05/02/2019
Syria calls on our full attention, for a fresh look. Looking at what? The “reality of Syria”, the “real Syria”, and then seeing what?
Johan Galtung
The Germans make an apparently useful distinction between reality für mich, as I, ich, see it, and, an sich, reality in, by, for itself, reality as such. Objective, not subjective.
A useful distinction; making us ponder, how different are they?
Apparently useful; how do we get to, at this an sich thing?
Old questions; maybe no new answers, but worth pondering.
To the West, Syria spells colonial history–by the West since 1916 more than by the Ottomans since 1516–and post-colonial history. Why?
read more »
Posted in Africa, Asia, Latin America & Caribbean, Market Lords, Middle East, Migrants and Refugees, Mother Earth, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples, War Lords |
Leave a Comment »
05/02/2019
4 February 2019 — The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – the UN’s blueprint for a better and more sustainable future for all – calls for a reduction in inequality between and within countries. Nevertheless, global inequality is increasing. So what can be done?
.
@ UNICEF/Sebastian Rich| Five-year-old Kiara makes a sale in a commuter train car in Buenos Aires, the capital. She has been working in the Subte, the city’s mass transit system, selling hairpins and other cheap goods, since she was three years old.
.
Inequality is an “entrenched imbalance”
The question of inequality was raised several times by the UN in January: speaking at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, UN chief António Guterres pointed out that, while technological progress and globalization have led to “fantastic improvements” in many areas, they have also increased inequality and marginalized millions.
read more »
Posted in Africa, Asia, Latin America & Caribbean, Market Lords, Middle East, Migrants and Refugees, Mother Earth, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples, War Lords |
1 Comment »
05/02/2019
With mercenaries undermining global peace and security and weakening States’ capacities to protect their people, the UN Security Council on Monday [4 February 2019] shone its spotlight on their activities as a source of destabilization in Africa.
UN Photo/Evan Schneider | Secretary-General António Guterres addresses the Security Council meeting on mercenary activities as a source of insecurity and destabilization in Africa.
“From antiquity to the medieval era to the present-day, those who fight for financial reward or other material compensation have been a near constant on the battlefield”, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Council, noting that the shadowy nature of mercenary activities has evolved over the years.
Posted in Africa, Market Lords, Middle East, Migrants and Refugees, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples, War Lords |
Leave a Comment »
03/02/2019
As Trump suspends the 1987 INF Treaty [Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty], Putin retaliates. What can be done to prevent a new nuclear arms race from endangering Europe – and the world – again?
3 February 2019 (openDemocray)* — On
1 February the White House announced US “suspension” of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which Presidents Reagan and Gorbachev signed in 1987. A day later Vladimir Putin announced Russia would suspend as well.
.
Freed of the Treaty’s restraints, Russia is now posed to deploy a new generation of medium-range nuclear weapons on its territory again.
Posted in Africa, Asia, Latin America & Caribbean, Market Lords, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples, War Lords |
Leave a Comment »
03/02/2019
The US suspension of and withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) is an irresponsible move that opens the path for a new-nuclear arms race and highlights the importance of real multilateral, binding solutions like the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
.
With Russia and the US putting the entire world at risk, it is urgent for all responsible states to stand up and join the Nuclear Ban Treaty.
read more »
Posted in Africa, Asia, Latin America & Caribbean, Market Lords, Middle East, Mother Earth, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples, War Lords |
Leave a Comment »
03/02/2019
By Robert J. Burrowes Ph.D.
DAYLESFORD, Australia, 3 February 2019
Robert J. Burrowes
To the People of Venezuela
Yet again, the United States elite has decided to attempt to impose its will on the people of another nation, in this case, and not for the first time either, your country Venezuela.
On 23 January 2019, following careful secret planning in the preceding weeks and a late night telephone call the previous day from US Vice President Mike Pence – see ‘Pence Pledged U.S. Backing Before Venezuela Opposition Leader’s Move’ and ‘Venezuela – Trump’s Coup Plan Has Big Flaws’ – the US initiated a coup against your President, Nicolás Maduro, and his Government, whom you democratically re-elected to represent you on 20 May 2018. See ‘The Case for the Legitimacy of Maduro’s Second Term’.
read more »
Posted in Africa, Asia, Latin America & Caribbean, Market Lords, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples, War Lords |
Leave a Comment »
02/02/2019
1 February 2019 — Small shelters, some covered in the ubiquitous white sheeting provided by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), dot the dusty grey sun-bleached plain around the village of Goura, in the far north-east of Cameroon.
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe | Some 35,000 Nigerians have fled across the north-eastern border into Cameroon in the last two weeks of January. (1 February 2019)
Hebibi Toudjum‘s shelter is so low to the ground she needs to crawl into it. She arrived from the village of Rann 7km across the border in Nigeria six days ago after fleeing a killing spree perpetrated by the terrorist group Boko Haram.
Posted in Africa, Market Lords, Migrants and Refugees, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples, War Lords |
Leave a Comment »
02/02/2019
“High impact weather” has gripped much of the world so far this year, the UN weather agency, WMO, reported on Friday [1 February 2019], with “dangerous and extreme cold in North America, record high heat and wildfires in Australia, heavy rains in parts of South America, and heavy snow on the Alps and Himalayas.
Daniel Johnson/UNOG | A view of the Palais des Nations, seat of the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG), ahead of snowstorm. 01 February 2019.
The WMO assessment of January’s weather, published on Friday, describes it as “a month of extremes”, with large parts of North America gripped by bitterly cold temperatures, caused by the influence of the
Polar Vortex.
Posted in Africa, Asia, Latin America & Caribbean, Market Lords, Middle East, Migrants and Refugees, Mother Earth, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples, War Lords |
Leave a Comment »
01/02/2019
UNITED NATIONS, 30 January 2019 (IPS)* – The steady decline in multilateralism— accompanied by a rise in unilateralism– is beginning to threaten democratic norms, including press freedom, global governance, civic participation and human rights across Asia, Africa, South America and the Middle East.
Lysa John – Credit: CIVICUS
The threats – directly or indirectly – are being sourced to the outbreak of right-wing nationalism in the United States, reflected in the jingoistic political rhetoric coming out of several countries, including Brazil, the Philippines, Hungary, Poland, Austria, Turkey, Myanmar and Egypt.
Speaking to reporters last month, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that multilateralism is under attack from many different directions precisely “when we need it most.”
read more »
Posted in Africa, Asia, Latin America & Caribbean, Market Lords, Middle East, Migrants and Refugees, Mother Earth, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples, War Lords |
Leave a Comment »
31/01/2019
The “upsurge” in patent applications for devices and machines powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the last five years, suggests that it could soon revolutionize all areas of daily life far beyond the tech world, a UN report suggested on Thursday [31 January 2019].
NASA/Aubrey Gemignani | An attendee of the USA Science and Engineering Festival (2014) observes NASA’s first dexterous humanoid robot Robonaut 2, at the NASA Stage. At the time R2 had recently received 1.2 meter long legs to allow mobility. | Photo from UN News.
According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Technology Trends report, 50 per cent of all patents for AI – the replication of human intelligence by machines for use in industries such as transport and healthcare, for instance – have been published since 2013, adding up to more than 170,000 different patented ideas.
read more »
Posted in Africa, Asia, Latin America & Caribbean, Market Lords, Middle East, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples, War Lords |
Leave a Comment »
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 