'Unseen' News and Views
What remains of a street in Aleppo, August 2014. Credit: Shelly Kittleson/IPS.
A group of 35 non-government organisations (NGOs) responded to the new figures by saying that a “dramatic increase” in resettlement numbers is “urgently needed”.
The UNCHR expects to be able to only resettle up to 170,000 refugees in 2017, out of 1.19 million refugees considered eligible for resettlement, a small fraction of the world’s 60 million displaced people.
15 June 2016
TRANSCEND Media Service – 5 Jun 2016 – Trumpism! No magic, no mystique, no charisma, no aura of invincibility! Just an astute and calculated recognition of the nation’s many discontents, assumed causes, and an appealing public persona fuel Trump’s appeal.
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SOURCES OF VOTER DISCONTENT: “THE VICTIM SYNDROME”
18 June 2016
MANY YEARS ago I received a phone call from the Prime Minister’s office. I was told that Yitzhak Rabin wanted to see me in private.
Uri Avnery
Rabin opened the door himself. He was alone in the residence. He led me to a comfortable seat, poured two generous glasses of whisky for me and himself and started without further ado – he abhorred small talk – “Uri, have you decided to destroy all the doves in the Labor Party?”
My news magazine, Haolam Hazeh, was conducting a campaign against corruption and had accused two prominent Labor leaders, the new president of the Central Bank and the Minister for Housing.
Both were indeed members of the moderate wing of the party.
I explained to Rabin that in the fight against corruption I could make no exceptions for politicians who were close to my political outlook. Corruption was a cause in itself.
13 Jun 2016 – TRANSCEND Media Service — Except for a dark shadow, all is normal in the land of Japan.
Johan Galtung
The local levels function very well with diligent Japanese working together to lift them up.
Except for those with nuclear power plants, particularly one of them, on the coast, hit by a tsunami.
Except too for rural communities laid waste, people aging, leaving, empty villages, hit by having to import rice instead of cultivating it.
Ride the trains, walk the streets with the Japanese; as brisk and busy as ever.
A little older, more canes, fewer bicycles, more cars, better streets and roads, cars run faster.
In addition, a little fatter, sharing aging and putting on weight with developed societies all over.
13 June 2016
Many people throughout the world view recent political developments in the United States with alarm.
John Scales Avery
Is the US drifting towards fascism?
If so, is there a danger that the world will be plunged into an all-destroying thermonuclear war?
Will political irresponsibility in the United States result in climate change denial?
Will all hope of avoiding catastrophic climate change then be lost?
17 June 2016
There is a long history of social critics and progressive thinkers offering critiques of human society.
Robert J. Burrowes
Among those who are better known, Karl Marx offered a critique of capitalism, anarchists have critiqued the state, Mohandas K. Gandhi offered a critique of industrial society, Sigmund Freud and Herbert Marcuse offered critiques of civilization, and feminists have critiqued patriarchy.
16 June 2016 – The top United Nations relief official for Yemen has reported that more than 13 million Yemenis are in need of immediate life-saving assistance as a result of a bleak humanitarian situation in the country that continues to worsen.
Children in Taiz, Yemen, live under enormous stress, lacking any sense of safety or normalcy during the continued siege and as a result of intensive fighting. 20 September 2015. Photo: UNICEF/Mahyoob
“The humanitarian situation in Yemen is among the world’s worst crises. The scale and intensity of the humanitarian situation here is bleak – and by many measures it’s continuing to get worse,” Jamie McGoldrick, the UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, said in a press briefing in Sana’a.
16 June 2016 – Ahead of the World Refugee Day on 20 June, more than 60 film, TV and music stars have joined refugees, faith leaders and the United Nations refugee agency staff to back a petition highlighting the plight of forcibly displaced people.
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UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi talks to a Somali refugee family during his visit in Ifo Camp in Dadaab, Kenya. Photo: UNHCR/Siegfried Modola
Bangladesh exports 24 billion dollars of garments every year. Credit: Obaidul Arif/IPS
The nine – all members of the European Union (EU) and/or the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) – include UK, France, Portugal, Belgium, Lithuania, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States.
Meanwhile, the United Nations was born after World War II as the best possible system to help improve the living conditions of the most needed. In fact, it started its mission by providing humanitarian assistance to war victims—mostly Europeans.
In the following years, the UN expanded its activities to help the emerging development needs in Africa, Asian and Latin American countries, which had just won independence from European colonizers. So far, big business had practically no role to play… at least directly.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 