Egypt: Ambiguous economic map

Published on Al-Aham weekly online, by Sherine Abdel-Razek, May 15, 2014.

The presidential poll will take place before a backdrop of economic woes. The budget deficit has ballooned. There is a deep-rooted energy crisis and foreign investors continue to give Egypt the cold shoulder. Unemployment and inflation are compounding already high levels of poverty in a country whose population — emboldened by two revolutions — is unlikely to shy away from taking to the streets.

So what are the candidates promising on the economic front?   Continuer la lecture de « Egypt: Ambiguous economic map »

Top Catholic Bishop Says Church Should Consider Accepting Gays

Published on ThinkProgress, by Jack Jenkins, May 15, 2014.

… Nunzio Galantino, the secretary-general of the Italian bishops’ conference (CEI) and bishop of the southern diocese of Cassano all’Jonio, reportedly told a Florence-based newspaper on Tuesday that Italian church leaders should embrace the more liberal path paved by Pope Francis and pay closer attention to progressive religious arguments.   Continuer la lecture de « Top Catholic Bishop Says Church Should Consider Accepting Gays »

How the International Monetary Conference Helped Fuel the 1980s Debt Crisis

Published on Dissident Voice (first on Global Power Project, see below), Part 2/4, by Andrew Gavin Marshall, May 14, 2014.

… What Fueled the Debt Crisis?

The 1980s debt crisis erupted when Mexico announced in 1982 that it could no longer service its debts to Western, and primarily American, banks. This resulted in a crisis that quickly spread across Latin America, Africa and parts of Asia. The oil price rises of the 1970s had led to a surge in revenues for oil-producing nations, which had invested their surplus oil wealth in Western banks that then lent the money to poor, developing nations requiring oil in order to finance their industrialization. Continuer la lecture de « How the International Monetary Conference Helped Fuel the 1980s Debt Crisis »

Ukraine: Update

Donetsk self-defense forces give Kiev troops 24 hours to withdraw, on Russia Today RT, May 15, 2014;

Videos uploaded on YouTube by RT:

UN-marked strike helicopter ‘used by Kiev against militia’ sparks scandal

Published on Russia Today RT, May 14, 2014.

The UN has voiced concerns over the apparent use of UN-marked helicopters by Kiev troops in their military operation against Donetsk regional militia. A video of a white-painted Mil Mi-24 strike helicopter with UN logo has emerged.

When inquired about the United Nations’ stance on the use of peacekeeper-marked military hardware in non-peacekeeper operations, the office for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s spokesperson said such use would violate UN rules.   Continuer la lecture de « UN-marked strike helicopter ‘used by Kiev against militia’ sparks scandal »

On the Meaning of Restoring Indigenous Self-Determination

This article is part of an E-IR Edited Collection on Indigenous Self-Determination – Published on E-International Relations, by Marc Woons, May 13, 2014.

… The idea of restitution might do better to reflect colonialism’s lasting and irreversible impacts. Yet, it raises serious questions. What are the reasons for restitution? What would fair restitution entail? Who should receive restitution? How would it be determined? The list of questions is a lengthy one. Here, very different perspectives emerge between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. Whereas the former assert their inherent authority to self-determine, demand self-determination as a right, demand recognition of prior sovereignty, and demand respect for historical agreements, the latter typically believe that these claims should be reduced in favour of more limited state recognition and greater forms of redistribution in the form of funding or access to state programs. Continuer la lecture de « On the Meaning of Restoring Indigenous Self-Determination »

Kiev – Putin – Rebel's POLL – Western Medias and Sanctions

Egypt: Legitimising the poll

(UPDATE May 12, 2014: Rebels declare victory in east Ukraine poll, on english Al Jazeera, May 11, 2014: Pro-Russia separatists announce 89 percent of voters in Donetsk favoured self-rule, in referendum rejected by Kiev).

Egypt’s upcoming presidential polls will be heavily supervised by local judges and foreign monitors – Published on Al-Ahram weekly online, by Gamal Essam El-Din, May 8, 2014.

Seventy nine domestic civil society groups and five foreign organisations — the European Union (EU), the Arab League, the Carter Center, Transparency International and the US-based Democracy International (DI) — have been licensed to observe the presidential polls, says Abdel-Aziz Salman, spokesman for the Presidential Election Commission (PEC).   Continuer la lecture de « Egypt: Legitimising the poll »

Russia: The Russians are coming … again … and they’re still ten feet tall

Published on Axis of Logic, by Willima Blum, The Anti-Empire Report #128/williamblum.org, May 10, 2014.

So, what do we have here? In Libya, in Syria, and elsewhere the United States has been on the same side as the al-Qaeda types. But not in Ukraine. That’s the good news. The bad news is that in Ukraine the United States is on the same side as the neo-Nazi types, who – taking time off from parading around with their swastika-like symbols and calling for the death of Jews, Russians and Communists – on May 2 burned down a trade-union building in Odessa, killing scores of people and sending hundreds to hospital; many of the victims were beaten or shot when they tried to flee the flames and smoke; ambulances were blocked from reaching the wounded. Try and find an American mainstream media entity that has made a serious attempt to capture the horror[1] … // Continuer la lecture de « Russia: The Russians are coming … again … and they’re still ten feet tall »

India: Modi's BJP a 'grave danger' to women and minorities

Interview with Kavita Krishnan, published on LINKS.org.au, by Mila Gisbert, May 8, 2014.

… It is now over a year since the Delhi case ignited people’s anger and led them to protest. What do you consider has been the main achievement of that movement?

  • I would say the main achievement has been actually a shift in the way that rape is talked about. To me, the most significant thing about the protest was that there were slogans being raised against victim blaming, rape culture, and this was happening for the very first time, and to introduce the idea that the women should not be subjected to restrictions in the name of “chastity”. This was something new that was happening in India for the first time with this case.
  • But I think that the changes we want to see are clearly yet to happen and not all of the changes were positive.       Continuer la lecture de « India: Modi's BJP a 'grave danger' to women and minorities »

'Walking While Woman' and the Fight to Stop Violent Policing of Gender Identity – Report

Published on truthout, by Mike Ludwig, May 7, 2014.

A woman in New York City left a nightclub in late 2010 to meet some friends for tacos. While she was walking to the restaurant in the Queens neighborhood of Jackson Heights, a man pulled up beside her in a dark-colored car and began talking to her. As the woman inched closer to hear what the man was saying, two undercover police officers jumped out of a van and arrested her for engaging in prostitution. She was thrown into a van with a dozen other women and taken to the115th Precinct in Jackson Heights to be fingerprinted before being transferred to Central Booking. There, she was then jailed in the men’s unit, where she endured painful verbal harassment from some of the cops and men in custody, according to the community organizing group Make the Road New York, which identified the woman by the pseudonym « Natasha. » Continuer la lecture de « 'Walking While Woman' and the Fight to Stop Violent Policing of Gender Identity – Report »

The Affordable Care Act: The Human Rights Violation for Liberals

Published on Dissident Voice, by Peter Breschard, May 7, 2014.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Unalienable Rights. Self-evident Rights. You might say the modern definition of Human Rights springs directly from that unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America. You probably wouldn’t be given much of an argument.   Continuer la lecture de « The Affordable Care Act: The Human Rights Violation for Liberals »

Gabriele Krone-Schmalz

update 8. Mai 2014: Gabriele Krone-Schmalz auf SWR-BR, 14.22 min, von senzaAkka am 4. Mai 2014 hochgeladen;

NDR/ZAPP: Das darf nicht sein, 24.12 min, von lore lorus am 16. April 2014 hochgeladen;
mein Kommentar: genau so läuft es, danke. – Jetzt aber noch ein Aergernis: da wird gefragt … « bei jenen, die nicht einverstanden sind, hat es doch all die Verweigerer, Verschwörungstheoretiker (hört sich an nach Lumpenpack) aber auch respektvolle Leute, die man ernst nehmen muss … danke sehr, Sie arroganter Kerl, wollen Sie uns noch mehr ärgern, hoffentlich noch mehr Briefe erhalten? Immer noch nichts gelernt? Ihnen wurde doch gerade etwas über Anstand erklärt? Ihr aristokratisches Schwarz-Weiss-Denken ist wohl immer noch intakt?
… Inzwischen geht die ganze Berichtserstattung genau so weiter, wie oben kritisiert – NICHTS GELERNT / NICHTS EINGESEHEN ?!! Continuer la lecture de « Gabriele Krone-Schmalz »

Latin American nations under assault in massive Obama campaign of aggression

Published on Intrepid Report, by Wayne Madsen Report WMR, May 6, 2014.

President Obama reversed the largely “benign neglect” of his predecessor toward the wave of progressive governments coming to power in Latin America and, at some time during his administration, he signed a classified presidential Finding” to do whatever is necessary to oust left-leaning governments in the Western Hemisphere and replace them with docile, pro-American ones.   Continuer la lecture de « Latin American nations under assault in massive Obama campaign of aggression »

Africa’s number one economy, for wealth evaporation

Published on Pambazuka News, by Patrick Bond, May 1, 2014.

Nigeria’s ‘rebased’ GDP now beats South Africa’s in theory – but how does this measure up against the country’s actual wealth? Patrick Bond examines some of the biggest fallacies of the neoliberal investment prospects of the 2000s – BRICS, MINT (countries) and CIVETS, and why citizens are rising up in spite of the hype.  Continuer la lecture de « Africa’s number one economy, for wealth evaporation »