Dear Friend,
Greenland is losing ice seven times faster than in the 1990s and is tracking the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s high-end climate warming scenario, which would see 40 million more people exposed to coastal flooding by 2100.
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Greenland ice losses are faster than forecasted
by Countercurrents Collective
Greenland is losing ice seven times faster than in the 1990s and is tracking the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s high-end climate warming scenario, which would see 40 million more people exposed to coastal flooding by 2100.
Greenland is losing ice seven times faster than in the 1990s and is tracking the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s high-end climate warming scenario, which would see 40 million more people exposed to coastal flooding by 2100.
A team of 96 polar scientists from 50 international organizations has produced the most complete picture of Greenland ice loss to date. The Ice Sheet Mass Balance Inter-comparison Exercise (IMBIE) Team combined 26 separate surveys to compute changes in the mass of Greenland’s ice sheet between 1992 and 2018. Altogether, data from 11 different satellite missions were used, including measurements of the ice sheet’s changing volume, flow and gravity.
The findings, published on December 10, 2019 in Nature, (Shepherd, A., Ivins, E., Rignot, E. et al. “Mass balance of the Greenland Ice Sheet from 1992 to 2018”, Nature, 2019)
“Mass balance of the Greenland Ice Sheet from 1992 to 2018”) show that Greenland has lost 3.8 trillion tonnes of ice since 1992 – enough to push global sea levels up by 10.6 millimeters. The rate of ice loss has risen from 33 billion tonnes per year in the 1990s to 254 billion tonnes per year in the last decade – a seven-fold increase within three decades.
The assessment, led by Professor Andrew Shepherd at the University of Leeds and Dr Erik Ivins at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, was supported by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
In 2013, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicted that global sea levels will rise by 60 centimeters by 2100, putting 360 million people at risk of annual coastal flooding.
But this new study shows that Greenland’s ice losses are rising faster than expected and are instead tracking the IPCC’s high-end climate warming scenario, which predicts 7 centimeters more.
The team also used regional climate models to show that half of the ice losses were due to surface melting as air temperatures have risen. The other half has been due to increased glacier flow, triggered by rising ocean temperatures.
Ice losses peaked at 335 billion tonnes per year in 2011 – ten times the rate of the 1990s – during a period of intense surface melting. Although the rate of ice loss dropped to an average 238 billion tonnes per year since then, this remains seven times higher and does not include all of 2019, which could set a new high due to widespread summer melting.
Changes to the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are of considerable societal importance, as they directly impact global sea levels, which are a result of climate crisis. As glaciers and ice sheets melt, these add more water to the ocean.
IMBIE is an international collaboration between polar scientists from 50 scientific institutions supported by the European Space Agency and NASA.
The scientists-team found that half of the loss is tied to surface ice melting in warmer air. The rest of the loss is the result of factors such as warmer ocean temperatures, iceberg calving and the ice sheet shedding ice into the ocean more quickly.
Greenland is home to the only permanent ice sheet outside Antarctica. The sheet covers three-fourths of Greenland’s land mass. But in the last 26 years, Greenland’s melting ice has added 11 millimeters to sea level rise. Its cumulative 3.8 trillion tons of melted ice is equivalent to adding the water from 120 million Olympic-size swimming pools to the ocean every year, for 26 years.
“As a rule of thumb, for every centimeter rise in global sea level, another 6 million people are exposed to coastal flooding around the planet,” said Andrew Shepherd, lead author and scientist from the University of Leeds in the UK. “On current trends, Greenland ice melting will cause 100 million people to be flooded each year by the end of the century, so 400 million in total due to sea level rise.”
In addition to storm surges and high tides that will increase flooding in many regions, sea level rise exacerbates events like hurricanes. Greenland’s shrinking ice sheet also speeds up global warming. The vast expanse of snow and ice helps cool down Earth by reflecting the Sun’s rays back into space. As the ice melts and retreats, the region absorbs more solar radiation, which warms the planet.
The new study will contribute to the evaluation and evolution of sea level rise models used by the IPCC in evaluating risks to current and future populations. The results of the study currently appear consistent with the panel’s worst-case projections for sea level rise in the next 80 years.
This is the third IMBIE study on ice loss as a result of global warming. IMBIE’s first report in 2012 measured both Greenland and Antarctica’s shrinking ice sheets, finding that the combined ice losses from Antarctica and Greenland had increased over time and that the ice sheets were losing three times as much ice as they were in the early 1990s. Antarctica and Greenland continue to lose ice today, and that rate of loss has accelerated since the first IMBIE study.
Dr Ivins said: “Satellite observations of polar ice are essential for monitoring and predicting how climate change could affect ice losses and sea level rise.”
“While computer simulation allows us to make projections from climate change scenarios, the satellite measurements provide prima facie, rather irrefutable, evidence.”
“Our project is a great example of the importance of international collaboration to tackle problems that are global in scale.”
Guðfinna Aðalgeirsdóttir, Professor of Glaciology at the University of Iceland and lead author of the IPCC’s sixth assessment report, who was not involved in the study, said:
“The IMBIE Team’s reconciled estimate of Greenland ice loss is timely for the IPCC. Their satellite observations show that both melting and ice discharge from Greenland have increased since observations started.”
“The ice caps in Iceland had similar reduction in ice loss in the last two years of their record, but this last summer was very warm here and resulted in higher loss. I would expect a similar increase in Greenland mass loss for 2019.”
“It is very important to keep monitoring the big ice sheets to know how much they raise sea level every year.”
Welcome to Hindu Rashtra via CAB !
by Subhash Gatade
The arbitrariness of the bill is not limited to keeping the Tamil refugees out – a majority of them are Hindus only – or keeping the island nation Sri Lanka out from its purview but limiting itself to three Muslim majority countries namely Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh despite the fact that India shares its borders with Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal and Sri Lanka and other countries and it is widely known how a section of minorities in these countries are facing persecution. e.g. It has also refused to take into consideration the plight Ahmadiyas and Hazaras of Pakistan, Bihari Muslims of Bangladesh and Rohingyas which according to the United Nations form ‘world’s most persecuted minority’ who
all are facing systematic persecution in their country.
The Spectre of Jamia: Violation of a safe space
Co-Written by Ushosee Pal & Sanchari Basu Chaudhuri
The role of a university goes beyond education; it is also a conscience keeper. And the library is at the heart of it. It is representative of a meditative space where students can escape to, for the pleasure of reading. Vandalizing the library, thus, symbolises an attack on students’ safe space. Seemingly, all of a sudden, the library has become a greater threat than protestors on the street.
Thanks Jamia students for putting your lives on the line, for speaking truth to power – for all of us!
by Ananda Maitreya
Hopefully we can utilize this momentum and space created for us by Jamia (and AMU) to
widen our dissent and protest. They put their bodies and lives on the line. The rest of us have to take this forward. We must make common cause with all sections of the oppressed and the progressives and broaden and deepen this to a multiple-issue uprising.
Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019: A step Towards Hindu Rashtra?
by K Kaluto Chishi
On the fateful day of 11th of December, 2019 this Citizenship Amendment Bill was given FREE passage by the Rajysabha. The Bill was passed amidst the sorrows, cries, protests in different parts of the northeast India. This is how I learned how democracy can be murdered.
Contributions of RSS to Indian Society
by T H Sreerama
Anti-Minority attitude
Brahmanism
Communalism
Divisive beliefs
Educational destruction
Fascism
Corbyn’s defeat has slain the left’s last
illusion
by Jonathan Cook
We must head to the streets – as we have done before with Occupy, with Extinction Rebellion, with the schools strikes – to reclaim the public space, to reinvent and rediscover it. Society didn’t cease to exist. It wasn’t snuffed out by Thatcher. We just forgot what it looked like, that we are human, not machines. We forgot that we are all part of society, that we are precisely what it is. Now is the time to put away childish things, and take the future back into our hands.
Our Vanishing World: Birds
by Robert J Burrowes
So I have two questions for you? When is the last time that you saw a flock of birds so vast that ‘the light of noon-day was obscured as by an eclipse’? And when did you last see a flock of just 20 birds? Sobering to ponder, isn’t it?
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, it is estimated that the total number of passenger pigeons in the United States was about three billion birds. The bird was immensely abundant, as illustrated by this passage written by the famous ornithologist, naturalist and painter John James Audubon:
‘I dismounted, seated myself on an eminence, and began to mark with my pencil, making a dot for every flock that passed. In a short time finding the task which I had undertaken impracticable, as the birds poured in countless multitudes, I rose, and counting the dots then put down, found that 163 had been made in twenty-one minutes. I traveled on, and still met more the farther I proceeded. The air was literally filled with Pigeons; the light of noon-day was obscured as by an eclipse, the dung fell in spots, not unlike melting flakes of snow; and the continued buzz of wings had a tendency to lull my senses to repose… Before sunset I reached Louisville, distance from Hardensburgh fifty-five miles. The Pigeons were still passing in undiminished numbers, and continued to do so for three days in succession.’See ‘Passenger Pigeon’.
So numerous was this bird that, in the nineteenth century, the passenger pigeon was one of the most abundant birds on Earth.
In 1914 it was extinct.
While new settlements kept reducing the bird’s habitat, more importantly, it was literally hunted from the sky. Shot for its meat.
So I have two questions for you? When is the last time that you saw a flock of birds so vast that ‘the light of noon-day was obscured as by an eclipse’? And when did you last see a flock of just 20 birds?
Sobering to ponder, isn’t it?
The origin of birds
Birds evolved from small carnivorous dinosaurs of the Late Jurassic and in the 65 million years since the extinction of the rest of the dinosaurs, this ancestral lineage diversified into the major groups of birds alive today. See ‘The origin of birds’.
Because they did not exist during the first five mass extinction events on Earth, birds have been spared the widespread extinctions suffered by those species that did exist in earlier eras.
Extinctions of birds in prehistory and history
Nevertheless, the fossil record tells us of the existence of prehistoric birds that became extinct before the Late Quaternary (that is, the past half to one million years) and thus occurred in the absence of significant human interference – see ‘List of fossil bird genera’ – while various sources tell us of both prehistoric and historic bird species, including flightless megafauna birds, that became extinct between 40,000 BCE and 1500 AD and ‘was coincident with the expansion of Homo sapiens beyond Africa and Eurasia, and in most cases, anthropogenic factors played a crucial part in their extinction, be it through hunting, introduced predators or habitat alteration’. See ‘List of Late Quaternary prehistoric bird species’.
Of course, there is an even wider range of evidence of bird extinctions since 1500. See ‘List of recently extinct bird species’. Most notably perhaps, given the symbolism it has since acquired, the dodo, a flightless bird of Mauritius, was driven to extinction by 1681 but not before it was carefully drawn. See ‘Dodo’.
How many bird species are there on Earth now?
While one recent estimate – see ‘Scaling laws predict global microbial diversity’– indicates that Earth may be the home to one trillion species (the vast bulk of which are microorganisms such as bacteria, archaea and microscopic fungi), of which only an estimated 8.7 million species fall into the usual andsimpler categories of plants, birds, animals, fish, amphibians, insects and reptiles, the most recent research conducted by George F. Barrowclough, Joel Cracraft, John Klicka and Robert M. Zink and published in 2016 indicated that there are just18,043 species of birds worldwide. See ‘How Many Kinds of Birds Are There and Why Does It Matter?’
Somewhat controversially – see ‘New Study Doubles the World’s Number of Bird Species By Redefining “Species”’ – this figure is nearly twice as many as previously thought becausethe study focused on ‘hidden’ avian diversity: birds that look similar to one another or were thought to interbreed but are actually different species. In any case, whether there are just 10,000 species of birds, 11,000+ as estimated by the recognized international authority BirdLife International – see ‘Introducing the IUCN Red List’ – or even18,000, just like other species of life on Earth, birds are now under siege in a way they have never been before.
Killing birds in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries
More than 100 years have passed since the passenger pigeon became extinct. However, while one might have hoped that humans had become more adept at nurturing populations of birds, the reality is that we arecontinuing to drive bird populations to extinction. Moreover, we are now doing this with breathtaking efficiency, slaughtering birds by the millions in ever-shortening timeframes.
As a result, the fate of the passenger pigeon has been replicated many times over with a vast number of bird species passing through the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s eight preliminary categories – Not Evaluated, Data Deficient, Least Concern, Near Threatened, Vulnerable, Endangered, Critically Endangered, Extinct in the Wild – before reaching the ninth and final category: Extinct. See ‘IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria’. At the moment, the ‘IUCN Red List of Threatened Species’ identifies 14% of remaining bird species as ‘threatened with extinction’. Also see ‘Introducing the IUCN Red List’.
Of course, this ongoing assault on birds is well documented in the scientific literature, along with descriptions of long-standing causes as well as those that are more recent.
In recently published research on the status of birds in North America, Dr. Kenneth V. Rosenberg led an international team of scientists from seven institutions in analyzing the population trends of 529 bird species on the North American continent. Their study quantified, for the first time, the total decline in bird populations in the continental U.S. and Canada: a loss of 2.9 billion breeding adult birds, with devastating losses among birds in every biome, since 1970. Moreover, their research revealed that ‘declines are not restricted to rare and threatened species – those once considered common and widespread are also diminished’. See ‘Decline of the North American avifauna’ and ‘Vanishing: More Than 1 in 4 Birds Has Disappeared in the Last 50 Years’.
Like scholars researching dramatic declines and extinctions of other species, such as insects, Rosenberg and his colleagues stress that their results have ‘major implications for ecosystem integrity, the conservation of wildlife more broadly, and policies associated with the protection of birds and native ecosystems on which they depend’. While species extinctions ‘have defined the global biodiversity crisis’, extinction ‘begins with loss in abundance of individuals that can result in compositional and functional changes of ecosystems’. Hence, the staggering loss of bird abundance ‘signals an urgent need to address threats to avert future avifaunal collapse and associated loss of ecosystem integrity, function, and services’. See ‘Decline of the North American avifauna’.
In more blunt language ‘the most comprehensive inventory ever done for North American birds, points to ecosystems in disarray because of habitat loss and other factors that have yet to be pinned down’. See ‘Billions of North American birds have vanished’. And, yet more bluntly: ‘The scale of loss portrayed in the [Rosenberg et.al.] study is unlike anything recorded in modern natural history.’ See ‘Vanishing: More Than 1 in 4 Birds Has Disappeared in the Last 50 Years’.
Even more importantly, however, pointing out that the study results ‘transcend the world of birds’, Rosenberg explained that ‘These bird losses are a strong signal that our human-altered landscapes are losing their ability to support birdlife’ and ‘that is an indicator of a coming collapse of the overall environment.’ See ‘Vanishing: More Than 1 in 4 Birds Has Disappeared in the Last 50 Years’.
Is North America alone in its decimation of bird populations? Far from it. Other research and data have revealed that ‘farmland birds in Europe have declined by over 50 per cent collectively in the last 30 or 40 years’ according to Professor Richard Gregory, head of species monitoring and research at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) in the UK where, according to Martin Harper, director of conservation at the RSPB, ‘Our beleaguered farmland birds have declined by 56 per cent between 1970 and 2015 along with declines in other wildlife linked to changes in agricultural practices, including the use of pesticides’.
And, Professor Romain Julliard, a conservation biologist at France’s National Museum of Natural History, confessed his ‘shock’ when the latest research revealed that France has lost one-third of its birds in the past 15 years in what is being labeled a ‘dramatic collapse’ and ‘ecological catastrophe’ particularly because the decline has accelerated dramatically in recent years. See ‘“Shocking” decline in birds across Europe due to pesticide use, say scientists’.
In Germany, bird populations are vanishing with scientists using words like ‘decimated’ and ‘collapse’ to describe the enormity of the problem. In a recent study of government data, the German environmental organization Nature And Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU) estimated ‘that more than 25 million birds [15% of the country’s total bird population] disappeared from Germany over the past 12 years’. See ‘Über zwölf Millionen Vogelbrutpaare weniger in Deutschland’, ‘Insect and bird populations declining dramatically in Germany’ and ‘“Decimated”: Germany’s birds disappear as insect abundance plummets 76%’. But why?
While habitat destruction and other factors played roles, scientists have also long linked pesticide use to insect decline – a reasonable assumption given that killing insects is the purpose of pesticides – and research clearly demonstrates that pesticides are killing more than target insects. For instance, a 2008 study demonstrated low but persistent levels of a common neonicotinoid pesticide in aquatic ecosystems can kill off or reduce the growth of insects (such as mosquitoes) that have an acquatic phase. See ‘Acute and Chronic Toxicity of Imidacloprid to the Aquatic Invertebrates Chironomus tentans and Hyalella azteca under Constant- and Pulse-Exposure Conditions’and ‘“Decimated”: Germany’s birds disappear as insect abundance plummets 76%’.
In essence, the problem is that killing the insects is tantamount to killing the birds that feed on them.
Another recent study came to the same conclusion. The study, conducted in the Lake Constance area in southern Germany, found that the population of six of the most common birds had ‘declined massively’. According to Hans-Guenther Bauer of the Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Biology: ‘These are truly shocking figures, especially when you consider that the decline in birds began decades before our first data collection in 1980.’ Why is it happening? According to Bauer, a key reason for the decline is the loss of food. ‘This confirms what we have long suspected. The death of insects caused by humans has a massive impact on our birds.’ To stem the tide of losses, scientists are calling for a rethink in agricultural and forestry policy including ‘drastic restrictions on insecticides and herbicides in agriculture, forestry, public areas and private gardens’ and significantly less fertilization. See ‘Scientists fear “collapse” of bird populations in Germany’.
As is the case elsewhere around the world, birdsin Africaalso face a wide variety of threats, the most significant of which are habitat fragmentation, degradation and destruction as well as direct impacts including hunting and trapping (mainly for meat and trafficking). See ‘Multiple threats are driving threatened birds towards extinction in Africa’.
But nowhere is safe with the killing of migratory birds in China – see ‘Market trade is fuelling the killing of migratory birds in Northern China’ – and various factors adversely impacting penguins in Antarctica – see ‘Climate-driven reductions in krill abundance have caused Adélie penguin declines’ – just two more of many examples that could be cited.
Illegal hunting and trapping of birds
According to Birdlife International, the organization responsible for monitoring the welfare of birds for the IUCN’s Red List, ‘The illegal killing and taking of wild birds remains a major threat on a global scale’ with recent examples including the illegal poisoning of vultures in Sub-Saharan Africa, the illegal shooting of raptors in Europe and North America, the illegal trapping of passerines (perching birds) in Asia and theillegal capture for the bird trade in South America.
For example, based on extensive research over many years in relation to bird killing during migratory flights across the Mediterranean and through Northern and Central Europe and the Caucasus, BirdLife International has compiled a series of reports. These reports document massive illegal killing of birds, often in ways that constitute torture, and totaling in excess of 25 million birds annually, including birds of species that are threatened with extinction. For recent reports, see ‘The Killing 2.0: A View to a Kill’, ‘Assessing the scope and scale of illegal killing and taking of birds in the Mediterranean, and establishing a basis for systematic monitoring’ and ‘Review of illegal killing and taking of birds in Northern and Central Europe and the Caucasus’. For a more detailed scientific report on this issue, see ‘Preliminary assessment of the scope and scale of illegal killing and taking of birds in the Mediterranean’.
But if you would simply prefer to be revolted, then watch BirdLife’s one minute video: ‘Help us STOP illegal #birdkilling’.Or read a straightforward account of how ‘innocent’ human behaviours can be deadly for birds, in this case by ‘vacuuming’ millions of sleeping birds into oblivion each year during olive harvesting at night. See ‘Millions of Birds Killed by Nighttime Harvesting in Mediterranean’.
Unfortunately, if you think the descriptions and video of birdkilling above are bad, you won’t be impressed with the sheer insanity that militarized humans can display: ‘The Farmagusta area of Cyprus comes out as the worst place for illegally killing birds in the Mediterranean, while the British Territory in Cyprus is also affected, with the Dhekelia UK military base seeing hundreds of thousands of birds killed each autumn. The Ministry of Defence has started a programme to remove illegally planted trees and shrubs in the area, which trappers use for cover and to lure birds in.’ See ‘Millions of Birds Killed in the Mediterranean’. So, instead of ordering soldiers to stop shooting birds while using a combination of education and law enforcement measures to prevent civilians doing so, they removed ‘illegally planted trees and shrubs’!
Wild Bird trafficking
Another major killer of birds is the wildlife trade. Birds are often killed as a ‘byproduct’ of the trade in exotic birds, most of which is illegal, but which is a multi-billion dollar a year industry along with human, weapons, currency and drug trafficking. Equally importantly, however, once traded, birds no longer form part of their original habitat and hence they are lost as contributing and breeding members of that ecosystem. According to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), species listed in Appendix I of the Convention are considered to be threatened with extinction and are not allowed to be traded commercially. There are currently 161 bird species on Appendix I. However, birds included on Appendix II are allowed to enter international trade ‘under specific controlled circumstances’; there are 1,300 bird species on this appendix. See ‘Wild Bird Trade and CITES’ and ‘CITES Appendices I, II and III’.
In theory, state parties are obliged to develop national legislation effectively implementing the obligations of the Convention including setting sustainable quotas for Appendix II species. But I am sure that you can imagine how well this regime works given the incredibly profitable wildlife trafficking industry, in which birds are a crucial component. In fact, ‘one third (3,337) of living bird species [that is, 2,000 species more than those that are “legal”] have been recorded as traded internationally for the pet trade and other purposes’. Of these species, 266 (that is, 8% of those internationally traded) are considered globally threatened. See ‘The Red List Index for internationally traded bird species shows their deterioration in status’.
And if the domestic trade in birds is taken into account as well, then ‘Nearly 4,000 bird species involving several million individuals annually are subject to domestic or international trade with finches, weavers, parrots and raptors being some of the most heavily affected groups.’ See ‘Wild Bird Trade and CITES’.
For a candid account of bird trafficking at its origin which describes the fate of macaw chicks being stolen from their forest nests in Ecuador, see ‘Wildlife Trafficking’.
Seabirds
In relation to seabirds, one recent study found that the global population of these birds declined by 70% between 1950 and 2010 as a result of a multiplicity of threats. These threats included ‘entanglement in fishing gear, overfishing of food sources, climate change, pollution, disturbance, direct exploitation, development, energy production, and introduced species (predators such as rats and cats introduced to breeding islands that were historically free of land-based predators)’. See ‘Population Trend of the World’s Monitored Seabirds, 1950-2010’.
Another study concluded just recently, was ‘the first objective quantitative assessment of the threats to all 359 species of seabirds’ and identified the main threats to their survival while outlining priority actions for their conservation.Using the standardized ‘Threats Classification Scheme’ developed for the IUCN Red List to objectively assess threats to each species, a team of ten scientists identified the top three threats to seabirds – in terms of number of species affected and average impact – to be as follows: invasive alien species (particularly rats and cats) which affected 165 species across all of the most threatened groups; bycatch in fisheries which ‘only’ affected 100 species but with the greatest average impact; and the climate catastrophe which affected 96 species. ‘Overfishing, hunting/trapping and disturbance were also identified as major threats to seabirds.’ The study emphasized that 70% of seabirds, especially those that are globally threatened, face multiple threats. For the three most threatened groups of seabirds – albatrosses, petrels and penguins – it is essential to tackle both terrestrial and marine threats to reverse declines. See ‘Threats to seabirds: A global assessment’.
In addition, however,another problem that has been getting insufficient attention is the result of the expanding impacts of the rapidly increasing levels of ocean acidification, ocean warming, ocean carbon flows and ocean plastics. Taken in isolation each of these changes clearly has negative consequences for the ocean. All these shifts taken together, however, result in a rapid and serious decline in ocean health and this, in turn, adversely impacts all species dependent on the ocean, including seabirds. Moreover, on top of these problems is the issue of oxygen availability given that oxygen in the air or water is of paramount importance to most living organisms. As the recently released report ‘Ocean deoxygenation: Everyone’s problem. Causes, impacts, consequences and solutions’ describes in some detail, oxygen levels are currently declining across the ocean.
But to graphically illustrate just one of the threats to seabirds, consider the impact of our chronic overfishing which is depleting the oceans of fish. In November 2019, thousands of short-tailed shearwater birds migrating from Alaska were washed up dead on Sydney’s iconic beaches in Australia. Moreover, thousands more shearwaters died out at sea in clear confirmation of the incredible fish shortages in the Pacific Ocean. After spending the summer in Alaska, the shearwaters were migrating back to southern Australia to breed: a 14,000km trip over the Pacific that requires the birds to be at full strength.
Unfortunately, vast numbers died due to lack of food because the krill and other fish they feed on have vanished. But if you think the problem only occurred along or at the end of their journey, in fact there had been ‘a series of catastrophic die-offs’ before and shortly after the birds departed to head south with thousands of shearwaters (along with puffins, murres and auklets too)lying dead from starvation on the beaches of Alaska and on Russia’s Chukotka Peninsula back in mid-year as well. The overall ‘large die-off’ pattern has been repeating since 2015 with little knowledge of the full extent of the crisis because millions of the birds ‘die at sea’. See ‘Fish all gone!… Millions of small sea birds died since 2015’.
Tragically though, as touched on above, an ocean emptied of fish is not the only hazard that seabirds have no choice but to attempt to navigate. An ocean full of plastic – with concentrations up to 580,000 pieces per square kilometer – is also deceiving many seabirds into attempting to eat pieces of plastic and this only complicates efforts by seabirds to get adequate nutrition. See ‘Threat of plastic pollution to seabirds is global, pervasive, and increasing’ and ‘Nearly Every Seabird on Earth Is Eating Plastic’. This is graphically illustrated in this photo of a dead albatross – see ‘Laysan Albatrosses’ Plastic Problem’– although, tragically, plastic is not the only non-food item that is consumed by and is killing these majestic birds, with an abandoned US military base on Midway Atoll – where 65% of the global albatross population breeds – playing a vital role too. See ‘Study shows lead-based paint is poisoning albatross chicks at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge’.
But why do seabirds eat plastic instead of correctly identifying food? Well, one recent research project provided ‘the first evidence that, in addition to looking like food, plastic debris may also confuse seabirds that hunt by smell’. See ‘Marine plastic debris emits a keystone infochemical for olfactory foraging seabirds’and ‘The oceans are full of plastic, but why do seabirds eat it?’
Other threats to birds
Another threat faced by birds in the nuclear age is the outcome of the radioactive contamination of the Earth in many places. For example, while there are ‘severe reductions in species richness and density’ in the regions surrounding the sites of the Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear catastrophes, surviving birds display a wide range of deformities and dysfunctionalities, notably including impaired brain development as reflected by head volume with its negative implications for cognitive ability and hence viability. See ‘Chernobyl Birds Have Smaller Brains’ and ‘Bird populations near Fukushima are more diminished than expected’.
Yet another threat to birds is posed by the deployment of 5G. ‘Typical effects of radiation from cellular communication antennas on resident, breeding, and migratory birds [include] site abandonment, feather deformation, locomotion problems, weight loss, weakness, reduced survivorship and death.’ Moreover, it can ‘blot out a bird’s perception of the earth’s field, causing the bird to fly in the wrong direction, and also disrupt a bird’s internal clock based on the sun’s changing position’. See ‘5G to Kill the Birds, Bees and Your Loved Ones?’ and ‘Western Insanity and 5G Electromagnetic Radiation’.
Finally, without elaboration, vast numbers of birds are also killed each year by warfare and other military activities – see, for example, ‘The impact of the 1991 Gulf War oil spill on bird populations in the northern Arabian Gulf – a review’ – by industrial activity and accidents – see, for example, ‘Effects of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill on Birds: Comparisons of Pre- and Post-spill Surveys in Prince William Sound, Alaska’ – by road and air traffic, the spread of certain avian diseases to previously unaffected species – see ‘Avian diseases are spreading to impact hitherto unaffected populations’ – wind turbines, cats, windows and communication towers, with 7 million birds losing their lives each year in the United States alone to the ‘web-like traps of wire and metal’ used for communication. See ‘Communication Towers Are Death Traps for Threatened Bird Species’. Other birds are now being killed in response to conflict generated between birds. See ‘Climate Change Leading to Fatal Bird Conflicts’. And, of course, ‘domesticated’ birds such as chickens and turkeys are farmed and consumed in prodigiously huge quantities, including for Christmas.
Sadly, too, millions of birds of many species are imprisoned in cages as ‘pets’ denied the freedom that all humans crave for themselves.
So, in essence,if you were a bird, here is a survival strategy that should work. Only live in a habitat that will not be impacted, in any way, by human beings and their activities. That is, don’t live on Earth.
Saving the birds
Given the vast range of threats posed to birdlife by humans – see a straightforward summary of ‘The greatest threats facing Important Bird & Biodiversity Areas today’which doesn’t mention all threats and those that are emerging – it is clearly going to take a monumental effort on many fronts to contain the killing of birds and avert the ongoing extinction of bird species on Earth.
And, unless you are naive enough to believe that elite-controlled governments or international organizations and processes are going to do something that is actually effective – see ‘The Global Elite is Insane Revisited’ – then it is up to us to make the difference. Of course, we can do a few things that are specific to saving birds but the bulk of what must happen is really about saving the biosphere (which includes birds) generally. The biosphere is, after all, one deeply-interconnected living entity.
This is why, according to some biologists, laws that focus on the protection of rare species miss the big picture.Joel Cracraft, for example, argues that ‘We’re losing the battle because we’re fighting over single endangered species’. Species protection tends to focus on charismatic species – beautiful birds and mammals – and doesn’t value rare ecosystems or collections of species. See ‘New Study Doubles the World’s Number of Bird Species By Redefining “Species”’. Nor does it value the biosphere as a whole.
Still, some superlative efforts have been made on behalf of birds. For example, you can read someinspirational success stories by BirdLife International: ‘10 vital bird habitats saved through conservation action’.
And for one man’s initiative 120 years ago that is having ongoing impact, see ‘How one man changed a Christmas tradition forever – to save birds’.
So you can, of course, support the efforts of Birdlife International and the local, national and other organizations like it. See ‘Welcome to BirdLife’s Globally Threatened Bird Forums’ and, for example, ‘Stop Wildlife Trafficking’.
Separately from initiatives that focus specifically on birds, if you wish to fight powerfully to save Earth’s biosphere consider joining those participating in ‘The Flame Tree Project to Save Life on Earth’ which outlines a simple program to systematically reduce your consumption and increase your local self-reliance over a period of years. Among many other beneficial environmental outcomes, this will reduce the ongoing destruction of bird habitat to produce the products we all consume.
But given the fear-driven violent parenting and education models that drive all violence in our world and which, among a multitude of other adverse outcomes, generates the addiction of most people in industrialized countries to the over-consumption that is destroying Earth’s biosphere – see ‘Love Denied: The Psychology of Materialism, Violence and War’ – then consider addressing this directly starting with yourself – see ‘Putting Feelings First’ – and by reviewing your relationship with children. See ‘My Promise to Children’ and ‘Nisteling: The Art of Deep Listening’. For fuller explanations, see ‘Why Violence?’ and ‘Fearless Psychology and Fearful Psychology: Principles and Practice’.
If you wish to campaign strategically to defend birds against particular threats, such as the climate catastrophe, military violence or the deployment of 5G, for example, consider joining those campaigning to halt these and other threats as well. See Nonviolent Campaign Strategywhich already includes a comprehensive list of strategic goals necessary to achieve these outcomes in two key contexts in ‘Strategic Aims’.
But, whatever you do, don’t fall into the trap of fearfully begging elites to act on your behalf as, for example, the antiwar and climate movements are doing (with climate ‘activists’ marginalized at the latest COP25 gathering in Madrid). If we do not focus our efforts on engaging all people who are powerful enough to do so to respond strategically, then we will fail. And our failure will not only be the result of the elite refusing to take the requisite action despite your entreaties but also because the elite, as a group,is powerless to make sufficient difference: only a massive response from the wider population can produce the outcome we now need. For explanations of this, see‘Why Activists Fail’,‘The Global Climate Movement is Failing: Why?’and ‘The War to End War 100 Years On: An Evaluation and Reorientation of our Resistance to War’.
Moreover, in those cases where corrupt or even electorally unresponsive governments are leading the destruction of the biosphere – by supporting, sponsoring and/or engaging in environmentally destructive practices – it might be necessary to remove these governments as part of the effort. See Nonviolent Defense/Liberation Strategy.
You might also consider joining the global network of people resisting violence in all contexts, including against the biosphere, by signing the online pledge of ‘The People’s Charter to Create a Nonviolent World’.
Or, if none of the above options appeal or they seem too complicated, consider committing to:
The Earth Pledge
Out of love for the Earth and all of its creatures, and my respect for their needs, from this day onwards I pledge that:
- I will listen deeply to children(see explanation above)
- I will not travel by plane
- I will not travel by car
- I will not eat meat and fish
- I will only eat organically/biodynamically grown food
- I will minimize the amount of fresh water I use, includingby minimizing my ownership and use of electronic devices
- I will not buy rainforest timber
- I will not buy or use single-use plastic, such as bags, bottles, containers, cups and straws
- I will not use banks, superannuation (pension) funds or insurance companies that provide any service to corporations involved in fossil fuels, nuclear power and/or weapons
- I will not accept employment from, or invest in, any organization that supports or participates in the exploitation of fellow human beings or profits from killing and/or destruction of the biosphere
- I will not get news from the corporate media (mainstream newspapers, television, radio, Google, Facebook, Twitter…)
- I will make the effort to learn a skill, such as food gardening or sewing, that makes me more self-reliant
- I will gently encourage my family and friends to consider signing this pledge.
Do all these options sound unpalatable?Prefer something requiring less commitment? You can, if you like, do as most sources suggest: nothing (or its many tokenistic equivalents). I admit that the options I offer are for those powerful enough to comprehend and act on the truth. Why? Because there is so little time left and I have no interest in deceiving people or treating them as unintelligent and powerless.See ‘Human Extinction by 2026? A Last Ditch Strategy to Fight for Human Survival’ and ‘Doomsday by 2021?’
Conclusion
Birds are being killed with ruthless efficiency by human beings and their activities all over the world. Obviously, this is an unmitigated tragedy for Earth’s birds, the biosphere as a whole and those humans who love life generally. But what are the practical implications of this ongoing bird killing for us?
Well just as the death of one canary in a coal mine warned miners about their dangerous environment, the mass death of birds is yet another warning that we are destroying the planetary biosphere.
However, in this case,we are not treating the canary’s death as a warning and, even if we were, it does not mean that we can escape because there is nowhere else to go.
In short, if we don’t save the birds, we won’t save ourselves.
Robert J. Burrowes has a lifetime commitment to understanding and ending human violence. He has done extensive research since 1966 in an effort to understand why human beings are violent and has been a nonviolent activist since 1981. He is the author of ‘Why Violence?’ His email address is flametree@riseup.net and his website is here.
Subversion: Sinophobic Australia
Slams China, Ignores US, UK & Zionists
by Dr Gideon Polya
Notwithstanding China being Australia’s biggest trading partner, the Sinophobic and US lackey Australian Government and Mainstream media are publicly highly critical of China and the Chinese for asserted wrongs in many areas from human rights abuse and subversion to territorial occupation, but in stark contrast are utterly silent over horrendous crimes in the same areas by the US, UK, traitorous Zionists and by nuclear terrorist, racist Zionist-run, genocidally racist, democracy-by-genocide, neo-Nazi and Australia-subverting Apartheid Israel.
Notwithstanding China being Australia’s biggest trading partner, the Sinophobic and US lackey Australian Government and Mainstream media are publicly highly critical of China and the Chinese for asserted wrongs in many areas from human rights abuse and subversion to territorial occupation, but in stark contrast are utterly silent over horrendous crimes in the same areas by the US, UK, traitorous Zionists and by nuclear terrorist, racist Zionist-run, genocidally racist, democracy-by-genocide, neo-Nazi and Australia-subverting Apartheid Israel.
This extraordinary silence over Apartheid Israel by the US lackey Australian Coalition Government and Labor Opposition, and by mendacious and cowardly Mainstream Australian journalist , politician, academic and commentariat presstitutes, is testament to the extraordinarily pervasive subversion and perversion of racist White Australia by One Percenters, racist Zionists, Apartheid Israel, Zionist-subverted America and Zionist-subverted Britain.
In a decent world it really should not be required, but in Zionist-subverted, US lackey Australia it is necessary to declare whether you belong to the decent 50% (who vote to support human rights for all, including the right to a modestly decent life, and are opposed to racism and war) or to the indecent, neoliberal Trumpist 50% (who variously vote for One Percenter interests, human rights abuse, war, racism, bigotry, corruption, environmental destruction and deadly inequity).
While cowardly, mendacious, Zionist-subverted, US lackey Australian Mainstream presstitutes endlessly demand “respectful conversation” this isn’t really possible with the indecent, Trumpist 50% who are well-described by the Nazi era- and Dr Strangelove-reminiscent acronym SIEG (Stupid, Ignorant and Egregiously Greedy) and who wittingly or unwittingly vote for SCUMM (Socially Conservative, Unforgivable Mass Murderers). If you think that this is just a teensy-weensy bit strong just consider that the conservative Coalition that presently rules Australia has committed Australia to all post-1950 US Asian wars (atrocities that have been associated with 40 million Asian deaths from violence or from war-imposed deprivation) [1], to the Zionist-promoted, endless US War on Terror (aka the War on Muslims, Muslim Genocide and Muslim Holocaust involving 32 million Muslims deaths from violence, 5 million, or from imposed deprivation , 27 million, in 20 countries invaded by the US Alliance since the US Government’s 9-11 false flag atrocity that killed 3,000 people) [2, 3], and to the Global Avoidable Mortality Holocaust (15 million avoidable deaths from deprivation each year, and 1,500 million such deaths since 1950) [1].
Of course none of these atrocities are reported by the mendacious Australian Mainstream media, politician, academic and commentariat presstitutes and accordingly things are getting even worse – history ignored yields history repeated [4]. Thus Australia is among world leaders in 15 areas related to climate criminality, specifically (1) annual per capita greenhouse gas pollution, (2) methanogenic livestock exports, (3) natural gas exports, (4) recoverable shale gas reserves that can be accessed by hydraulic fracturing (fracking), (5) coal exports, (6) land clearing, deforestation and ecocide, (7) speciescide or species extinction, (8) coral reef destruction , (9) whale killing and extinction threat through global warming impacting on krill stocks, (10) terminal carbon pollution budget exceedance, (11) per capita Carbon Debt, (12) ultimately GHG generating iron ore exports, (13) climate change inaction, (14) Climate Genocide (its coal exports ultimately kill 75,000 people per year), and (15) increasing GHG pollution post-Paris (contrary to the Paris Agreement demand to decrease GHG pollution) [5, 6] .
Australia with 0.3% of the world’s population contributes 2.0% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution and 4.5% if one includes Australia’s huge Exported GHG pollution via exports of coal, gas, iron ore and methanogenically-derived meat [7] (Australian Labor Leader of the Opposition, Anthony “Albo” Albanese , thinks that this is “double dipping” [8] but others differ – Australia clearly massively and inescapably contributes to global GHG pollution via its world-leading coal and gas exports). Indeed while the Coalition Government is held hostage by climate change denialist troglodytes, Labor is far more positive about renewable energy and a Green Economy. However the horrible reality is that the Liberal Party-National Party Coalition Government and the Labor Opposition (aka the Lib-Labs) have a common climate criminal policy of unlimited export of coal, gas, iron ore and methanogenically-derived meat. Australia makes a disproportionately huge contribution to a worsening Climate Genocide that is set to kill 10 billion people en route to a sustainable human population of only 0.5-1.0 billion by 2100 [9].
Presently about 1 million people die from climate change each year, about 20 million people are displaced as refugees annually due to climate change, and environmentally-displaced people now total about 200 million [10-12]. 8 million people die annually from air pollution with this including 10,000 Australians and 75,000 people who die annually from the long-term effects of pollutants from the burning of Australian coal exports [13]. Further, the myopia, mendacity and neoliberal “values” of the Liberal Party-National Party Coalition and Labor (the Lib-Labs) and consequent egregious inequity, ignorance and inaction mean that 85,000 Australians die preventably each year from “life-style” or “political choice” reasons, the breakdown (including some overlaps) being as follows: (1) 26,000 annual Australian deaths from adverse hospital events, (2) 17,000 obesity-related Australian deaths, (3) 15,500 smoking-related Australian deaths, (4) 10,000 carbon burning pollution-derived Australian deaths, (5). 4,000 avoidable Indigenous Australian deaths, (6). 5,600 Australian alcohol-related deaths, (7) 2,900 Australian suicides (circa 80 being veterans) , (8) 1,400 Australian road deaths, (9) 630 Australian opiate drug-related deaths with 570 linked to US restoration of the Taliban-destroyed Afghan opium industry, and (10) 300 Australian homicides (80 being of women killed domestically) [6, 14-17]. Australian voters are like mushrooms (kept in the dark and fed manure) and have an uninformed “democratic” choice between an Australian-killing Coalition and a more assertedly altruistic but nevertheless horribly complicit Labor [6].
Indeed I recently precipitated violent argument at a dinner party by declaring “There’s bestiality, paedophilia and incest and then there’s voting for the Coalition”. In short, while all of these 4 perversions are repugnant, the neoliberal and racist Coalition policies are immediately deadly for Australians at home (85,000 preventable Australian deaths annually) and Australian subjects abroad (e.g. 7 million Occupied Afghan deaths from violence or war-imposed deprivation in gross violation of the UN Genocide Convention and of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War) [18, 19]. Articles 55 and 56 of this Geneva Convention unequivocally demand that an Occupier must provide its conquered Subjects with life-sustaining food and media requisites to the “fullest extent of the means available to it” – an imperative grossly ignored by successive Australian Coalition and Labor Governments [20-22].
French economist Thomas Piketty [23, 24] has recently analysed the rise of xenophobic Trumpism. In short, economist Thomas Piketty has analysed the rise of inequality-driven Trumpist populism and increasing support by ignorant and xenophobic poor people for the Right that serves the interests of the wealthy and opposes the Centre-Left that is paradoxically increasingly supported by high education and high income voters. Piketty’s “Brahmin Left versus the Merchant Right” analysis deals with France, the US and the UK but is relevant to Trumpist Brazil, Eastern Europe, BJP-ruled India, and Australia. At this critical time of existential threat to Humanity from nuclear weapons and anthropogenic climate change, Piketty has an extremely important message for progressive, science-informed, Left politics: “Without a strong and convincing egalitarian-internationalist platform, it is inherently difficult to unite low-education, low-income voters from all origins within the same party” [25, 26]. A recent survey found that only 25% of Australian voters trust people in government [27] but this trust would largely evaporate if they were apprised of the massive lying by omission and lying by commission of mendacious Australian Mainstream media, politician, academic and commentariat presstitutes.
Unlike France, the US and the UK, Australia, has an excellent, compulsory, preferential voting system for the House of Representatives in which if a candidate does not receive 50% of the vote then second preferences of other parties are taken into account. In an unexpected result in the May 2019 Federal Election the Right-Far Right Liberal Party-National Party Coalition was returned to power with 52% of the “two-party preferred vote” to whit 41.4 % of the primary vote plus most second preferences from the racist, bigoted and populist One Nation Party (3.1%) and the populist United Australian Party of a mining billionaire Clive Palmer (3.4%), with the remainder from preferences from other parties. The ostensibly “Centre-Left” but Rightist-dominated Labor Party received 48% of the “two-party preferred vote”, to whit 33.3% of the primary vote plus most second preferences from the pro-peace, pro-equity, pro-environment and pro-human rights Greens (10.4%), with the remainder from preferences from other parties [28].
The Coalition and Labor have many common policies, notably almost blind support for the US and Apartheid Israel, highly abusive and indefinite imprisonment of refugees without charge or trial on remote , off-shore concentration camps, commitment to deadly neoliberal economics, and climate criminal support for unlimited exports of coal, gas, iron ore and methanogenically-derived meat. The big difference between the feral Coalition and an aspirational Labor is that the war criminal, climate criminal , extreme neoliberal and Australian-killing Coalition fervently believes in these policies, whereas Labor, while espousing them, at least knows that they are utterly wrong. “Wedged”, cowardly, immoral, conflicted and US lackey Labor reminds one of the 1953 song “Be Prepared” by anti-racist Jewish American mathematician and satirist Tom Lehrer: “ Don’t solicit for your sister, that’s not nice/ Unless you get a good percentage of her price” [29]. Nevertheless, the high education professionals and informed proletariat of the “Left” support the Greens or Labor , and see a well-intentioned but pragmatic and morally flawed Labor as vastly better than the present troglodytic , anti-science, bigot-backed, and heartless Right-Far Right Coalition Government that outstanding human rights advocate Professor Gillian Triggs described as : “Ideologically opposed to human rights” [30].
Peace is the only way but silence kills and silence is complicity. Racism is vile and Apartheid in particular is regarded by the UN as a crime against Humanity. War is the penultimate in racism and genocidal war is the ultimate in racism. While the presently dominant Neoliberalism demands maximal freedom for the smart and advantaged to exploit human and natural resources for private profit, altruistic Social Humanism (socialism, eco-socialism, the welfare state) seeks to sustainably maximize human happiness, opportunity and dignity for everyone through pragmatic, culturally-sensitive and evolving intra-national and international social contracts [31-36]. However neoliberalism remains the dominant ideology in rich and racist Australia.
White Australia has been deeply racist since the war criminal British invasion in 1788 and commencement of a 2-century and indeed ongoing Aboriginal Genocide and Aboriginal Ethnocide ( 2 million Indigenous deaths from violence, 0.1 million, or from deprivation and disease; of 350- 750 Indigenous languages and dialects pre-Invasion, only 150 survive and all but 20 are endangered) [37]. War is the penultimate in racism and as a UK or US lackey Australia has invaded 85 countries with 30 of these invasions being genocidal [38]. Presently Australia is helping the US occupy Afghanistan and the joint US-Australia electronic spying base at Pine Gap in Central Australia is a crucial part of US nuclear terrorism and also targets illegal US drone strikes in 7 countries from Libya to Pakistan [39]. From the 19th century onwards White Australia has had deep fears about Asia and China in particular. Australia is linked to the US via the ANZUS Treaty (the Australia New Zealand and US Treaty) that despite the best desires and efforts of Australia does not guarantee US protection – the US will do what is in the interests of America [40]. Nevertheless, a cravenly US lackey Australia has participated in all post-1950 US Asian wars (conflicts associated with 40 million Asian deaths from violence or war-imposed deprivation [1]) in the hope that such complicities will somehow guarantee US protection.
China is now Australia’s biggest trading partner and Australia clearly needs to balance this economic dependence on China with its alliance with an increasingly anti-China US. However the US lackey Australian Government and US-entwined Australian Intelligence have chosen to adopt the aggressive American anti-China stance in various areas despite expert advice to be more balanced. Thus former Coalition PM Fraser (2010): “Slavish devotion to the US a foreign policy folly for Australia… To participate in a conflict with China is totally contrary to our interests” [41]. Former Labor PM Paul Keating was even blunter (May 2019): “When the security agencies are running foreign policy, the nutters are in charge. They’ve lost their strategic bearings, these organisations” and (November 2019): “My concern is that what passes for the foreign policy of Australia lacks any sense of strategic purpose. The whispered word of ‘communism’ of old is now being replaced by the word ‘China’. The reason that we have ministries and cabinets is that a greater and eclectic wisdom can be brought to bear on complex topics… this process is not working in Australia. The subtleties of foreign policy and the elasticity of diplomacy are being supplanted by the phobias of a group of security agencies which are now effectively running the foreign policy of the country… The [US dominated] Australian media has been recreant in its duty to the public in failing to present a balanced picture of the rise and legitimacy and importance of China, preferring instead to traffic in side plays dressed up with the cosmetics of sedition and risk” [43].
Philipp Ivanov (CEO, Asia Society Australia) sensibly argues for a frank and multi-faceted government, business, educational institutional and community engagement with China (2019): “Today’s China is more global, more powerful, more willing to project its power, and more sensitive to criticism, and just as hard-working and dynamic as it has been for centuries. The big guy is making his presence felt, sometimes in ways we find admirable – in the global economy, science and technology – but also in ways that make us uncomfortable: on the streets of Hong Kong, the treatment of Uighurs in Xinjiang, and China choosing to silence or ban those critical of its government from visiting the country… Living with China will not be easy. But a co-ordinated and long-term policy development effort led not only by government but business, educational institutions and the community can safeguard Australian interests as China continues to grow in power and influence, while preserving – and if possible, expanding – the very real benefits gained through engagement” [44].
China can be praised for its huge technological and economic advances and for bringing 800 million people out of dire poverty. Thus annual avoidable deaths from deprivation total zero (0) in authoritarian China as compared to 4 million in “democratic” India [1]. However China must also be legitimately criticized for the death penalty, urban pollution, a one-party state, and the maltreatment of Uighurs and dissidents. Indeed the great successes of China derive from science and altruism which are based on finding the best models for reality and society, respectively. Just as genetic diversity was required for Darwinian natural selection, so diversity of ideas is required for selecting the best models for reality and society . One hopes that China will perceive this and find a way to maximize human rights, free expression and diversity of ideas.
Australia is in the grip of US-promoted Sinophobic hysteria that posits Chinese espionage, subversion, perversion and indeed military threat to Australia and the region. A detailed account of this threat thesis is “Silent invasion. China’s Influence in Australia” by Clive Hamilton (professor of public ethics at Charles Sturt University, Canberra) [45, 46], and this position has been taken up vigorously by the Mainstream Right. As a result there is greatly increased Sinophobia and criticism of China. Federal legislation has been passed (with anti-Chinese intent) that constrains foreign purchase of Australian real estate, other foreign commercial activity (e.g. by Huawei) , foreign donations to political parties and other foreign engagement in Australia, including collaborative research at Australian universities.
However US-inspired anti-Chinese xenophobia in Australia invites critical assessment of some good things that China is doing and some bad things that the US Alliance is doing i.e. those in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. With this background we can consider the present Sinophobic hysteria of US lackey and pro-Apartheid Israel Australia, and succinctly compare these China-bashing claims with actual realities in China versus realities in the US Alliance countries of Apartheid Israel, the US, the UK, France and Australia.
(1). Apartheid – China firmly opposes Apartheid but Australia and the US Alliance fervently support Apartheid Israel and hence Apartheid.
The UN describes Apartheid as a crime against Humanity and has promulgated an “International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the crime of Apartheid” [47, 48]. Nuclear terrorist, serial war criminal, genocidally racist, democracy-by-genocide Apartheid Israel determines that 72% of its now circa 50% Indigenous Palestinian subjects who are Occupied Palestinians cannot vote for the government ruling them i.e. egregious Apartheid [48-55]. The UN regards Apartheid as one of the worst of human rights violations [47, 48]. The 2016 UN Security Council Resolution 2334 condemning illegal Israeli settlements and other Israeli war crimes in the Occupied Palestinian Territories was passed unanimously (except for an Obama America abstention rather than veto) [56-58]. A former Coalition Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, disgracefully disputed the illegality of Zionist West Bank settlements [59] and the same position has now been adopted by the US Trump administration. Bishop notoriously threatened to withhold any Federal funding from Australians supporting Boycotts Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Apartheid Israel [60, 61] (noting that anti-racist Jews are prominent among those supporting BDS) {62].
China and the UK supported the UN Security Council Resolution 2334 but Trump America and US lackey Australia subsequently vehemently opposed the resolution, this making them number 1 and number 2, respectively, as supporters of Apartheid Israel and hence of race-based, neo-Nazi Apartheid [56-58]. Indeed Professor Ben Saul quotes a Coalition Foreign Minister boasting that Australia is more pro-Israel than 99 per cent of the world [61]. Political candidates who support Apartheid Israel and hence Apartheid are utterly unfit for public life and being a member of Parliament in a in a one-person-one-vote democracy.
(2). Climate change & intergenerational equity – China leads the world in renewables but Australia and US are among world leaders in climate change inaction.
The world is existentially threatened by nuclear weapons and man-made climate change [62-85]. The solutions have been succinctly stated by eminent physicist Stephen Hawking: “We see great peril if governments and societies do not take action now to render nuclear weapons obsolete and to prevent further climate change” [62, 63]. Australian MPs and media frequently describe China as the biggest greenhouse gas (GHG) polluter in the world but this must be considered on a per capita basis (“all men are created equal”).
Per capita GHG pollution (taking land use and CH4 into account and in units of tonnes CO2-equivalent per person per year) are as follows (2016 analysis): Australia (52.9; 116 if including its huge GHG-generating exports), United States (41.0), UK (21.5), ` Apartheid Israel (20.2), China (7.4), and India (2.1)[86, 87]. China is indeed the world’s biggest greenhouse gas (GHG) polluter but on a per capita ranks far below Australia, Apartheid Israel, and the US on a per capita basis [86, 87].
For some poor countries exporting GHG pollution is their only option. Accordingly, a fairer measure of climate criminality is per capita GHG pollution weighted for GDP per capita, and on this scale the scores are as follows: Qatar (924.3), United Arab Emirates (337.0), Australia (306.8; 672.8 if including its huge GHG-generating exports), Canada (234.0), New Zealand ( 218.7), United States ( 207.1), UK (92.9), Apartheid Israel (71.9), China (5.2) and India (0.3) [87]. Further, China leads the world in terms of renewable energy installation (728 GW power capacity as of 2018, twice that of the US) [88].
Australian politicians and media harp on China’s world leading GHG pollution, China’s use of Australian coal and iron ore, and Australia’s asserted global insignificance. However while Australia has only 0.3% of the world’s population it is responsible for 4.5% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution (with its Exported GHG pollution included ) [86, 87]. Further, Australia is among world leaders in 15 areas of climate criminality, specifically environmental vandalism driven by remorseless neoliberal greed, namely (1) annual per capita greenhouse gas pollution, (2) live methanogenic livestock exports, (3) natural gas exports, (4) recoverable shale gas reserves that can be accessed by hydraulic fracturing (fracking), (5) coal exports, (6) land clearing, deforestation and ecocide, (7) speciescide or species extinction, (8) coral reef destruction, (9) whale killing and extinction threat through global warming impacting on krill stocks, (10) terminal carbon pollution budget exceedance, (11) per capita Carbon Debt, (12) ultimately GHG generating iron ore exports, (13) climate change inaction, (14) climate genocide and approach towards omnicide and terracide, and (15) increasing GHG pollution despite Paris commitments to lower GHG pollution [89-91].
The German Climate Performance Index has the following rankings for climate change action (1 is best, 58 the worst): Sweden (1), India (6),and China (27), with the bottom rankings assigned to Australia (53), Iran (54), Korea (55), Chinese Taipei (56), Saudi Arabia (57), and the US (58) [92]. While China is leading the world in uptake of renewable energy, the US has withdrawn from the Paris Climate Agreement, and Australia is flouting the Paris Climate Agreement demand to decrease GHG pollution – Australia’s Domestic GHG pollution has been steadily increasing since the climate criminal Coalition came to power in 2013 [93, 94].
(3). Democracy – an altruistic Chinese One-Party State versus corrupt Australian and US neoliberal Corporatocracies.
At the most fundamental level of understanding, democracy means practical realization of the basic wishes of the people e.g. a long life, a long life for children and grandchildren, and modest but good employment, housing, health, education, opportunity and dignity. In bringing 800 million people out of dire poverty and through massive economic advances, One-Party State China has satisfied these basic, “democratic” wishes of the Chinese people. Annual avoidable deaths from deprivation total zero (0) for One-Party State China as compared to 4 million for ostensible “democracy” India in which these fundamental demands have not been met [1].
Australia has an excellent compulsory and preferential voting system. Australia claims to be a democracy but in reality is a One Percenter-, US- and Zionist- subverted and perverted Kleptocracy, Plutocracy, Murdochracy, Lobbyocracy, Corporatocracy and Dollarocracy in which Big Money purchases people, parties, policies, public perception of reality, votes, political power and thence more private profit. Indeed 70% of Australian daily newspaper readers have been captured by the right-wing US Murdoch media empire, and in the May 2019 Federal Election a right-wing billionaire, Clive Palmer, spent an extraordinary (for Australia) $60 million on nation-wide anti-Labor advertising (Labor lost). Australia has a democratic House of Representatives in which the members are elected from equal-sized electorates (noting that Indigenous Australians could only vote since 1967), but in the Senate the small state of Tasmania (population 0.5 million) has the same numbers of senators (12) as New South Wales (population 7.5 million) – no wonder former Australian Labor PM Paul Keating famously described the Senate as “unrepresentative swill”.
Now we all love democracy because it enables largely untrammelled dissent and 3-5 year changes in government without bloodshed and trauma. However perversion of democracy by the Big Money of One Percenters and big corporations (Corporatocracy) has had the consequence of cowardly political short termism. Thus scientists have been publicly warning of the threat of global warming from GHGs since the 1980s, but as set out in 2017 and 2019 analyses by Ripple et al. and co-signed by 15,000 and 11,000 scientists, respectively, trends in several dozen key areas over this period have been quasi-linear and heading in the wrong direction [64-67]. Under successive, anti-science, pro-coal, pro-gas, pro-oil, climate criminal Coalition Governments Australia’s Domestic GHG pollution has been increasing rather than decreasing as demanded by the 2015 Paris Agreement [93, 94].
Professor Jorge Randers (an author of the “The Limits to Growth in 1972, the Report to the Club of Rome”, has commented on this deadly political stasis and climate change inaction in democratic countries: “I am a climate pessimist. I believe (regrettably) that humanity will not meet the climate challenge with sufficient strength to save our grandchildren from living in a climate-damaged world. Humanity (regrettably) will not make what sacrifice is necessary today in order to ensure a better life for our ancestors forty years hence. The reason is that we are narrowly focused on maximum well-being in the short term. This short-termism is reflected in the systems of governance that we have chosen to dominate our lives: Both democracy and capitalism place more emphasis on costs today that on benefits forty years in the future… What can be done? Can democratic society be modified to solve the climate challenge? … I predict, it will be the Chinese who solve the global climate challenge – singlehandedly. Through a sequence of 5-year plans established with a clear long term vision, and executed without asking regular support from the Chinese. They are already well on the way, for the benefit of our grandchildren” [95].
US- and Zionist-subverted Mainstream Australia routinely and falsely describes Apartheid Israel as “the only democracy in the Middle East” when (a) there are other democracies in the Middle East (Cyprus, Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Lebanon) and (b) Apartheid Israel is only a democracy-by-genocide – of 14 million Palestinians, 7 million are Exiled and cannot step foot in what has been the land of their forebears for millennia, 5 million Occupied Palestinians have zero human rights and cannot vote for the government governing them (Apartheid), and about 2 million “lucky” Israeli Palestinians can vote but exist as Third Class citizens under over 60 race-based, neo-Nazi discriminatory laws that invite them to leave if they don’t like it [96, 97]. Pro-Apartheid Australia is second only to Trump America as a supporter of Apartheid Israel. In the sense of “democracy as satisfaction of fundamental popular wishes” , Apartheid Israel also fails because of the horrendous and deadly deprivation imposed on millions of Exiled Palestinians in Middle East refugee camps, 5 million Occupied Palestinians and indeed many of the 2 million “lucky” Palestinian Israelis. Thus the GDP per capita is $36,000 for Israelis as compared to a deadly $4,000 for Occupied Palestinians whose life expectancy is 10 years less than for Israelis. Each year about 5,000 Occupied Palestinians die from Israeli violence (550) or from Israeli-imposed deprivation (4,200) [51-55].
China is routinely and falsely lambasted by right-wing Australian politicians and Mainstream media as an authoritarian state that is not democratic. The falsehood of this claim is apparent when one considers that most basically democracy is about expression of the will of the people. Thus the most fundamental wishes of the people are surely to live, for their children and grandchildren to live, and for a modestly happy life for all with reasonable economic security, health and education. The Chinese system has brought about 800 million people out of the direst poverty and has been able to satisfy these fundamental desires for 1.4 billion people. China has a democratic system in this fundamental sense of satisfying the basic wishes of the people. Thus annual avoidable deaths from deprivation total zero (0) for China as compared to 4 million for the ostensible democracy India [1].
Australia is one of the world’s oldest parliamentary democracies, but since the US Government’s 9-11 false flag atrocity [2, 3] successive Australian governments have introduced over 70 anti-terrorism laws with bipartisan (Coalition and Labor) support that egregiously violate Australian civil rights to the extent that Australia has become a “pre-police state” [98-102]. In this neo-fascist and racist Australia the disabled, the sexually abused, poor and Indigenous Australians have a life expectancy about 10 years less than that of White Australians [37, 52]. While the GDP per capita is $55,000 for Australia, about the same number of Indigenous Australians die avoidably each year on a global comparative scale (4,200 out of an Aboriginal population of 0.7 million ) as do Indigenous Palestinians (4,200 out of an Occupied Palestinian population of 5 million) [37, 52]. In the sense of “democracy as satisfaction of fundamental wishes”, One Percenter-dominated Australia fails to deliver – 3 million Australians live in poverty and about 85,000 Australians die preventably each year from deadly “life-style” and “political choice” reasons. Ditto Corporatocracy and Lobbyocracy America where money buys votes, civil liberties have been grossly eroded, the voters have to choose between the Republican billionaires or the Democrat billionaires, and 1.7 million Americans die preventably every year from “lifestyle’ or “political choice” reasons.
(4). Free speech – China censors and bans Google but Google censors and holocaust-ignoring US Alliance countries ban “effective free speech”.
Free speech is vital for science, scholarship and for an informed public that is vital for democracy (whether of the One Percenter-dominated parliamentary democracy kind as in Australia or the more general “satisfaction of fundamental popular wishes” kind as in China and Cuba). Indeed just as genetic diversity is required for natural selection and evolution of better adapted organisms, so diversity of ideas is required for societal selection of more useful “memes” or ideas.
China evidently restricts free speech by (a) persecuting and imprisoning dissidents, (b) intimidation as a result of such persecution of dissidents, and (c) other censorship . This is a mistake and one hopes that modern China, having made such spectacular advances (e.g. peace and security, equal rights for women, population control, taking 800 million people out of dire and deadly poverty, world leading adoption of renewable energy, fantastic technological and economic advances, and abolition of avoidable mortality from deprivation), will also rapidly achieve major progress in the areas of human rights and free speech..
MPs and other public commentators in general in US lackey Australia are torn between supporting the anti-China rhetoric and actions of America or watching their tongues (self-censorship) because China is Australia’s biggest trading partner. Indeed 2 right-wing, China-bashing MPs have recently been banned from entry to China for criticizing human rights abuses in China [103]. However Australian MPs and other commentators while legitimately criticizing the widely reported detention of 1 million Uighurs in Chinese re-education camps , they have absolutely nothing to say about the highly abusive, over 50 year imprisonment by Apartheid Israel of (presently) 5 million Occupied Palestinians without charge or trial in the Gaza Concentration Camp (2 million) or in West Bank ghettoes (3 million) [49-55, 104].
Just as China censors over its Uighur re-education policies (evidently aimed at stopping a potentially very bloody Uighur independence or separatist movement), so Mainstream Australian heavily censors legitimate criticism of past and present genocidal crimes of the US, UK and Apartheid Israel. Thus in the 1942-1945 WW2 Bengali Holocaust the British with Australian complicity deliberately starved 6-7 million Indians to death for strategic reasons in Bengal and the neighbouring provinces of Assam, Bihar and Orissa [105-107], but Searches of the ABC (Australia’s mendacious and taxpayer-funded equivalent of the UK BBC) for the terms “Bengali Holocaust” or “Indian Holocaust” yield zero (0) results. Similarly, 35 million Chinese died in the WW2 Chinese Holocaust under the Japanese (1937-1945) [108, 109] , but a Search of the ABC for “Chinese Holocaust “ again yields zero (0) results. The ongoing Palestinian Genocide (2.2 million Palestinian deaths from violence, 0.1 million, or from imposed deprivation, 2.1 million, since the British invasion of the Middle East in 1914) [51] is similarly unreported – a Search for the term “Palestinian Genocide” yields zero (0) results. Similarly, deaths from violence or imposed deprivation total 4.6 million (1990-2011 Iraqi Genocide and Iraqi Holocaust), 7.0 million (2001 onwards Afghan Genocide and Afghan Holocaust ) and 32 million (the ongoing, post-9-11 Muslim Genocide and Muslim Holocaust since the US Government’s 9-11 false flag atrocity) [2, 3, 18, 19, 110], all atrocities in which a serial war criminal and deeply racist Australia has been involved. Yet ABC Searches for the terms “Iraqi Genocide”, “Afghan Genocide”, “Muslim Genocide” and “US did 9-11”all yield zero (0) results.
In contrast, an ABC Search for “The Holocaust” – synonymous in the West for the WW2 Jewish Holocaust (5-6 million Jews killed by violence or deprivation and to the near-total exclusion of the WW2 European Holocaust (30 million Slavs, Jews and Roma killed, 1941-1945) – yields 375 results. An ABC Search for “Aboriginal Genocide” actually yields 3 results but none actually immediately mention the Australian Aboriginal Genocide, the 231-year atrocity in which about 2 million Indigenous Australians were killed by violence (0.1 million) or through imposed dispossession, deprivation and introduced disease [37].
Google has been effectively banned in China by the Great Firewall [111]. However Google itself is engaged in massive censorship of progressive media sites so that items ranking high on Page 1 of a Bing Search are totally “disappeared” or “effectively disappeared” by the Google Robot (noting that 92% and 95% of Google Searches stop after page 1 and page 2, respectively ) [112]. Numerous examples can be given but, for example, the carefully documenting website “Climate Genocide” is about the acute and existential threat of climate change to Humanity and the Biosphere [72]. Whereas a Bing Search for “Climate Genocide” yields a website of this name as result #2 on page #1, a Google Search fails to find the site on exhaustive searching – however repeating “the [Google] search with omitted results included” finally finds this important site as item #6 on page #1. For the Neocon American and Zionist Imperialist (NAZI)-subverted Western Mainstream presstitutes, the greater the atrocity the more assiduously do they attempt to bury it.
(5). Human rights and freedom from child abuse – China “little emperor syndrome” versus horrendous child abuse in the US, Australia and Apartheid Israel.
White Australian journalists, politicians and commentators legitimately complain about human rights abuses in China e.g. censorship, the death penalty (as in the US), constraints on freedom of speech, the one-party system, maltreatment of dissidents, and mass detention of Uighurs. However pro-Apartheid Australia should also examine what is happening to the human rights abuse of children within the US, Australia, in Apartheid Israel and in the Occupied Palestinian Territories in comparison with treatment of children in China.
In China the former one-child policy addressed the urgent and indeed global problem of over-population in the interests of future generations. Several recent reports collectively endorsed by thousands of expert scientists have warned the world that time is running out to save Humanity and the Biosphere from further catastrophic climate change and further massive biodiversity loss [5-7, 12]. Massive harm has already occurred due to continuing carbon pollution, population growth and economic growth and it is clear that zero growth in these areas is insufficient . Thus using coral reefs as a canary in the mine, coral experts have determined that world coral reefs started dying when CO2 reached 320 ppm, at which time (1963) the human population was 3.3 billion or about half of that today (7.4 billion). There must be negative carbon pollution (atmospheric CO2 draw-down to 300 ppm CO2), negative population growth (population decline by about 50%), and negative economic growth (degrowth by about 50% ) to halt and reverse this worsening disaster [113].
The former one-child policy of China has meant especially kind treatment of children by parents and grandparents (the “little emperor syndrome”)[114]. Children in China as in other countries are schooled in “patriotism” but have the benefit of a non-religious education system which means that they escape the horrendous religion-based intellectual child abuse that is widespread in US Alliance countries. Thus only 15% of Americans have been educated to accept the Darwinian Theory of Natural Selection whereas the remainder have been evilly brainwashed into believing unsubstantiated religious fairy tales [115, 116]. The same evil of intellectual child abuse is massive in Australia, the UK and Apartheid Israel. About 25% of Australian children suffer child sexual abuse as compared to 18% of American children and 17% of Apartheid Israeli children [117]. Nearly 50% of Apartheid Israeli children suffer from physical, sexual or emotional abuse [117-119]. Apartheid Israel has a shocking record of over 70 years of horrendous maltreatment of Indigenous Palestinians who presently number 14 million and of whom about 50% are children. 5 million Occupied Palestinians (half of them children, three quarters women and children) continue to be indefinitely imprisoned without charge or trial and deprived of all human rights in West Bank ghettoes (3 million) or in the blockaded, shelled, rocketed and bombed Gaza Concentration Camp (2 million) [120]. Apartheid Israel abusively imprisons, abuses, tortures and blackmails Palestinian children in Israeli prisons, attempting by these evil means to force them to spy on friends and relatives [121].
(6). Human rights and the right to life – 800 million Chinese out of deadly poverty versus US Alliance passive mass murder of Muslims.
The great China success of bringing 800 million people out of poverty was associated with a huge decrease in infant mortality (in under-5 infant deaths per 1,000 live births) from 195 (1950) to 12 (2017). The “GDP per capita” (2017) and “infant mortality per thousand live births” (2017) are $500 and 94.8 (US Alliance-occupied Somalia), $1,900 and 110.6 (US- and Australia-occupied Afghanistan), $4,300 and 15.4 (Occupied Palestinian Territories ), $16,600 and 12 (China), $49,900 and 4.3 (Australia), $43,600 and 4.3 (UK), $59,500 0.055 and 5.8 (US), and $36,200 and 3.4 (Apartheid Israel) [115, 116]. Annual avoidable deaths from deprivation total 110,000, 92,000 and 4,200 in Occupied Somalia, Occupied Afghanistan, and Occupied Palestine, respectively, but total zero in China, Australia, the UK and the US [1]. The horrendous poverty, annual infant deaths and annual avoidable deaths from deprivation in Occupied Somalia, Occupied Afghanistan and other countries invaded by the US Alliance is evidence of war criminal violation by the US Alliance of Articles 55 and 56 of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War that unequivocally state that the Occupier must supply its Subjects with life-sustaining food and medical services “to the fullest extent of the means available to it” [20, 21].
The most fundamental human right is the right to life. While legitimately criticized for the one party state, the death penalty, censorship, urban air pollution and harsh treatment of dissidents, China has been hugely successful in radically reducing infant mortality and maternal mortality in Tibet and in China as a whole. In stark contrast, the war criminal US Alliance occupation of neighbouring Afghanistan continues to be associated with an under-1 infant mortality and maternal mortality incidence that is 7 times higher and 4-12 times higher, respectively, than that in Tibet – evidence of gross violation of the Geneva Convention and the UN Genocide Convention by the US Alliance including Australia [20, 21].
While China can be and must be properly criticized over human rights issues (“power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”) , it has respected the fundamental right to life of its subjects by bringing 800 million people out of poverty with attendant huge decreases in infant mortality, maternal mortality and avoidable deaths from deprivation. In stark contrast, the rich and serial war criminal US Alliance, the US, UK, Apartheid Israel and Australia have been involved for decades in passive mass murder of their overseas Muslim subjects in gross violation of the Geneva Convention [1].
(7). Human rights and the right to live peaceably in your own country – observed by China but grossly violated by the genocidal US Alliance.
China is heavily criticized in the West for the rigor of its application of its laws and sovereignty in Xinjiang and Tibet, regions that were incorporated into China about 900 years ago at roughly the same time as the English were variously conquering the Celtic entities of Cornwall, Wales, Scotland and Ireland [1, 124-126]. Realistically, China is no more going to surrender these economically and strategically vital regions than the US is going to surrender Alaska, ethnically cleansed Diego Garcia, or ethnically cleansed Guantanamo. Indeed the US subverts all countries in the world , has nearly 800 military bases located in over 70 countries [127], and has invaded over 70 countries (over 50 since WW2) [1, 128-130]. By way of example, in the Korean War the US killed 28% of the North Korean population [131]. There are over 70 million refugees in the world today and they are mostly derive from US Alliance wars on non-European and Muslim countries.
US Alliance, US-, UK-, Australia- and Canada- backed Apartheid Israel has ethnically cleansed 90% of Palestine. Of 14 million Indigenous Palestinians, 7 million Exiled Palestinians are violently excluded from the land continuously inhabited by their forebears for thousands of years, 5 million Occupied Palestinians are excluded from all human rights and are highly abusively confined under Israeli guns to West Bank ghettoes (3 million) or to the blockaded and bombed Gaza Concentration Camp (2 million) , and nearly 2 million “lucky” Palestinian Israelis are Third Class citizens of Apartheid Israel under over 60 Nazi-style, race-based laws [48-55, 96, 97].
As UK lackeys or US lackeys Australians have invaded 85 countries as compared to the British 193 countries, France 82, the US 72 (52 after WW2), Germany 39, Japan 30, Russia 25, Canada 25, Apartheid Israel 12 and China 2 [128, 129, 132-134]. Of these 85 invasions by Australians about 30 have been genocidal [38]. In the last millennium the English have invaded 193 countries (nearly every member of the present UN) and many of these invasions have been genocidal. Thus from a qualitative perspective the UK-imposed Australian Aboriginal Genocide was the worst in human history (2 million deaths from violence, 0.1 million, or from imposed deprivation and disease, and of 350-750 unique languages and dialects in in 1788 only 150 survive today and of these all but 20 are endangered) [37]. However from a quantitative perspective the 2 century British-imposed Indian Holocaust was the world’s worst genocide (1,800 million Indian deaths from imposed deprivation [135].
(8). International rules-based order – largely observed by China but grossly violated by US Alliance, Apartheid Israel and US lackey Australia.
US lackey Australia echoes the US position that Chinese island building on uninhabited atolls in the South China Sea is illegal and against the “International rules-based order”. Of course the South China Sea is named thus because it is off the southern coast of China and not off the coast of California or Australia. The serial war criminal US Alliance absurdly argues that the Chinese are threatening commerce in this region, commerce that is overwhelmingly dominated by Chinese commerce – is China going to destroy its own commerce? Iranian-origin Australian senator Sam Dastyari was forced to resign from the Australian Parliament for receiving gratuities from the Chinese and expressing an opinion on the South China Sea sympathetic to that of China and contrary to the official line laid down in US lackey Australia by the serial war criminal Americans [136].
The US Alliance, including US lackey Australia, fervently supports a nuclear terrorist, racist Zionist-run, genocidally racist, serial invader, serial war criminal, democracy-by-genocide Apartheid Israel that grossly violates the following key elements of International law: the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War [20], International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the crime of Apartheid [47], Convention on the Rights of the Child [137], UN Charter [138], UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People [139], Universal Declaration of Human Rights [140], Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees [141], and the UN Genocide Convention [141]. With the fervent support of the US Alliance including US lackey Australia, Apartheid Israeli exceptionalism means that it simply ignores resolutions and determinations of the UN General Assembly, the UN Security Council (notably and most recently UNSC Resolution 2334) , the UN Human Rights Council, the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.
US lackey Australia and the other democratic and European US Alliance countries legitimately criticize China as an authoritarian , one-party state but ignore the reality that in fervently supporting Apartheid Israel they are fervently supporting the abomination of Apartheid that is utterly condemned by the UN as a crime against Humanity [47].
(9). Nuclear weapons.
Eminent physicist Stephen Hawking has bluntly declared “We see great peril if governments and societies do not take action now to render nuclear weapons obsolete and to prevent further climate change” [62, 63]. The upper estimates of stored nuclear weapons are as follows: US (7,315), Russia (8,000), Apartheid Israel (400), France (300), UK (250), China (250), Pakistan (120), India (100), and North Korea (circa 10). India , Pakistan, Apartheid Israel and North Korea have not ratified the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) [75].
One can well understand why China believes it needs a nuclear deterrent to genocidal American militarism. In short, China has suffered 3 centuries of devastation from imperialist invaders. From the mid-18th century onwards India and China (that had both led the world economically in the 18th century with each the contributing about a quarter of world GDP [143]) were progressively and rapidly devastated by genocidal European imperialism. Thus India’s percentage of world GDP was 24% (1750), 17% (1820), 5% (1950) and 7% (2008), and China’s percentage of world GDP was 22% (1700), 33% (1820), 5% (1950) and 18% (2008) [143, 144]. The economic strangulation of India and China was deadly – thus 1,800 million Indians died avoidably from deprivation under the British (1757-1847) [135], 20-100 million Chinese died from violence and deprivation during the British-imposed Opium Wars and the linked Tai Ping Rebellion [1], and 35 million Chinese died in the WW2 Chinese Holocaust under the Japanese (1957-1945) [108, 109]. The mass starvation of about 30 million people in China during the Great Leap Forward (1958-1962) [145] is attributed in the complicit West to policy failures by Mao Zedong but the active military and economic hostility of the US Alliance and slow recovery from imperialist devastation were clearly also major contributors. I.F. Stone’s brilliant “The Secret History of the Korean War” exposes a hidden US strategy of engineering an excuse for nuclear devastation of China and the Soviet Union [146]. Likewise Christopher Hitchens’ “The Trial of Henry Kissinger” details the real US nuclear threat to India in 1971 when India was forced to intervene to stop the Pakistan-imposed Bangladeshi Holocaust (Bengali Holocaust, Bengali Genocide) [147]. The US destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki with nuclear weapons, threatens to use nuclear weapons, and indeed has recently threatened North Korea and Iran with total annihilation.
Australia is critically involved in US nuclear terrorism through electronic spying bases (notably Pine Gap) , the hosting of nuclear weapons-carrying US warships and its degenerate opposition to a nuclear weapons ban [40, 75]. Australia was also involved in UK nuclear terrorism through the testing of British nuclear weapons and delivery systems [40] . The mendacious and traitorous US lackeys running Australia (“nutters’ according to former PM Paul Keating [42, 43]) have made Australia a key nuclear target in any tit-for-tat escalating nuclear exchange. Thus after a limited US first strike on a nuclear-armed opponent, any escalating nuclear response would initially target Australia rather than US bases or cities.
Apartheid Israel has up to 400 nuclear warheads together with missile delivery systems including Germany-supplied submarines. Zionist domination of US foreign policy dates from Israeli acquisition of nuclear weapons (with US and French assistance) in 1967. Indeed Apartheid Israel was prepared to use nuclear weapons on a “demonstration basis” when it invaded all of its neighbours in 1967 (Israeli Brigadier General Itzhak Yaakov was in charge of this program but was imprisoned for revealing the existence of this secret plan) [148, 149]. While non-nuclear weapons Iran is subject to deadly sanctions by the US [150], the Zionist-subverted Mainstream media don’t breathe a word about Apartheid Israeli nuclear weapons. The World cannot afford to have any nuclear weapons – and certainly not 400 – in the hands of a mere several million genocidally racist Zionist psychopaths.
(10). Scholarly research – Sinophobic Australia and the Zionist-subverted US constrain university research in the interests of foreign nuclear terrorist powers.
China and India were a world leaders in science and technology before the Enlightenment and liberalism paradoxically unleashed European high technology wars on these countries in the 18th century [1]. In my biochemical scientific career I had little occasion to refer to Chinese or Indian researchers but this changed in the 1990s as Chinese and Indian students flocked to Western universities and science in China and India escalated. Thus, for example, the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Professor Youyou Tu for her key role in the discovery of the extremely important anti-malarial natural product artemisinin that I necessarily referred to in my encyclopaedic 2003 book “Biochemical Targets of Plant Bioactive Compounds” [151].
The international and collaborative scientific culture is one of the great outcomes of the Enlightenment but is now being constrained through the militarization and politicization of academic research by nuclear terrorists rogue states, notable the US and Apartheid Israel. Thus US lackey Australia passed the Australia-United States Defence Trade Cooperation Treaty-related Defence Trade Controls Bill that makes it an offence punishable by 10 years in prison for an academic without a permit to inform non-Australians (in conversation, tutorials, lectures, conference papers, scientific papers etc) about numerous technologies and thousands of chemicals and organisms listed in a presently circa 400-page Defence and Strategic Goods List [152, 153]. The Australian Review has commented: “Since 1998 Chinese collaboration has soared from zero to 15 per cent of Australian scientific research” [154]. However, impelled by the present hysterical Sinophobia, the present US lackey Australian Coalition Government has set out “Guidelines to counter foreign interference in the Australian university sector” that is aimed squarely at China to the detriment of the international collaborative scientific research ethos [155]. This all adds to a Sinophobic and McCarthyist ambience in Australia (indeed I used to say “China is getting more like Australia and Australia is getting more like China”). It also adds to massive censorship and self-censorship in Australian universities that have become increasingly “corporate” and driven by censorial “corporate brand” considerations [156]. Of course the current Sinophobia in Australia masks massive military-related collaborative research involving Australia and the nuclear terrorist and serial war criminal rogue states of Apartheid Israel [157, 158 ] and the US [152, 153].
The incoming Coalition Government suggested in 2013 that it would stop Federal funding of people supporting Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Apartheid Israel [159], noting that leading figures in the BDS movement are anti-racist Jewish scholars and writers [61, 160]. The degenerate , pro-Apartheid Trump Administration is reported to be moving to withhold Federal funding by executive order from universities deemed insufficiently supportive of Apartheid Israel e.g. by permitting BDS activism on campus [161, 162]. Indeed a significant reason (in addition to the overwhelming pro-Brexit reason) for Jeremy Corbyn’s unpopularity and the Labour loss in the UK elections was the utterly false defamation by the Zionists, Mainstream media and Tories of anti-racist Jeremy Corbyn, the anti-racist Labour Party and a large body of anti-racist Jewish humanitarians as “anti-semitic” simply because they support human rights for Palestinians. Of course (a) those falsely defaming anti-racist Jews are most certainly racists and anti-Jewish anti-Semites, (b) those opposing human rights for Palestinians are most certainly racists and anti-Arab anti-Semites, and (c) false defamation of anti-racist Jews ultimately led to the WW2 Jewish Holocaust (5-6 million Jews killed by the Nazis) just as denial of Palestinian human rights led to the ongoing Palestinians Genocide (90% of Palestine ethnically cleansed with more adumbrated and 2.2 million Palestinian deaths from violence, 0.1 million, or from imposed deprivation, 2.1 million, since the UK invasion of the Middle East in 1914).
(11). Subversion and security threat – minimal Chinese influence despite massive trade versus massive subversion of Australia by the US, UK, Apartheid Israel and traitorous Israel Lobby.
“Silent invasion. China’s Influence in Australia” by the otherwise very progressive and admirable Professor Clive Hamilton (professor of public ethics at Charles Sturt University, Canberra) explores increasing Chinese influence in Australia but does so in an excited, polemical fashion that crosses the boundary between critical academic discourse and the xenophobia, paranoia, jingoism and Sinophobia that are now dominant in a China-bashing Australia. Of course Australia should be concerned about its sovereignty and security but China is now Australia’s biggest trading partner and it is quite expected for legitimate Chinese influence to increase in Lobbyocracy and Corporatocracy Australia, the more so as the world becomes increasingly disenchanted with racism, bullying and serial genocidal violence from Australia’s military ally, Zionist-subverted America [45, 46]. The Australian Government has reacted to the Sinophobia of the US-dominated Australian Mainstream media by (sensibly) legislating for abolition of foreign political donations and prohibition of foreign purchase of old housing while conversely smearing Chinese Australians, implicitly smearing Australians seeking engagement with China, excluding involvements of a major Chinese telecommunications company (Huawei) and bullying universities over research collaborations with China.
Former Palestinian Ambassador, Ali Kazak: “There is nothing ASIO [Australian Security and Intelligence Organization] suggests any Chinese lobby of doing that the Israeli lobby has not been doing for over 30 years. Any Chinese lobby is child’s play in contrast to the well-established Israeli lobby. No country has more interfered, spied and endangered Australia’s security, sovereignty and the integrity of its national institutions than Israel and its powerful lobby. By their own admission, the lobby receives funds from Israeli institutions, coordinates and cooperates with the Israeli government and embassy, and has “established a long tradition of strong public advocacy on behalf of Israel” to shape the opinion of members of the Australian public, media organisations and government officials in order to advance [Apartheid] Israel’s own political objectives” [163]. Indeed the very absence of any public discussion of the massive Zionist, Israeli, UK and US subversion of Australia is evidence of the massive degree of that subversion (see [163-167]).
A huge book could be written about Zionist, Israeli, UK and US subversion of Australia but it would never be published. Indeed any new revelations about such subversion involving Australian Intelligence operations would result in up to 10 years in prison. Brian Toohey’s excellent book “Secret. The making of Australia’s security state” [40] details secret dealings of Australia with the UK and US but only mentions Apartheid Israel once: “Israel is the only country to have successfully demanded that it be allowed to operate key [weapons] systems independently of the US” (page 190 [40]). Australia passed legislation mandating acquisition of all metadata (who speaks to whom and when) with acquisition of what they actually say requiring a judge’s permission. However Australia belongs to the White Anglosphere 5-eyes intelligence-sharing club (the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) and the US shares such bulk intelligence information on Australians with nuclear terrorist, serial war criminal Apartheid Israel [168].
The result of this is that there is comprehensive silence by Australian media about Zionist and Apartheid Israeli subversion of Australia. Thus 2 patriotic and anti-racist Jewish Australians have written about the pro-Zionist-led coup that removed PM Kevin Rudd in 2010 [169, 170] but this is resolutely ignored by Australian media . Indeed the US- and UK-complicit, CIA-backed coup that removed the progressive Whitlam Government in 1975 (see John Pilger [171]) is presented by Mainstream media as a democratically-endorsed action to save the Australian economy from asserted mismanagement. The profound legacy of the 1975 Coup was blind, cowardly, traitorous and bipartisan agreement on “All the way with the USA” from the Liberal Party-National Party Coalition and the Labor Party (aka the Lib-Labs).
Meanwhile the Cold War slogan of “Reds under the bed” has returned with “Chinese under the bed”, Sinophobia and China-bashing in a xenophobic, fearful and pre-police state Australia that will swallow anything about the dreaded Chinese that is sourced to US lackey Australian Intelligence [45, 46, 164, 172-175]. While ailing Australian and world hero Julian Assange has been deserted by the US lackey Lib-Labs, his WikiLeaks news organization revealed that former PM Rudd had suggested war with China to Hillary Clinton if China did not play ball: “[Help integrate China] while also preparing to deploy force if everything goes wrong” [176, 177], and that former Australian Ambassador to the US, Kim Beazley, promised that Australian forces would be involved in the event of a US war on China [41, 178]. In contrast, back in the 1950s PM Robert “Pig Iron Bob” Menzies (who had permitted pig iron exports to Japan when it was devastating China) had declared that Australia would have nothing to do with a US war on China over Taiwan [41] .
The bottom line is that China is Australia’s biggest trading partner and without compromising any of its asserted pro-human rights values, Australia should engage with China in a frank, informed, polite and sensible fashion, as advised by former Coalition PM Malcolm Fraser [41] and former Labor PM Kevin Rudd [179].
(12). Racism – China opposes Apartheid and has only invaded 2 countries in 900 years whereas the US Alliance is pro-Apartheid and has invaded numerous countries.
As outlined in (1) Apartheid above, China is implacably opposed to Apartheid whereas Australia, the US, UK, France, Canada and Australia are fervently pro-Apartheid Israel and hence fervently pro-Apartheid. Apartheid is regarded by the UN as a crime against Humanity [47].
War is the penultimate expression of racism and genocide is the ultimate in racism. Xinjiang and Tibet were incorporated into China about 900 years ago at roughly the same time as the English were variously conquering the Celtic entities of Cornwall, Wales, Scotland and Ireland [1]. Border spats with India and Vietnam aside, China has effectively only invaded 2 countries in a millennium, a remarkable record noted by former Australian Labor PM Kevin Rudd [179]. In stark contrast, in a mere 230 years as UK or US lackeys Australians have invaded 85 countries (with 30 of these invasions being genocidal [38]), as compared to the British 193, France 82, the US 72 (52 after WW2), Germany 39, Japan 30, Russia 25, Canada 25, Apartheid Israel 12 and China 2 [128, 129, 132-134].
(13). South China Sea.
The South China Sea is called thus because it is off the coast of South China and not off the coast of California or Australia. Setting aside arguments about the legality or otherwise of China’s island building on uninhabited coral atolls, China clearly has a major security threat from an exceptionalist, serial invader and nuclear terrorist America that is surrounding China in a war-like fashion and threatens the huge commerce to and from China via the South China Sea. [180]. China has been engaged in ship-borne trade and fishing in the South China Sea for thousands of years whereas the invasion-, colonization- and genocide-based entities of the USA and Australia date back to a little over 2 centuries [1] (see also (14)”Territorial occupation of uninhabited areas”).
(14). Territorial occupation of uninhabited areas.
China has built islands on uninhabited coral reefs in the South China Sea to protect China and its gigantic ship-borne commerce from an aggressive, serial war criminal and nuclear terrorist US Alliance. With the Arctic sea ice melting, and the Northwest Passage opening up, the exceptionalist and endlessly bullying US rejects Canada’s claim to the passage [181]. Australia lays claim to about 40% of the uninhabited continent of Antarctica in a claim dating back to the British Empire in 1841 and recognized only by New Zealand, the UK, France, and Norway [182].
(15). Territorial occupation of inhabited areas- China stay home policy versus ongoing European US Alliance imperialism.
Xinjiang and Tibet were incorporated into China about 900 years ago at roughly the same time as the English were variously conquering the Celtic entities of Cornwall, Wales, Scotland and Ireland [1]. As UK or US lackeys Australians have invaded 85 countries (with 30 of these invasions being genocidal [38]), as compared to the British 193 countries, France 82, the US 72 (52 after WW2), Germany 39, Japan 30, Russia 25, Canada 25, Apartheid Israel 12 and China 2 [1, 38, 128, 129, 132-134].
The US has about 800 military bases in over 70 countries [127]. The US Alliance is presently violently occupying Somalia and Afghanistan, and is engaged in warfare in 20 countries. US lackey Australia is involved in Occupied Somalia and Occupied Afghanistan, and via the joint Australia-US electronic spying base at Pine Gap in Central Australia targets illegal and war criminal US drone strikes in 7 countries. Apartheid Israel occupies the territory of 4 countries (Palestine, Libya, Syria and Jordan), and routinely bombs Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and the Gaza Concentration Camp.
Mighty China has only 1 overseas military base, specifically in Djibouti which one supposes is to help ensure the safety of its huge trade with Europe via the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. China’s last military action was a brief border spat with Vietnam in 1979, 40 years ago [1].
(16). Treatment of protesters – none killed by police in Hong Kong protests versus 250 Palestinians killed and 20,000 wounded in ongoing Gaza Concentration Camp massacres by Apartheid Israel.
This year marked the 30th anniversary of the massacre of about 3,000 protesters in Beijing (deliberately not named in this article in an attempt to evade automatic, robot-based, Chinese censorship of this atrocity as reported by the Australian ABC). However while, for example, British and Australian media report the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh Massacre by the British in Amritsar (400 Sikhs killed) [183] and the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre by South African security forces (69 Africans killed )[184, 185], there is an almost complete British and Australian censorship of the 1942-1945 Bengali Holocaust (WW2 Bengal Famine, WW2 Indian Holocaust) in which the British with Australian complicity deliberately starved 6-7 million Indians to death in Bengal, Orissa, Bihar and Assam for strategic reasons (Australia was complicit through withholding food from its huge wartime grain stocks from starving India that provided 2.4 million soldiers towards the Allied war effort) [105-107]. Racist White Australia has a thing about Asians and almost completely censors out the WW2 Chinese Holocaust (35 million Chinese killed under the Japanese, 1937-1945) [108, 109].
However things have changed for the better by 2019. Thus in the huge , repeated, million-strong democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong over the last 6 months only 2 people have been killed (none by the police) [186]. In stark contrast, according to the Palestine Chronicle (January 2019): “The Great March for Return began on March 30 [2018]. Since then, over 255 [unarmed] Palestinians have been killed and over 20,000 injured“ [187]. Yet an anti-Arab anti-Semitic and US lackey Australia remains second only Trump America as a supporter of serial war criminal Apartheid Israel, and the cowardly, racist, mendacious and Zionist-subverted Australian ABC (the taxpayer-funded equivalent of the UK BBC) overwhelmingly ignores the increasingly desperate plight of the Palestinians while (quite properly) giving nightly coverage of the Hong Kong protests. Palestinian deaths from violence or imposed deprivation in the ongoing Palestinian Genocide total 2.2 million [51], this now being of the same order of magnitude as deaths in the WW2 Jewish Holocaust (5-6 million Jews killed through violence or imposed by the Nazis) [188, 189]. The crimes of Apartheid Israel exceed those of Apartheid South Africa [184] and likewise demand comprehensive Boycotts and Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Apartheid Israel and all its supporters until a secular, unitary state is achieved as in post-Apartheid South Africa.
(17). War and invasion of other countries – unlike the serial war criminal US, UK, US Alliance and Australia, China has been remarkably peaceful and non-aggressive internationally.
To reiterate, Xinjiang and Tibet were incorporated into China about 900 years ago at roughly the same time as the English were variously conquering the Celtic entities of Cornwall, Wales, Scotland and Ireland [1]. As UK or US lackeys Australians have invaded 85 countries (with 30 of these invasions being genocidal [38]), as compared to the British 193 countries, France 82, the US 72 (52 after WW2), Germany 39, Japan 30, Russia 25, Canada 25, Apartheid Israel 12 and China 2 [1, 38, 128, 129, 132-134]. China has a millennial record of extraordinary peacefulness and non-aggression in relation to other countries.
Final comments.
This essay has been written in attempt to balance the Sinophobic hysteria coming from Australia and the US. No doubt China as a major power plays hard in its own interests at home and abroad. China raises major human rights concerns , specifically in relation to an being authoritarian one party state, abuse of police powers (“power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”), the death penalty, maltreatment of dissidents, censorship, constraints on free speech, and the short-term mass imprisonment of a reported 1 million Uighurs in re-education camps. However China must be given great praise for bringing 800 million people out of poverty, massive improvements in health, education, economic security and human dignity, opposition to Apartheid, a remarkable historical record of non-aggression, and a world-leading uptake in renewable energy.
In contrast, US lackey Australia, the US and the European US Alliance countries are ostensibly libertarian in comparison with China but manage to minimize effective free speech in the interests of their neoliberal One Percenter rulers, and have appalling records of war criminal violence against scores of impoverished countries that reached genocidal depths in the 21st century and continue unabated. Zionist-subverted Australia is second only to Zionist-subverted Trump America as a supporter of nuclear terrorist, racist Zionist-run, serial war criminal, democracy-by-genocide Apartheid Israel that denies all human rights for its 5 million horribly abused and impoverished Occupied Palestinian subjects. People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. Please tell everyone you can.
References.
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[109]. “Backgrounder: China ’s WWII contributions in figures”, New China, 3 September 2015: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2015-09/03/c_134582291.htm .
[110]. “Iraqi Holocaust, Iraqi Genocide”: http://sites.google.com/site/iraqiholocaustiraqigenocide/ “Iraqi Genocide Iraqi Holocaust”: .
[111]. “Great Firewall”, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Firewall .
[112]. Jessica Lee, “No. 1 position in Google gets 33% of search traffic [study]”, Search Engine Watch, 20 June 2013: https://www.searchenginewatch.com/2013/06/20/no-1-position-in-google-gets-33-of-search-traffic-study/ .
[113]. Gideon Polya, “How much negative carbon emissions, negative population growth & negative economic growth is needed to save planet?”, Countercurrents, 28 November 2018: https://countercurrents.org/2018/11/how-much-negative-carbon-emissions-negative-population-growth-negative-economic-growth-is-needed-to-save-planet .
[114]. “Little emperor syndrome”, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_emperor_syndrome .
[115]. Gideon Polya, “Review: “Homo Deus” by Yuval Hariri – Palestinian Genocide & Climate Genocide ignored”, Countercurrents, 6 November 2019: https://countercurrents.org/2019/11/review-homo-deus-by-yuval-harari-palestinian-genocide-climate-genocide-ignored .
[116]. Yuval Noah Harari, “Homo Deus. A brief history of tomorrow”, Vintage, London, 2017.
[117]. Gideon Polya, “Horrendous Pro-Zionist, Zionist And Apartheid Israeli Child Abuse Exposed”, Countercurrents, 21 April, 2014: https://www.countercurrents.org/polya210414.htm .
[118]. Yarden Skop, “Nearly half of Israel ‘s children suffer physical, sexual or emotional abuse, study finds”, Haaretz, 13 November 2013: http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.557668 .
[119]. Danielle Ziri, “Child abuse more prevalent than ever, report shows”, The Jerusalem Post, 11 December 2013: http://www.jpost.com/National-News/Child-abuse-more-prevalent-than-ever-report-shows-331434 .
[120]. “Gaza Concentration Camp”: https://sites.google.com/site/palestiniangenocide/gaza-concentration .
[121]. John Lyons, Janine Cohen and Sylvie Le Clezio , “Stone cold justice”, ABC TV Four Corners, 24 February 2014: http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2014/02/10/3939266.htm .
[122]. “List of countries by GDP (nominal) per capita”, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)_per_capita .
[123]. “List of countries by infant and under-5 mortality rates”, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_infant_and_under-five_mortality_rates .
[124]. Simon Schama, “A History of Britain”, BBC, 2001.
[125]. “Xinjiang”, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinjiang .
[126]. “Tibet”, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibet .
[127]. David Vine, “Where in the world is the U.S. military?”, Politico, July/August 2015: https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/06/us-military-bases-around-the-world-119321
[128]. Gideon Polya, “The US Has Invaded 70 Nations Since 1776 – Make 4 July Independence From America Day”, Countercurrents, 5 July, 2013: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya050713.htm ; Gideon
[129]. “Stop state terrorism” : https://sites.google.com/site/stopstateterrorism/ .
[130]. William Blum, “Rogue State”, Common Courage Press, 2000..
[131]. Michel Chossudovsky, “Know the facts: North Korea lost nearly 30% of its population as a result of US bombing in the 1950s”, Global Research, 27 November 2010: http://www.globalresearch.ca/know-the-facts-north-korea-lost-close-to-30-of-its-population-as-a-result-of-us-bombings-in-the-1950s/22131 .
[132]. Gideon Polya, “As UK Lackeys Or US Lackeys Australians Have Invaded 85 Countries (British 193, French 80, US 70)”, Countercurrents, 9 February, 2015: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya090215.htm .
[133]. Gideon Polya, “British Have Invaded 193 Countries: Make 26 January ( Australia Day, Invasion Day) British Invasion Day”, Countercurrents, 23 January, 2015: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya230115.htm .
[134]. Gideon Polya, “President Hollande And French Invasion Of Privacy Versus French Invasion Of 80 Countries Since 800 AD”, Countercurrents, 15 January, 2014: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya150114.htm .
[135]. Gideon Polya, “Economist Mahima Khanna, Cambridge Stevenson Prize And Dire Indian Poverty”, Countercurrents, 20 November, 2011: https://countercurrents.org/polya201111.htm .
[136]. “Sam Dastyari”, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Dastyari .
[137]. “Convention on the Rights of the Child”, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_on_the_Rights_of_the_Child .
[138]. “UN Charter (full text)”, UN: http://www.un.org/en/sections/un-charter/un-charter-full-text/ .
[139]. “UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People”, UN: https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/declaration-on-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples.html .
[140]. “Universal Declaration of Human Rights”, UN: http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/ .
[141]. “Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees”, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_Relating_to_the_Status_of_Refugees .
[142]. “UN Genocide Convention”: http://www.edwebproject.org/sideshow/genocide/convention.html .
[143]. “Angus Maddison statistics of the ten largest economies by GDP (PPP)”, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angus_Maddison_statistics_of_the_ten_largest_economies_by_GDP_(PPP) .
[144]. Angus Maddison, “Contours of the World Economy 1-2030AD”, Oxford University Press, 2007.
[145]. “Great Leap Forward”, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Leap_Forward .
[146]. I.F. Stone, “The Secret History of the Korean War”, Monthly Review Press, New York, 1952.
[147]. Christopher Hitchens, “The Trial of Henry Kissinger”, Text, Melbourne, 2001.
[148]. Gideon Polya, “Zionist quotes reveal genocidal racism”, MWC News, 12 January 2018: http://mwcnews.com/focus/analysis/69955-zionist-quotes-reveal-genocidal-racism.html .
[149]. “Zionist quotes re racism and Palestinian Genocide”, Palestinian Genocide : https://sites.google.com/site/palestiniangenocide/zionist-quotes .
[150]. Gideon Polya, “Apartheid Israel bombing Syria & Iraq – hotting up deadly 4-decade US war on Iran”, Countercurrents, 14 August 2019: https://countercurrents.org/2019/08/apartheid-israel-bombing-syria-iraq-hotting-up-deadly-4-decade-us-war-on-iran .
[151]. Gideon Polya, “Biochemical Targets of Plant Bioactive Compounds”, Taylor & Francis and CRC Press, London and New York, 2003.
[152]. Gideon Polya, “Book Review: “Whackademia” Reveals Parlous State of Australia ‘s Censored, Under-funded & Dumbing-down Universities”, Countercurrents, 14 December, 2012: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya141212.htm .
[153]. “Impact of the Defence Trade Controls Bill on academic freedom”, NTEU: 10 October 2012: http://www.nteu.org.au/article/Impact-of-the-Defence-Trade-Controls-Bill-on-academic-freedom-13461 .
[154]. “China to replace the US as Australia’s leading research partner”, Financial Review, 22 July 2019: https://www.afr.com/policy/health-and-education/china-to-replace-the-us-as-australia-s-leading-research-partner-20190718-p528e4 .
[155]. Liam Tung, “Australia releases advice to counter “foreign interference” after university cyber attacks”, CSO, 15 November 2019: https://www.cso.com.au/article/668672/australia-releases-advice-counter-foreign-interference-after-university-cyber-attacks/
[156]. Gideon Polya, “Current academic censorship and self-censorship in Australian universities”, Free University Education: https://sites.google.com/site/freeuniversityeducation/academic-censorship .
[157]. Vacy Vlazna, “Israeli Hawkademia in Australian Universities”, Palestinian Chronicle, 05-02-2012: http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=19268 .
[158]. Gideon Polya, “Australian Universities Complicit With Pro-Zionist Censorship And Genocidal Israeli Militarism”, Countercurrents, 24 May, 2012: https://countercurrents.org/polya240512.htm .
[159]. Raphael Ahren, “Australian FM: don’t call settlements illegal under International Law”, Times of Israel, 15 January 2014: http://www.timesofisrael.com/australia-fm-dont-call-settlements-illegal-under-international-law/ .
[160]. “Jews Against Racist Zionism”: https://sites.google.com/site/jewsagainstracistzionism/ .
[161]. Michael Arria, “The Trump administration has declared war on the Palestinian solidarity movement”, Mondoweiss, 1 December 2019: https://mondoweiss.net/2019/12/the-trump-administration-has-declared-war-on-the-palestinian-solidarity-movement/ .
[162]. Peter Baker and Maggie Hagerman, “Trump targets antisemitism and Israeli boycotts on college campuses”, New York Times, 10 December 2019: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/10/us/politics/trump-antisemitism-executive-order.html .
[163]. Ali Kazak, “Why should Israel’s lobby have different standards?”, Independent, Australia, 9 November 2017: https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/does-the-nation-have-a-new-white-australia-foreign-affairs-policy,10913 .
[164]. “Subversion of Australia”: https://sites.google.com/site/subversionofaustralia/
[165]. Gideon Polya, “Foreign interference in Australia 2. British devastation, perversion & subversion of Australia”, Countercurrents, 19 June 2018: https://countercurrents.org/2018/06/19/foreign-interference-in-australia-2-british-devastation-perversion-subversion-of-australia/ .
[166]. Gideon Polya, “Racist Zionism and Israeli State Terrorism threats to Australia and Humanity”, Palestinian Genocide, 2010: https://sites.google.com/site/palestiniangenocide/racist-zionism-and-israeli .
[167]. Gideon Polya, “Foreign Interference In Australia 1. Hugely Disproportionate Jewish Zionist Representation In Australia’s Richest 200”, Countercurrents, 11 June 2018: https://countercurrents.org/2018/06/11/foreign-interference-in-australia-1-hugely-disproportionate-jewish-zionist-representation-in-australias-richest-200/ .
[168]. Phillip Dorling, “US shares raw intelligence on Australians with Israel ”, Sydney Morning Herald, 12 September 2013: http://www.smh.com.au/national/us-shares-raw-intelligence-on-australians-with-israel-20130912-2tllm.html .
[169]. Antony Loewenstein, “Does the Zionist Lobby have blood on its hands in Australia?”: http://antonyloewenstein.com/2010/07/02/does-the-zionist-lobby-have-blood-on-its-hands-in-australia/ .
[170]. Gideon Polya, “Pro-Zionist-led coup ousts Australian PM Rudd”, MWC News: http://mwcnews.net/focus/politics/3488-pro-zionist-led-coup.html .
[171]. John Pilger, “The British-American Coup that ended Australian independence”, Guardian, 23 October 2014: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/23/gough-whitlam-1975-coup-ended-australian-independence .
[172]. Gideon Polya, “Australian xenophobia targets China but ignores huge Israeli subversion of Australia”, Countercurrents, 7 July 2018: https://countercurrents.org/2018/07/07/australian-xenophobia-targets-china-but-ignores-huge-israeli-subversion-of-australia/ .
[173]. Gideon Polya, “Australian Sinophobia & China-bashing from colonial persecution and White Australia to Trump America’s Asia Deputy Sheriff”, Countercurrents, 26 January 2018: https://countercurrents.org/2018/01/26/australian-sinophobia-china-bashing-colonial-persecution-white-australia-trump-americas-asia-deputy-sheriff/ .
[174]. Gideon Polya, “US lackey Australia attacks free speech of Senator Dastyari, Muslims, Chinese, journalists & truth-tellers”, Countercurrents, 10 December 2017: https://countercurrents.org/2017/12/us-lackey-australia-attacks-free-speech-of-senator-dastyari-muslims-chinese-journalists-truth-tellers .
[175]. Gideon Polya, “Media Lying, Media Censorship & Australian Federal Police Raids On Media In Pre-Police State Australia”, Countercurrents, 15 June 2019: https://countercurrents.org/2019/06/media-lying-media-censorship-australian-federal-police-raids-on-media-in-pre-police-state-australia .
[176]. Daniel Flitton, “Explosive Wiki Rudd cable”, The Age, 6 December 2010: http://www.theage.com.au/national/explosive-wiki-rudd-cable-20101205-18lbz.html .
[177]. John Garnaut, “The Chinese have Kevin Rudd pegged”, The Age, 6 December 2010: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/the-chinese-have-former-pm-pegged-20101205-18lcv.html .
[178]. Philip Dorling and Richard Baker, “Beazley pledged troops to help US in a war with China”, Sydney Morning Herald, 8 December 2010: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/beazley-pledged-troops-to-help-us-in-a-war-with-china-20101207-18obt.html .
[179]. Kevin Rudd, “Kevin Rudd: The west isn’t ready for the rise of China”, New Statesman, 11 July 2012: https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/international-politics/2012/07/kevin-rudd-west-isnt-ready-rise-china .
[180]. John Pilger, “The coming war on China”, John Pilger: http://johnpilger.com/videos/the-coming-war-on-china .
[181]. Danita Catherine Burke, “The Northwest Passage dispute”, Oxford Research Group, 26 February 2018: https://www.oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk/blog/the-northwest-passage-dispute .
[182]. “Australian Antarctic Territory”, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Antarctic_Territory .
[183]. “Jallianwala Bagh Massacre”, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jallianwala_Bagh_massacre
[184]. Gideon Polya, “Sharpeville Massacre & Gaza Massacres compared – Boycott Apartheid Israel & all its supporters”, Countercurrents, 6 May 2018: https://countercurrents.org/2018/05/06/sharpeville-massacre-gaza-massacres-compared-boycott-apartheid-israel-all-its-supporters/ .
[185]. “Sharpeville Massacre”, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharpeville_massacre .
[186]. “2019 Hong Kong protests”, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Hong_Kong_protests .
[187]. “Gaza’s latest threat: antibiotic resistant superbug”, The Palestine Chronicle, 4 January 2019: http://www.palestinechronicle.com/antibiotic-resistant-superbug-threatening-gaza/ .
[188]. Martin Gilbert, “Jewish History Atlas”, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1969.
[189]. Martin Gilbert, “Atlas of the Holocaust”, Michael Joseph, London, 1982.
Dr Gideon Polya taught science students at a major Australian university for 4 decades. He published some 130 works in a 5 decade scientific career, most recently a huge pharmacological reference text “Biochemical Targets of Plant Bioactive Compounds” (CRC Press/Taylor & Francis, New York & London , 2003). He has published “Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950” (G.M. Polya, Melbourne, 2007: http://globalbodycount.blogspot.com/ ); see also his contributions “Australian complicity in Iraq mass mortality” in “Lies, Deep Fries & Statistics” (edited by Robyn Williams, ABC Books, Sydney, 2007: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/ockhamsrazor/australian-complicity-in-iraq-mass-mortality/3369002#transcript ) and “Ongoing Palestinian Genocide” in “The Plight of the Palestinians (edited by William Cook, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2010: http://mwcnews.net/focus/analysis/4047-the-plight-of-the-palestinians.html ). He has published a revised and updated 2008 version of his 1998 book “Jane Austen and the Black Hole of British History” (see: http://janeaustenand.blogspot.com/ ) as biofuel-, globalization- and climate-driven global food price increases threaten a greater famine catastrophe than the man-made famine in British-ruled India that killed 6-7 million Indians in the “forgotten” World War 2 Bengal Famine (see recent BBC broadcast involving Dr Polya, Economics Nobel Laureate Professor Amartya Sen and others: http://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/history/social-economic-history/listen-the-bengal-famine ; Gideon Polya: https://sites.google.com/site/drgideonpolya/home ; Gideon Polya Writing: https://sites.google.com/site/gideonpolyawriting/ ; Gideon Polya, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gideon_Polya ) . When words fail one can say it in pictures – for images of Gideon Polya’s huge paintings for the Planet, Peace, Mother and Child see: http://sites.google.com/site/artforpeaceplanetmotherchild/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/gideonpolya/ .
Unwinnable Wars
by Dr Arshad M Khan
Her name means beautiful, and she is despite her tragic life. Hasina recalls the day when the Myanmar army set fire to her village and killed the inhabitants, including 10 members of
her family, as she watched. She is appearing as a witness at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the tranquil capital of the Netherlands.
I Never Saw A World So Fragmented!
by Andre Vltchek
It is amazing how easily, without resistance,the Western empire is managing to destroy “rebellious” countries that are standing in its way.
Landslide…. To Totalitarianism
by Gaither Stewart
I find surprising the detailed manner in which history repeats itself. The result of the landslide described here seems to have been replicated in the USA of our times in ways that all of us witness each day. The Germany of say 1939 seems like the blueprint for the US role in the world of today.
Swami Nithyanand: Founding of a Hindu Rashtra
by Ram Puniyani
Swami
Nityanand has the backing of powerful money bags, many from Gujarat. Apart from the affluent followers the average people also follow these paddlers of faith. Those who died while protesting against the arrest of their Guru were average people
Christmas in America
by Zeenat Khan
An observation of Christmas in America
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