'Unseen' News and Views
By Robert J. Burrowes*
DAYLESFORD, Australia, 17 January 2019 — It is easy to identify the ongoing and endless violence being inflicted on life on Earth. This ranges from the vast multiplicity of assaults inflicted on our children and the biosphere to the endless wars and other military violence as well as the grotesque exploitation of many peoples living in Africa, Asia and Central/South America. But for a (very incomplete) list of 40 points see ‘Reflections on 2018, Forecasting 2019’.
Robert J. Burrowes
However, despite the obvious fact that it is human beings who are inflicting all of this violence, it is virtually impossible to get people to pay attention to this simple and incontrovertible fact and to ask why, precisely, are human beings behaving in such violent and destructive ways? And can we effectively address this cause?
– After Teresa May’s defeat in the British parliament it is clear that a new spectre is haunting Europe. It is no longer the spectre of communism, which opens Marx’s Manifesto of 1848; it is the spectre of the failure of neoliberal globalisation, which reigned uncontested following the fall of the Berlin Wall, until the financial crisis of 2009.
Roberto Savio
In 2008, governments spent the astounding amount of 62 trillion dollars to save the financial system, and close to that amount in 2009 (see Britannica Book of the Year, 2017), According to a US Federal Reserve study, it cost each American 70,000 dollars.
Belatedly, economic institutions left macroeconomics, which were until then used to assess GNP growth and started to look at how growth was being redistributed.
And the IMF and the World Bank, (also because of the prodding of civil society studies, foremost those of Oxfam), concluded that there was a huge problem in the rise of inequality.
The world is facing multiple health challenges. These range from outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases like measles and diphtheria, increasing reports of drug-resistant pathogens, growing rates of obesity and physical inactivity to the health impacts of environmental pollution and climate change and multiple humanitarian crises.
With over 800 schools forced to close due to insecurity, and 2.3 million vulnerable people in need of assistance this year, a top UN official told the Security Council on Wednesday [16 January 2019] that the humanitarian situation in Mali “remains dire”.
The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said on Wednesday [16 January 2019] that at least 890 villagers were reportedly killed in the western Democratic Republic of the Congo last month, following brutal inter-communal clashes.
Many countries are failing to protect and promote the interests of all their people – despite pledging to do so in 2016 – the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Wednesday [16 January 2019].
By Fredrik S. Heffermehl | Nobel Peace Prize Watch – TRANSCEND Media Service*
Please use our attached information on the 2019 Nobel Prize; for your convenience in English, French, German, Spanish and Swedish.
Translated Versions Below
The official reluctance to discussing disarmament is massive – the beauty of the Nobel Peace Prize is that it is based on a testament – and promotion of disarmament is a legal obligation for the Norwegian awarders.
General disarmament would end enormous suffering and waste, free astronomic funds, reduce waste of precious resources, reduce pollution, offer major relief to the climate, improve human rights, democracy, the plight of women, children. In short, improve security and prosperity to people everywhere on the planet.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas gestures during a meeting with the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank | Photo: Reuters | Photo from teleSUR.
15 January 2019 (teleSUR)* — The Palestinians will launch a bid to become a full member of the United Nations even though such a move will be blocked by the United States, the Palestinian foreign minister said Tuesday [15 January 2019].
“We know that we are going to face a U.S. veto but that won’t prevent us from presenting our application” for full UN membership, Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Maliki told journalists.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 