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(Photo by joanneleon. October, 2012)
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― Aberjhani, The River of Winged Dreams
George Harrison - The Day The World Gets Round
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News and Opinion
A Thanksgiving Reminder That America Alone Doesn’t Guarantee Time Off For Vacations Or Holidays
Having to miss special occasions and holidays is an all-too-real phenomenon for many of America’s workers, as the U.S. is the only industrialized nation that does not mandate vacation time.
In Gaza, It’s the Occupation, Stupid
“The Palestinian people want to be free of the occupation,” award-winning Israeli journalist Gideon Levy summed up this week. It is that simple. This latest Israeli military assault on the people of Gaza is not an isolated event, but part of a 45-year occupation of the sliver of land wedged between Israel and the Mediterranean Sea, where 1.6 million people live under a brutal Israeli blockade that denies them most of the basic necessities of life. Without the unwavering bipartisan support of the United States for the Israeli military, the occupation of Palestine could not exist.
An article from September. Hat tip to Rayne at
Emptywheel.
Climate Change and Conflict: Is There Any Correlation?
Will climate change lead to a future with more war? One popular hypothesis among advocates for action to curb climate change is that, if climate change creates or exacerbates resource scarcity for food and water (e.g., via crop failure and low rainfall), and resource scarcity creates conflict, then climate change could lead to increased conflict. But what is the evidence that past changes in climate have created resource scarcity and that such scarcity contributed to war? And how does the resource scarcity factor compare in importance to political drivers of war
[...]
So what does all this mean for conservation? The conservation movement recognizes that it is important to get climate change back in the public conversation, following the build-up and crash of media coverage around Copenhagen. Highlighting the linkages between climate change and some of its potential adverse impacts on people – such as food production, natural disasters, and national security – could help renew the conversation. And although the scientific literature to date has not documented a general relationship between climate variability and war deaths, there are still valid national security reasons for concern about climate change. For example, the Department of Defense’s 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review found that “While climate change alone does not cause conflict, it may act as an accelerant of instability or conflict, placing a burden to respond on civilian institutions and militaries around the world.”
The take-home message is that appropriate nuance is required. Based on the existing scientific literature, past climate change is not well correlated with battle deaths. Of course, national security is about more than just the simplistic, if gruesome, metric of death tolls – our military is also asked to respond to natural disasters, refugee situations and political instability – all issues that national security experts have concluded could be made worse by the additional stressors resulting from a rapidly changing climate. Accurate statements about the increased risks that future climate change poses for instability, particularly to already fragile governments, will recognize this distinction.
Egypt's Revolutionaries Protest 'Coup Against Legitimacy' by New President
Mohamed Mursi assumes 'sweeping' new powers
In what critics are calling "a coup against legitimacy," thousands of protesters gathered throughout Egypt on Friday after President Mohamed Mursi assumed new powers that ban challenges to his decrees, laws and decisions, and bar his decisions from being revoked by any court.
Did Netanyahu know that this siege would result in renewed support for Hamas? I think the argument can be made that he did. Support for Hamas had been waning. Perhaps other centers of power could have been organizing -- alternate voices and representation. And it gets kind of hard to convince people that you want peace when you assassinate the main person who was negotiating for it, who had enough support to broker a lasting ceasefire (before the latest conflict).
'People Are Resisting by Existing': Gaza After the Bombing
Yet one effect of the Israeli assault on Gaza has been to significantly boost Hamas's popularity—which had been waning in the face of growing dissatisfaction with their rule. "Their popularity is on a peak,” Sourani says. “There is unprecedented, overwhelming support for them."
While thousands celebrated in Gaza on Wednesday night, some communities in southern Israel held small protests against the ceasefire, and Netanyahu issued what sounded like a warning of possible attacks in the future. "I know there are citizens expecting a more intensive military operation, and it is very likely that one will be required,” he said. “But right now, the right thing for the State of Israel is to take advantage of the opportunity for a protracted ceasefire."
By Thursday morning, Gaza had come back to life. Shops and cafes are now open, traffic snarls through the streets. Residents walk through neighborhoods, surveying the full extent of the damage for the first time. The long process of recovery is beginning as Gazans—still not recovered from Israel's assault four years ago—sift through the rubble to pick up the pieces of their lives.
Important article to read, imho. It pushes against the stereotypes that are so prevalent here and misunderstandings of culture that propagandists would prefer remain in place but that are challenged more and more as communications open between different peoples and as some journalists without bias are able to break through either in the corporate media (rarely, here) or via alternative, independent media and social media.
Palestinian Funerals Are Not ‘Militant Pageantry’
I shouldn’t have to say this, but I feel it’s necessary following a New York Times piece by Jodi Rudoren critiquing the funeral held for members of the Dalou family killed in a single Israeli airstrike on Gaza, four of who were small children between the ages of one and six. Rudoren is the New York Times Jerusalem bureau chief. While I have mad respect for all of the journalists risking their lives to report from Gaza while bombs are falling, her piece is totally unacceptable and I’m utterly shocked that her editors at the Times allowed it to be published.
From beginning to end, the piece is packed with racially loaded buzzwords that reflect common negative stereotypes westerners hold about Arabs and Muslims. The trouble begins in the opening sentence: [...]
Then comes the most deeply offensive part of all:
But the tone, far more fundamentalist than funereal, was also a potent sign of the culture of martyrdom that pervades this place, and the numbness that many here have developed to death and destruction after years of cross-border conflict.
Many of them aspire to what they see as martyrdom in the struggle for a Palestinian state.
[...]
For starters, the idea that Muslims and Arabs “aspire to martyrdom” is nonsense. For people who are struggling against occupiers, colonizers or any great abusive power, there is indeed a sentiment that their death is not in vein because they’ve sacrificed their life to free their people. As any quick look at history will show, this is far from unique to Palestinians and extends to those who fought the American revolution, blacks who resisted slavery, Native Americans who fought against European colonizers and the list goes on. As for calling dead Palestinian children “martyrs”, that’s simply a way to cope with the death of a loved one, or in Gaza, loved ones. We do it in the west too when we say, “it was God’s will” or “it’s all a part of God’s plan.”
Palestinians love their children and want them to live just like the rest of us. Why is that so hard to see?
Reflecting on My Visits to Families in Exhausted Iraq
“The children all want to be cops, and to carry guns.” The teacher spoke of the many orphans in her class and of the widowed teachers. “Everyone is exhausted from the situation. We don’t know what will happen tomorrow. Sometimes there are 10-15 explosions, other days there are none. With the situation in Syria we are all tense and feel insecure.” This family fled to Syria for some years and then returned to Iraq. “I don’t think any of my dreams will come true,” said one of the sons, a bright handsome 17 year old with an easy smile. “There is nothing to do but stay home.” The parents felt that since the era of sanctions things have only gone backwards, not forward. “Young people don’t have any hope for a job here, except driving a taxi. Only if they go to another country will it be better…Most of our traditions have been lost, it is all about money now. You can’t do anything without bribes.”
In the other family I visited, the grandmother has bad asthma. There is an increase in asthma due to pollution, to lack of factory and vehicle emission controls, to the frequent use of generators for electricity. Even the benzene still has lead. One family member, a doctor, commented, “Nine years and no electrical system. Where is the big investment money? It is all about political decisions. The U.S. brought terrorists to our country, they came from all over the world, to fight terrorism in our country and destroy our country. I am sorry to tell you this, but it is the truth.” I told him that I didn’t disagree. We all sat together. “We are helpless and hopeless,” he said. After a long pause he added “but we are adapting.” Two little children were playing gleefully in our midst on the carpet.
What is there left to say?
[Emphasis added.]
Iraq oil ministry: Crude exports climb steadily, increase by nearly 1.1 percent in October
Iraq’s oil exports have climbed steadily since last year, thanks to a handful of international oil companies operating in Iraq and to the inauguration of new export terminals in the Persian Gulf early this year.
Iraq holds the world’s fourth largest oil reserves, some 143.1 billion barrels. Oil revenues make up nearly 95 percent of Iraq’s budget.
Blog Posts and Tweets of Interest
The Evening Blues - Buy Nothing Day
Black Friday-1: Bless the food & pass me a picket sign!
Thanks to Michigan’s Farmers for the Bounty
We Will Not Go Down (Song for Gaza) - Michael Heart
Remember when progressive debate was about our values and not about a "progressive" candidate? Remember when progressive websites championed progressive values and didn't tell progressives to shut up about values so that "progressive" candidates can get elected?
Come to where the debate is not constrained by oaths of fealty to persons or parties.
Come to where the pie is served in a variety of flavors.
"The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum." ~ Noam Chomsky
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