Archive for July 12th, 2016

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12/07/2016

‘Modern World Is Chaotic, Confused; Human Security a Must’

Human Wrongs Watch

By Baher Kamal*

ROME, 11 July 2016 (IPS) – The question is simple and the answer, short: does eating more mean being better nourished?… Not necessarily!

By providing an opportunity for high-level policy dialogue, TICAD has become a major global platform through which Asian and African nations, as well as international stakeholders, can collaborate to promote Africa’s development. Credit: UN Photo/Tim McKulka

By providing an opportunity for high-level policy dialogue, TICAD has become a major global platform through which Asian and African nations, as well as international stakeholders, can collaborate to promote Africa’s development. Credit: UN Photo/Tim McKulka

 

On this, top United Nations agencies dealing with food and health have set a clear definition: food security implies access by all people at all times to the food needed for a healthy life, while nutrition security means not only access to adequate diet, but also to essential health services, safe water and sanitation, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

But simple as it is, this equation is too often neglected. Why?

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Posted in Africa, Asia, Latin America & Caribbean, Market Lords, Middle East, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples | 1 Comment »

12/07/2016

US Elections Cry Out for Reform!

Human Wrongs Watch

By John Scales Avery*

11 July 2016

As many observers around the world have pointed out, the United States is no longer a true democracy. It is an oligarchy. The US government ignores the safety, wishes and needs of the majority of its citizens, and instead makes decisions which will bring profit to enormous corporations, or satisfy the wishes of powerful lobbies.

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John Scales Avery

Governmental secrecy occurs in many nations, but in the United States it has assumed huge proportions.

As Edward Snowden’s revelations have shown, the number of people with security clearance (i.e. the number involved in secret operations in the US) is now as large as the entire population of Norway.

Furthermore, trade deals. which threaten both the global environment and the jobs of millions of American citizens, have been negotiated in secret. If people have no knowledge of what their government is doing, how can they exert the control that the word democracy implies?

It is ironic that the United States justifies aggressive wars for regime change by saying that it is “bringing democracy” to various countries. In fact, its own government is not a democracy.

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12/07/2016

Female Infanticide Worldwide: The Case for Action by the UN Human Rights Council

Human Wrongs Watch

By Asian Centre for Human Rights – TRANSCEND Media Service*

11 July 2016 – Releasing its report, “Female Infanticide Worldwide”, the first ever global study on the issue, Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) stated that female infanticide for son preference due to variety of reasons is a worldwide phenomenon with 1.5 million female foetuses being aborted every year.

Chinese_anti_infanticide_tract_from_1800

Chinese anti infanticide tract from 1800 | Source: Original publication: 1800 |  Author: Unknown | public domain | Wikimedia Commons: “This file has been identified as being free of known restrictions under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights.”

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12/07/2016

Fearology and Militarism But the Real Enemy Is Us

Human Wrongs Watch

By Jan Oberg*

Lund, Sweden, 11 July 2016 (TFF–Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research) – Russia and NATO have offensive capacities and MIMACs (Military-Industrial-Media-Academic Complex) but NATO’s is a much larger potential threat to Russia than the other way around.

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Jan Oberg

Why does an alliance with such an overwhelming superiority shout and scream and see ghosts on the horizon when, in reality, there are none?

Why does it seem to be intellectually unable to see things from the side of its opponent? Is the show of strength in reality a sign of weakness?

A threat consists of two main things: An intention to do something negative to you + a capability to actually carry it through – thus I + C.

Whenever NATO S-G Stoltenberg – a person who has gone through a serious personality change – speaks, he says nice things like: NATO does not seek confrontation and none of its moves are directed at Russia. NATO countries just have to protect themselves against Russia which they see as a threat.

Typically the talk is about an actor, a country, a leader – not about issues or trends that challenge the Alliance and certainly not that its own war adventures have weakened it in moral and legitimacy terms.

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12/07/2016

Spain: Blame the Rule, Not the Numbers

Human Wrongs Watch

By Johan Galtung*

Alfaz, Spain, 11 July 2016 – TRANSCEND Media Service – Spain got stuck again. The party numbers in a parliament with 350 seats produced no majority 20 December 2015 or 26 July 2016. The arithmetic did not work out.  The numbers were wrong.

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Johan Galtung

Or, could the Rule be wrong? The Rule is majority support for a government to be viable.

Actually, for this to work at all the number of seats in the parliament should be uneven, like 351.

That aside, let us look at numbers and rules in the light of the number, N, of political parties–programs = position-packages–competing.

N=1 has a name, dictatorship. Democracy starts at N=2.  There could be factions inside that single party; like in the CPC, Communist Party of China, or the LDP, Liberal Democratic Party, in Japan.

But N>1 gives people in general a choice, not only members of factions inside one governing party.  A major difference.  Long live N>1!

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12/07/2016

Latin American Development Depends On Investing In Teenage Girls

Human Wrongs Watch

By Estrella Gutiérrez*

CARACAS, 11 July 2016 (IPS) – Latin America’s teenage girls are a crucial force for change and for promoting sustainable development, if the region invests in their rights and the correction of unequal opportunities, according to Luiza Carvalho, the regional head of UN Women.

Two Mexican teenage girls at their school. Investing in education for teenage girls in Latin America is regarded as the way forward for them to become future drivers of sustainable develpment in their societies. Credit: UNFPA LAC

Two Mexican teenage girls at their school. Investing in education for teenage girls in Latin America is regarded as the way forward for them to become future drivers of sustainable develpment in their societies. Credit: UNFPA LAC

“An empowered adolescent will know her rights and will stand up for them; she has tools for success and is a driving froce for positive change in her community,” Carvalho told IPS in an interview from the regional headquarters of UN Women in Panama City.

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