Monday, November 13, 2017

CounterCurrents: Yemen: End Blockade, Avert Famine




Dear Friend,

Along with Somalai, Yemen also is going through one of the worst famines in their history. Both of them are created by the imperialist wars.  Dr Chandra Muzaffar writes regarding Yemen "The threat of mass famine in Yemen is as real as ever — in spite of the reopening of the port of Aden and the Wadea land crossing on the Saudi-Yemen border. This is not enough, according to the UN Office of Humanitarian Aid (OCHA). The blockade of all ports especially Hodeida should be lifted immediately. Most humanitarian aid goes through ports other than Aden."

In this sobering analysis Professor Ugo Bardi dissects historical statistics on war to unpick the patterns of violence of the past and uncover what this says about the present — and our coming future. He warns that statistical data suggests we are on the brink of heading into another round of major wars resulting, potentially, in mass deaths on a scale that could rival what we have seen in the early 20th century. Far from mere doom-mongering, Bardi’s warning is based on a careful assessment of statistical patterns in the data.Such a future, however, may not be set in stone — given that for the first time we are able to assess our past to discern these patterns, in a way we could not do before. Perhaps, then, the path to freedom from the patterns of the past remains open. The question is: what are we going to do with this information?

Mirza Yawar Baig gives an excellent take on the India we are living today from multiple perspectives. It's an excellent video presentation. Do watch it. 


Also more stories from around the world. 

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In Solidarity

Binu Mathew
Editor
www.countercurrents.org




Yemen: End Blockade, Avert Famine
by Dr Chandra Muzaffar 


The threat of mass famine in Yemen is as real as ever — in spite of the reopening of the port of Aden and the Wadea land crossing on the Saudi-Yemen border. This is not enough, according to the UN Office of Humanitarian Aid (OCHA). The blockade of all ports especially Hodeida should be lifted immediately. Most humanitarian aid goes through ports other than Aden.




Are You Ready For A New Round Of Mass Exterminations?
by Ugo Bardi 


In this sobering analysis Professor Ugo Bardi dissects historical statistics on war to unpick the patterns of violence of the past and uncover what this says about the present — and our coming future. He warns that statistical data suggests we are on the brink of heading into another round of major wars resulting, potentially, in mass deaths on a scale that could rival what we have seen in the early 20th century. Far from mere doom-mongering, Bardi’s warning is based on a careful assessment of statistical patterns in the data.Such a future, however, may not be set in stone — given that for the first time we are able to assess our past to discern these patterns, in a way we could not do before. Perhaps, then, the path to freedom from the patterns of the past remains open. The question is: what are we going to do with this information?




Israel Lobby Is Slowly Being Dragged Into The Light
by Jonathan Cook 


Patel’s off-the-books meetings with 12 Israelis, including prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, were organised by a British lobbyist in violation of government rules requiring careful documentation of official meetings. That is to prevent conflicts of interest and illicit lobbying by foreign powers.




People Act Where US Fails On Climate
Co-Written By Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese


The United States is experiencing a wide range of climate impacts from major hurricanes in the South to unprecedented numbers of wildfires in the West to crop-destroying drought in the Mid-West. In October, the General Accounting Office reported that the US has spent over $350 billion in the last decade on disaster relief and crop insurance, not counting this year’s hurricanes. These costs will continue and rise.




Trans-Pacific Follies: Australia Asleep As Canada Wakes Up
by Dr Binoy Kampmark 


Lindsay Murdoch of the Sydney Morning Herald insisted that the Canadian leader had “sabotaged the endorsement of a pact to salvage a multi-billion dollar, 11-nation Pacific Rim trade deal at the last minute, surprising other nations, including Australia’s Malcolm Turnbull.”




Gaza Strip: Healthy Adolescence – A Distant Dream
Co-Written byAshish Kumar Singh and Kristin Øren


This paper will look into the food security and nutrition security situation in Gaza Strip, and possible consequences on adolescents’ growth and development.




Turkey Denies Working With Michael Flynn To Kidnap Gulen
by Abdus Sattar Ghazali


Prime Minister Binali Yildirim Saturday (Nov 11) denied Turkey’s involvement in an alleged plot involving former U.S security adviser Michael Flynn to kidnap U.S.-based controversial cleric Fetullah Gulen, allegedly behind last year’s coup attempt to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.




Every GI Who Invaded Vietnam, Iraq, etc. Was a Criminal By International Law & US Army’s Own Law
by Jay Janson 


Here are the very clear Nuremberg Principles of International Law, which former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark unequivocally states are part of the law of the land by Article Six of the US Constitution.



Veteran’s Day Reflections
by Sally Dugman 


Let’s tuck this bloody holiday into the bins of history. No more Vet Day! No more celebration, directly or indirectly, of carnage and ruin every which way that one looks!



New War Drums Out Of Saudi Arabia
by Dr Elias Akleh 


What this prince, Mohammad bin Salman, has overlooked is the tribal loyalty many Saudi citizens have for the princes he imprisoned. A counter-coup and an assassination could be in his near future as a retribution to the sins he committed against the tribal honor and the Saudi family tradition.




War Commemoration Porn: Remembrance Day Celebrations
by Dr Binoy Kampmark 


In the Australian capital, there were many wreaths, so many uniformed, deodorised dignitaries distant from the cries of battle and the horror of engineered slaughter.    There were the expected, the usual, the normal: the most medalled of them all, the Governor General, the various Chiefs of Army, Navy and Air Force.




Why the Democrats’ Victories Do NOT Spell The End of Trumpian Fascism
by Toby O'Ryan 


Why the Democrats’ Victories Do NOT Spell The End of Trumpian Fascism… and How They Could Potentially Make The Situation With The Regime All The More Dangerous




The Emergency Four Horse People’s Party
by Annapurna Tosca Sriramarcel


I’d recommend watching the 2012 documentary Four Horsemen — immediately — along with the 2017 Oren Moverman feature film The Dinner. I urge the reader to do that post haste, in spite of the fact that the former only received a 67% approval rating by critics on Rotten Tomatoes (with an unimpressive “thumbs up” by audiences), and the latter only garnering 51% and (a very low) 17% respectively.



Kondasawali Massacre: NHRC Pulls Up Chhattisgarh State


In 2013, the villagers of Village Kondasawali, Police Station Jagargunda, district Sukma, Bastar Divison, Chhattisgarh had lodged a complaint with the Collector regarding the fact that a few years before that, in 2007, some SPOs and Salwa Judum leaders had come to their village, burnt 95 huts in three settlements in their panchayat, killed 7 people, and threatened the villagers against telling anyone about these incidents. Now National Human Rights Commission has pulled up the state of Chhattigarh for lack of action on the heinous human rights violations committed on the villagers




My India Today
by Mirza Yawar Baig 


This lecture by Mirza Yawar Baig is a take on India as it is today and the challenges that face us in the immediate future. He says “It is my address to my fellow citizens to say that it is time we accepted the role of citizenship and understand that it means to take responsibility for the welfare of our nation and get involved to ensure that we build a nation that is truly strong and vibrant. Strength and vibrancy of nations is not a factor of money or weapons or resources, but of spirit; the courage to stand for justice, against oppression of all kinds. It is a reflection not of what we have but of who we are. It is a measure of our pride in being Indian.”




Karl Marx (1818-83)
by Ish N Mishra 

A political sketch of Karl Marx




Academic Rumblings For Native American History
by Rachel Olivia O'Connor 


Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page really got rocked the first time he heard Link Wray’s Rumble. A lot of people did, musicians and others. In fact, you could say it was what the monolith was to those primates in the “Dawn of Man” segment of Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Thing is, Link was a Shawnee Native American, and — as an independent educator wanting to help teachers to do justice to covering the injustices directed at indigenous people throughout our sordid history with them — I believe Wray’s 1958 hit can serve as a point of departure for some highly instructive class sessions in various disciplines.




Screaming Truth To The Powerless
by Annapurna Tosca Sriramarcel 


The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is typically taken by students some time during their last two years in high school. It purports to assess how well test takers solve problems. However, the Big Problem for the students — for us all, truth be told — is that no matter how high they score on the examination, the nation’s momentum — the world’s — is going to give them a failing grade.




Taboo, Transgression And Identity In Contemporary Arab Cinema
by Vikram Zutshi 


Artists are the bellwether of any society and if the cinema of the Arab world is anything to go by, the region is at the cusp of another major upheaval. People’s aspirations for freedom, both personal and political, cannot be suppressed indefinitely. And the Arab world’s artists, writers, poets and musicians are at the forefront of this upheaval. As Ursula Le Guin says in The Dispossessed, “You cannot buy the revolution. You cannot make the revolution”, you can only be the revolution. It is in your spirit, or it is nowhere.”




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