al Jazeera.

Are You in a Death Penalty State?
32 states in the US still have a death penalty. 18 states plus the District of Columbia have abolished it.  Link to DPIC fact sheet on the death penalty.  Want to do something about it?  Click on the link for your state at the DPIC's State Information page then scroll down to "Resources".  Information there will include organizations that work for the abolishment of the death penalty in your state.

Ten Good Things

Politics have been absent from this blog for about a month now. I really didn't want to talk about the lack of progress on so many fronts. I still don't. Instead, this post will lay out 10 good things that have happened in the past couple of months or so.

1. On April 2, the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to approve "the first treaty on the global arms trade, which seeks to regulate the $70 billion business in conventional arms and keep weapons out of the hands of human rights abusers." [Reuters] There were 22 abstentions but only three nations voted "no" - Iran, Syria and North Korea. The massive and poorly regulated global trade in arms feeds conflicts like those in Mali, Syria, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

 

Also see: Oxfam America Webpage

2. On March 15, Maryland became the 18th state to abolish the death penalty since it was reinstated by the Supreme Court in 1976. The repeal was proposed by Governor O'Malley. The NAACP and the Catholic Church were among the groups that organized to end executions in the state. Nationwide, death sentences have declined by 75% and executions by 60% since the 1990s, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. [Mansfield News Journal]

3. On April 4, Gov. Malloy of Connecticut signed what many are calling the strongest and most comprehensive gun legislation in the nation. Connecticut joins New York and Colorado to become the 3rd state to pass tough gun control legislation in the wake of the Newton shootings.

4. On March 21, President Obama delivered a speech in Jerusalem to Israeli students. In addition to stating his support for Israel, he appealed to the students to consider the plight of the Palestinians and emphasized the need for a just peace and for a Palestinian state: "Put yourself in their shoes. Look at the world through their eyes. It is not fair that a Palestinian child cannot grow up in a state of their own. Living their entire lives with the presence of a foreign army that controls the movements not just of those young people but their parents, their grandparents, every single day. It’s not just when settler violence against Palestinians goes unpunished. It’s not right to prevent Palestinians from farming their lands; or restricting a student’s ability to move around the West Bank; or displace Palestinian families from their homes. Neither occupation nor expulsion is the answer. Just as Israelis built a state in their homeland, Palestinians have a right to be a free people in their own land."  The students burst into applause 5 times during this brief portion of Obama's speech. 

 

Link to complete text of President Obama's Speech in Jerusalem

 

5. On April 2, the Dow Jones industrial average hit two new records: an intraday high of about 14,684, and a record close at 14,662. Also, in spite of the "sequester", 88,000 jobs were added in the US in March and unemployment inched down to 7.6%.

 

6. Anything that increases our understanding of the universe is a good thing. In March after extensive data analysis, CERN scientists announced that they were increasingly certain that they had indeed discovered the elusive Higgs boson in July of 2012. The Higgs boson was the only particle in the Standard Model that had not yet been discovered. The Standard Model of Physics (aka the "Big Bang Theory") is the prevailing theory of the creation of our universe. About a week after that announcement, the European Space Agency Planck Mission fine-tuned the date of the Big Bang. It is now considered to have occurred about 13.82 billion years ago, making the universe about 100 million years older than the last estimate.

 

See also: The Left Bank Cafe Post of March 18  [Higgs boson] and Slate post of March 21 [age of the universe]

 

7. On March 13, the College of Cardinals elected Pope Francis. His humility (he asked that the two hundred thousand or so that had gathered at St. Peter's first pray for him before delivering the traditional blessing of a new Pope), his pastoral bent (his riding public transport in Argentina and his active concern for the poor), and his openness towards the role of women in the Church are good things. In his first Easter Sunday message, Pope Francis "passionately called for 'peace in all the world,' urging Israelis and Palestinians to 'resume negotiations to end a conflict that has lasted all too long,' calling for an end to the civil war in Syria, and promoting a 'renewed spirit of reconciliation' on the Korean Peninsula." [New York Times]

 

8. On March 22, as President Obama was leaving for home, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu voiced regret for the loss of life in the 2010 Mavi Marmara incident, apologizing for any mistakes that led to the death of eight Turkish nationals and one American national. (For those of you who have forgotten, on May 31, 2010, Israeli commandoes boarded a flotilla of six Turkish ships trying to bypass the Israeli blockade and deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. Nine civilians were killed by the commandoes.)

9. Jim Wallis has authored a new book. I like Jim Wallis - he's one of the designated "Essential Links" for this website [look to the right of this post]Taking its title from Lincoln's quote, On God's Side is subtitled "What Religion Forgets and Politics Hasn't Learned About Serving the Common Good". I haven't read it yet but Wallis wrote this during the 2012 election cycle - fed up, I imagine, by the incivility of the country's politicial debate. "A commitment to the common good could bring us together and solve the deepest problems this country and the world now face: How do we work together? How do we treat each other, especially the poorest and most vulnerable? How do we take care of not just ourselves but also one another?" [Time.com]

 

10. Finally, click on this link to a video of an act of kindness caught on tape. Sort of reaffirms your belief in the basic goodness of people.  The young man in this video and the students in Obama's Jerusalem audience are a couple of reasons to be hopeful for the future. 

 

 

MLK, BHO, and Non-Violence in the 21st Century

Barack Obama was officially sworn in for his second term in a low key ceremony at the White House on Sunday.  His victory in 2008 and here again in 2012 is a testimony to the efficacy of the work of the civil rights workers of 50 years ago.  On Monday as President Obama was more publicly sworn in, the nation celebrated the most famous of those mid-twentieth century heroes, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.   King’s legacy is one of non-violent resistance that was instrumental in ending the institutionalized racism of those days.  Opposition to war goes hand-in-hand with nonviolence and towards the end of his life, MLK became more and more outspoken an opponent to the Vietnam War.  In an ultimate irony, his death, his assassination, came as a result of violence, specifically gun violence - once again in the news these days.   

Effective as non-violent resistance was in the twentieth century in Gandhi’s India, in pre-Civil Rights America, and in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, it is unfortunately not much in vogue as a tactic or as a strategy today.  Admittedly, there are a few recent examples where non-violence has been effective.  The Arab Spring is one such example.  The Occupy Movement has the potential to be another.  What all the great non-violent movements of the past had in common was their ability to appeal to the public’s moral sense, to the innate sense of justice of the majority, to the sense of human decency of those who held power.  

Basic to the effectiveness of non-violence is a common respect for life and for justice.  If the public audience or the holders of power lack this basic sense, then the task of the non-violent protester becomes more difficult. 

So where does non-violence stand today in the value scheme of the 21^st century human?   Sadly, things have not progressed much in this regard from 50 years ago.  Non-violence is not the tactic of choice, say, of the Islamic extremists who took over the natural gas plant in Algeria – ultimately resulting in the deaths of 37 hostages and 29 militants.  Nor is it the preferred tactic of today’s American “hawks” – the neocons who are pushing for a more militant stance against Iran.  Witness their attempt to derail Chuck Hagel from his nomination as Defense Secretary because he dared point out the obvious – that a war with Iran would have serious consequences for the region.  These are the same band of neocons who led (or more appropriately, misled) us into war with Iraq in their attempt to implement their Project for a New American Century.  We saw how well that turned out.  Unbelievably these neocons still get attention, they have not gone away.  You would have thought that their arrogant, jingoistic approach to international relations would have longed ceased to merit any consideration whatsoever.

At least Obama is the President for the next four years and perhaps he can resist the drumbeat towards a war with Iran that will, sooner or later, be emanating from the lunatic fringe on the right.  Within American society today, there exists a tendency to favor the violent solution over the nonviolent – we have by far the highest rate of gun ownership and gun deaths among developed industrialized nations; our military expenditures exceed those of the next 13 (almost 14) highest defense budgets combined; the US public, unlike those in almost every other nation on Earth, still overwhelmingly supports capital punishment.  “A recent Gallup Poll measured Americans' abstract support for the death penalty at 63%, the second-lowest level of support for capital punishment since 1978, and a significant decline from 1994, when 80% of respondents were in favor of the death penalty.” [My emphasis added; quote is from the Death Penalty Information Center web page]

John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated by a gun man 50 years ago this coming November, said “war will cease to exist when conscientious objectors to enjoy the same prestige as warriors.”  That day has yet to come. 

Both MLK and JFK were renowned for their speeches.  On Monday, Barack Obama gave a rousing speech that rivals some of theirs.  He emphasized equality, fairness, and opportunity.  He promised to respond to climate change and mentioned our need to come together as a people to meet our challenges.  There was even a nod toward diplomacy as the primary means of managing international relations.  After the obligatory mention of our “strength of arms”, he said, “We will show the courage to try and resolve our differences with other nations peacefully – not because we are naïve about the dangers we face, but because engagement can more durably lift suspicion and fear.”  Not exactly Nobel Peace Prize winner quality but on balance better than war-and fear-mongering.

A few of the more memorable passages from his speech:

We, the people, still believe that enduring security and lasting peace do not require perpetual war.

… we reject the belief that America must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future.

We do not believe that in this country, freedom is reserved for the lucky, or happiness for the few.

…we must be a source of hope to the poor, the sick, the marginalized, the victims of prejudice – not out of mere charity, but because peace in our time requires the constant advance of those principles that our common creed describes: tolerance and opportunity; human dignity and justice.

The President laid out a progressive vision for our nation – whether he will be able to fulfill the vision is another matter.  The opposition is gearing for a fight.

Links

Algerian HostageCrisis [CNN]

Neocons’ Project for A New American Century [Global Research’s Centre for Research onGlobalization]

Death Penalty Information Center

Comic relief: Mitch McConnell’s “They’re coming for your guns” email…just in case you thought there would be any cooperation from Republicans [Huffington Post]

Before I forget

As I troll the web for articles of interest, I occasionally come across items relevant to previous Left Bank Cafe posts.  So, before I forget, here are a few notes and recent articles related to earlier posts. 

Death Penalty
Related Left Bank Cafe post: The Post I Prayed Not to Have to Write Sep 20, 2011

Connecticut joined the civilized world by abolishing the death penalty.  Governor Dannel Malloy's signature made Connecticut the 17th state to abolish the death penalty.   Unfortunately the law does not apply to those already on death row.  It's hard to believe that 33 states still have this barbarism that is virtually unknown in the rest of the Western world.

California, currently under a judicial moratorium that prevents state executions, will have a death penalty abolition question on the November ballot.  While this should cause some excitement, the chances of a popular vote abolishing the death penalty would fly in the face of past history.  As the San Francisco Chronicle's website reports: "Franklin E. Zimring, a UC Berkeley School of Law professor...writes that no state or nation ended state execution because of a popular vote, and predicts the initiative will fail."  Let's hope Californians prove him wrong.

The Economist maps US executions since 1976 by state.  Is anyone surprised that Texas accounted for more than one-third of all executions in the United States since then?  Here's the graphic.



Republican Budget and Paul Ryan's Theology
Related Left Bank Cafe post: Values April 16, 2012

Even though they invited him to speak at the nation's oldest Catholic university, the professors of Georgetown felt they "would be remiss in our duty to you and our students if we did not challenge your continuing misuse of Catholic teaching to defend a budget plan that decimates food programs for struggling families, radically weakens protections for the elderly and sick, and gives more tax breaks to the wealthiest few."  The Nation's John Nichols summarizes the events of the past few weeks, focusing on Ryan's talk to Georgetown students and faculty.  The US Conference of Catholic Bishops had earlier noted in letters to Congress that "a just framework for future budgets cannot rely on disproportionate cuts in essential services to poor persons."  Catholic bishops recently wrote that "the House-passed budget resolution fails to meet these moral criteria."

Perhaps the best and most succinct summary is given by Jesuit Father Thomas J. Reese, a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown.  “Our problem with Representative Ryan is that he claims his budget is based on Catholic social teaching.  This is nonsense.”