14 May 2018 – TRANSCEND Media Service — The Cold War ended abruptly and surprisingly, not only preceded by the Gorbachev softening of the ideological dimension but his offers to the world of an uplifting alternative to geopolitical rivalry and predatory neoliberal globalization: war prevention and common security, as well as internal democratizing reforms summarized by the Russian glasnostand perestroika.
Richard Falk
At first, it seemed to sympathetic observers an overhaul of socialism that resembled the program of reform that Franklin Roosevelt had put into practice in the United States to rescue the country from the depths of the Great Depression, but the West watched with glee as the Soviet system unraveled instead of lending this innovative leader in Moscow a helping hand. How different, and better, the world might have been!
11 May, 2018 (RT)*— Donald Trump’s trashing of the Iran nuclear deal this week was not just an attack on Iranian sovereign interests. The US president was also poking European allies in the eye.
In abruptly withdrawing the US from the international nuclear treaty, Trump warned that his administration was preparing to re-impose harsh sanctions on Tehran, and that those sanctions would also hit European commercial interests in Iran.
The American president’s high-handed manner was to be expected towards Iran.
7 May, 2018 (UN Women)* — Yuan Feng, from China, is the co-founder of Equality, an NGO based in Beijing, dedicated to women’s rights and gender equality. The organization, a grantee of the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women, managed by UN Women, works to end domestic violence and helps survivors of violence.
Yuan Feng. Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown
Since the mid-1990s, Feng has also been a founding member, coordinator, chair-person, and board member of countrywide organizations, such as the Gender and Development Network in China, Anti Domestic Violence Network, Women’s Network Against Aids/China, and Media Monitor for Women Network.
11 May 2018 (ILO)* — Maternity Protection is a fundamental right enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is defined in international labour standards such as ILO Convention 183 – Maternity Protection Convention, 2000. It guarantees that women’s reproductive role does not compromise their economic and employment security. Listen to why maternity protection is everyone’s business.
8 May 2018 | Geneva | Cairo | Sana’a (WHO)* — Despite ongoing civil unrest and instability, Yemen’s Trachoma Elimination Programme launched its first large-scale treatment campaign, targeting approximately 450 000 people in areas at high risk for the disease. Trachoma is the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness and Yemen has one of the highest prevalence levels in the Middle East.
“Despite delays, we were able to implement the programme in six districts of Ibb and Al Hudaydah governorates, thanks to support from the World Bank, Sightsavers1and medicines donated through the International Trachoma Initiative” said Dr Nevio Zagaria, WHO Representative in Yemen.
13 May 2018 — Wall Street International* — Humans have identified with war and conflict since the dawn of time more than they have ever tried to identify with each other. This is particularly the case of the Lebanese post-civil war scene, where the discourse of war and sectarian hostility still floats at the surface of everyday interactions among people.
In the region of Ouzai, the southern suburbs of Beirut, philanthropist Ayad Nasser embarks on a journey against the predominant current of sectarianism to revive a long-neglected area through street art.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), international weapon sales around the world have jumped up by 10% in the last four years compared to 2008-12.
Bonn, 12 May 2018 (UN Environment)*– The earth’s great travelers – birds that sometimes trek thousands of miles between their breeding places and their wintering grounds – will be center stage this World Migratory Bird day, as the international community recognize their significance and vulnerabilities.
“Unifying Our Voices for Bird Conservation” is the theme of World Migratory Bird Day 2018, celebrated annually on 12 May. The UN-backed global awareness-raising and environmental education campaign focuses the need for international cooperation to conserve migratory birds.
Forty per cent of all migratory birds are seeing their number in decline, with one in eight being threatened with global extinction.
“IF YOU want to understand the policy of a nation, look at the map!” Napoleon is supposed to have said.
Uri Avnery
It is good advice.
If you are living in Israel, these days, you get the impression that the huge State of Israel is dictating to its American vassal what to do about Iran.
President Donald Trump listens and complies. Bibi the Great tells him to tear up the Iranian deal for no obvious reason, and he obeys. He has no choice, poor man.
But then you look at the map, and to your great surprise you discover that the USA is a huge country, while Israel is a mere speck, so small that its name has to be written outside its borders, in the sea.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 