'Unseen' News and Views – By Baher Kamal & The Like
Biden’s U-Turn on Pledge Heightens Risks to Civilians in Yemen, Libya
Southern Transitional Council forces backed by the United Arab Emirates prepare to storm the presidential palace in the southern port city of Aden, Yemen on August 9, 2019. © 2019 AP Photo
Dispelling myths around the starvation and disease that could kill 34 million people
FLASHBACK: A WFP helicopter arrives in Thonyor Payam, Leer County, as famine is declared in South Sudan in 2017. Photo: WFP/George Fominyen
14 April 2021 (WFP)* — A staggering 34 million people in 20 countries are teetering on the brink of famine, with immediate action needed to avert huge loss of life. In Yemen and South Sudan 155,000 people are already suffering famine or famine-like conditions, with conflict, insecurity and resulting displacement putting people at imminent risk of starvation.
– A new Cold War – this time, between the US and China —is threatening to paralyze the UN’s most powerful body, even as military conflicts and civil wars are sweeping across the world, mostly in Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.
The UN Security Council is now the battleground for a new Cold War between the US and China. Credit: United Nations
(UN News)* — A so-called “Rewards for Justice” programme in the United States is violating the human rights of some of the individuals it targets, independent UN human rights experts on 14 April 2021 said.
It also offers financial incentives to foreigners who claim to have terrorist ties, if they cooperate with US authorities.
(UN News)* — Almost half of women in some 57 countries do not have the power to make choices over their healthcare, contraception, or sex lives, a new United Nations report launched on Wednesday [14 April 2021], has revealed.
According to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA)’s State of World Population report, the lack of bodily autonomy may have worsened during the coronavirus pandemic, placing record numbers of women and girls at risk of gender-based violence and harmful practices such as early marriage.
11 April 2021 (Wall Street International)* — Brazil is not a poor country. With a GDP of roughly 1.8 trillion dollars, and a population of 210 million, what we produce amounts to US$2,830 per month per four-member family.
In Brazil, living with the equivalent 15 thousand Real a month would be a dream for most families. In fact, a moderate reduction in inequality would be sufficient to make sure everyone has a dignified and comfortable life.
Indian labourers have been denied pay, food and accommodation. Now, some are demanding their rights
11 April 2021 (Wall Street International)*— All of us alive on the planet today are part of the most significant transition in centuries, whether we know it or not, whether it has touched us lightly or heavily and whether we choose to be or not. Not since the Industrial Revolution has such a total and radical social upheaval occurred.
As with most major cultural shifts, this one follows a technological innovation of which we are all aware and that is the invention of the Internet along with its ready accessibility on a handheld ubiquitous device.
Sentiments in Bolivia for and against the coup d’etat of November 2019 are predictably along class lines. Those from more affluent sections felt that the socialist policies of the government of President Evo Morales (which was in power from 2006 to 2019) were eating into their authority.
Bolivia coup-appointed president Jeanine Anez. November 2019 VOA News -YouTube
But these sections could not oust Morales at the ballot box because his policies of redistribution were wildly popular among the mass of the population.
A new report, published on 14 Mar 2021 in the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences’ journal Ambio, points out that humanity is hurtling towards destruction unless we have the collective wisdom to change course quickly. Here is a link to the article:
John Scales Avery
The Ambio article was written as part of the preparation of a meeting of Nobel Prize winners to discuss the state of the planet. The virtual meeting will be held on April 26-28, 2021.
We Must Achieve a Steady-State Economic System
A steady-state economic system is necessary because neither population growth nor economic growth can continue indefinitely on a finite earth. No one can maintain that exponential industrial growth is sustainable in the long run except by refusing to look more than a short distance into the future.
