'Unseen' News and Views
Rome (FAO)* – Due to the impact of climate change, plant pests that ravage economically important crops are becoming more destructive and posing an increasing threat to food security and the environment, finds a scientific review released on 2 June 2021.
Countries also need to add similar commitments for oceans, according to a new report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), launched as the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030 gets underway.
(UN News)* — The world must harness “clear, transformative and actionable solutions” to address the ocean crisis, the President of the UN General Assembly on 1 June 2021 said, opening a meeting to generate momentum towards the 2022 UN Ocean Conference, when public health safety measures allow.
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USS “Stoltenberg” – Norway, now the newest US aircraft carrier
Fredrik S. Heffermehl
Some years back Norwegian foreign minister Thorvald Stoltenberg took wise steps to reduce confrontation with Russia through a Barents Council for civilian cooperation.
This was in prolongation of a long Labor tradition, initiated by the legendary Prime Minister Einar Gerhardsen, who started a policy of low tension with the neighboring Soviet Union: No foreign bases, restraint with military exercises in the North, no nuclear weapons in Norway or our waters.
Last week Stoltenberg´s son, Jens, now leader of NATO, dishonored a high-level meeting for civilian corporation in the Arctic Council in Reykjavik by NATO holding a large navy maneuver in that part of the Atlantic.
How to hide a democracy that is not one
May 2021 (Wall Street International)* — The notion of political parties in the non-United States existing along a neat and orderly linear continuum from left to right (or right to left depending on your predilection I suppose) is yet another American fantasy about ourselves, outdated at best and madly simplistic at worst.
31 May 2021 (United Nations)* — Since the 1980s, the important role of the family has increasingly come to the attention of the international community. The General Assembly adopted a number of resolutions and proclaimed the International Year of the Family and the International Day of Families.
Emphasizing the critical role of parents in the rearing of children, the Global Day of Parents recognizes that the family has the primary responsibility for the nurturing and protection of children.
31 May 2021 (WHO)* — Tobacco causes 8 million deaths every year. When evidence was released this year that smokers were more likely to develop severe disease with COVID-19 compared to non-smokers, it triggered millions of smokers to want to quit tobacco.
Quitting can be challenging, especially with the added social and economic stress that have come as a result of the pandemic, but there are a lot of reasons to quit.
The benefits of quitting tobacco are almost immediate:
25 MaY 2021 — (Wall Street International)* — On November 21, Chileans shall vote in the first round of the presidential elections. If there is no winner with 50+1% of the votes, there will be a runoff election between the first two majorities on December 19, from which the future president will emerge.
A Case Study from Nicaragua
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US foreign policy is increasingly promoted by billionaire funded foundations. The neoliberal era has created individuals with incredible wealth and through “philanthropy”, they flex their influence and feel good at the same time.
While these philanthropists can be liberal on some issues, they universally support U.S. foreign policy and the “free market”. Continue reading
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 