CounterCurrents: World Bank, The Gates Foundation And India' s Demonetisation, Too Many Generals Spoil The Democracy

 Dear Friend,

Russian Ambassador was shot dead yeserday in Ankara. With both Russia and Turkey condemning the terrorist act unanimously, and their plan to go ahead with the tripartite meeting involving Russia, Iran and Turkey on Syria, it seems that the terroist act will not have repercussions in the immediate future. But there will be forces which would be waiting in the wings to capitalise this tragic event to their advantage. 

The demonetisation tsunami is slowly gaining momentum. One mild wave touched me today. One friend, who needs to build an urgent store-house in his farm, was hit by cash shortage. With the withdrawal limit set at Rs 24, 000 a week he can't pay the workers, buy materials and get on with the urgent construction.    He asked me if I can lend him some urgent money. 

In the past two days I read two suicide reports in the news paper, directly caused by demonetisation. There must be many that go unreported. 

The ruling elites who devised this plan, purported to be a 'surgical attack' on black money, but which with each day becoming more and more clear that it's a world bank devised plan (with the support of Bill and Melinda Gates foundation) to shove digital economy down the throat of Indian people which will be beneficial only to Indian and other transnational oligarchs, and suck up wealth from the bottom to the top in a monumental way, with ordinary Indians becoming poorer and the rich getting richer. http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2014/08/28/world-bank-report-digital-payments-economic-growth

Why don't the ruling elites remember that they are ruling over ordinary people with ordinary concerns and ordinary needs? Why are they made to suffer?    

#HumansOfDemonetisedIndia video series tell more such stories. 

With Climate Change threatening to create a run-away warming, Dr. Gideo Polya argues that it is time to name the names and climate criminals should be prosecuted. 

Ugo Bardi of Universiy of Florence, argues that Science and Technology are not the silver bullets to solve the many crises facing humanity but asks to humanise science and technology. He says, "We need to see science as part of the human treasure of knowledge and we need to love knowledge in all its forms. And, as I said at the beginning, someone who loves knowledge is a philosopher and that’s what we can all be and we should be; because it is our call as human beings. If we want to save the world, we don’t need gadgetry, we need to be what we are: human beings."

Also other stories from around the world. 

If you don't mind, and if you think the content of this news letter is critical for the dignified living and survival of humanity and other species on earth, please forward it to your friends and spread the word. It's time for humanity to come together as one family! You can subscribe to our news letter here http://www.countercurrents.org/news-letter/. 

In Solidarity

Binu Mathew
Editor
www.countercurrents.org





Russia And Turkey Condemn The Assassination Of Russian Ambassador In Ankara
by Bill Van Auken 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/20/russia-and-turkey-condemn-the-assassination-of-russian-ambassador-in-ankara/

The killing of the ambassador also came on the eve of a scheduled meeting in Moscow between Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and his Russian and Iranian counterparts, Sergei Lavrov and Mohammad Javad Zarif, to discuss the ongoing ceasefire in and evacuation of previously opposition-held eastern Aleppo, along with proposals for a more comprehensive settlement of the five-and-a-half-year-old Syrian war. Both the Russian and Turkish governments condemned the assassination of Karlov as a “provocation” aimed at disrupting relations between the two countries. Both governments likewise described the killing as a terrorist act, though they appeared to differ in their assessment as to who was responsible.






#HumansOfDemonetisedIndia: Hawker of Old Notes

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/20/humansofdemonetisedindia-hawker-of-old-notes/

In demonetised India, when people of the unorganised sector are fast losing jobs, they are finding inventive ways of surviving. A man in Trivandrum has become a hawker of old notes as his business of selling chappals and shoes on the street failed. He says “This is my new business. I’ve become a hawker of old notes. I have to support my family. When government banned notes, we have to change too. How will I change these notes? I’m sure government will change it.”





Demonetization: The Politics of Public Suffering
by Dr Prem Singh 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/20/demonetization-the-politics-of-public-suffering/

There have been various and repeated references to the suffering of the public caused by the decision of demonetization by the government. The suffering of the ordinary people due to this astounding decision has been criticized even by the High Court and Supreme Court.    Around 100 people have died because of it. The supporters of Prime Minster Narendra Modi claim that people are not distressed with this decision; they are happy; if people were unhappy, they’d be on the streets protesting instead of queuing up outside banks. But at the same time they are seen threatening the sufferers and the journalists who dare to high light their plight. However, at some point Modi supporters could recognize the suffering of all the people who are queuing up outside banks from morning till night.






The Well-Planned Demonetisation To Hurt Downtrodden And Empower Digital Marketing in India
by Mugilan Perumal

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/20/the-well-planned-demonetisation-to-hurt-downtrodden-and-empower-digital-marketing-in-india/

On one hand, the technology of ‘Digital India’ (so called cashless society) is used to victimize the poor and middle class population in India due to the invalidation of high value currency notes. On 08th November 2016, the Prime Minister of India made an announcement of demonetizing higher value notes and the majority including poor welcomed and appreciated the move. The society always fails to realize the hidden agenda of the political game.






Humanity Must Pledge Inescapable Dispossession And Custodial Retribution For Climate Criminals
by Dr Gideon Polya  

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/20/humanity-must-pledge-inescapable-dispossession-and-custodial-retribution-for-climate-criminals/

Global domination by  neoliberal One Percenter climate criminals has meant that a catastrophic plus 2C temperature rise is now unavoidable  and that the Paris ideal of no more than plus 1.5C will be exceeded in 4-10 years. The most effective collective action now for decent Humanity to mitigate inescapable climate catastrophe is to promise that all climate criminals will be brought to account and suffer inescapable  dispossession and custodial  punishment – this resolute, collective  promise now will make a disastrous future less bad for future generations.






Bringing Back Science Into The Fold Of Humanism
by Ugo Bardi 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/20/bringing-back-science-into-the-fold-of-humanism/

We need to see science as part of the human treasure of knowledge and we need to love knowledge in all its forms. And, as I said at the beginning, someone who loves knowledge is a philosopher and that’s what we can all be and we should be; because it is our call as human beings. If we want to save the world, we don’t need gadgetry, we need to be what we are: human beings.






Steer Your Way
by Kathy Kelly 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/20/steer-your-way/

Since the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States, I’ve given daily thought to the more alarming aspects of Trump culture.  Conversations among friends have been quite helpful, both here in the U.S. and in far- away Kabul from which I recently returned.  It becomes hard to envision constructive responses to Trumpism without a steadfast focus on the larger culture which has made the policies of previous administrations seem acceptable and normal. This is part of why I was quite willing to sign the recently drafted “We Stand for Peace and Justice” statement at www.standforpeaceandjustice.org. This morning I read comments about the statement that have been posted, online. 







Too Many Generals Spoil The Democracy 
by William J Astore 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/20/too-many-generals-spoil-the-democracy/

Twenty-first-century America is witnessing a new and revolutionary moment: the elevation of losing generals to the highest offices in the land.  Retired Marine Corps General James “Mad Dog” Mattis, known as a tough-talking “warrior-monk,” will soon be the nation’s secretary of defense.  He’ll be joined by a real mad dog, retired Army Lieutenant General Michael Flynn as President-elect Donald Trump’s national security adviser.  Leading the Department of Homeland Security will be recently retired General John Kelly, another no-nonsense Marine.







What The Gym Taught Me About Fighting Trumpism
by Mickey Z 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/20/what-the-gym-taught-me-about-fighting-trumpism/

It can be the same when you resist oppression. You may begin such work as a reaction or even a resolution. At first, it will be challenging. But if you stick with and start to see some results — and find the method that lights you up — you begin to look forward to it. You will even find yourself thinking and talking about your activism all the time.







The Hack Of All Hacks: Yahoo And Information Security
by Dr Binoy Kampmark 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/20/the-hack-of-all-hacks-yahoo-and-information-security/

It took place in August 2013. It was a hack of unprecedented scale, impetuous, audacious, and, if we are to believe Yahoo, undetected at the time.  The result of that effort across 1 billion accounts was a profitable use of material to spammers and cyber criminals operating on the dark web, with some estimates on proceeds coming to $300,000.






In West Bank, Israel “Replacing One Land Theft By Another”
by Charlotte Silver 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/20/in-west-bank-israel-replacing-one-land-theft-by-another/

Christmas Day is the court-ordered deadline to evacuate around 330 settlers from the Amona outpost. The colony is built on the farmland of Palestinian families who still live nearby, north of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. Eighty-year-old Maryam Hamad, who lives in the neighboring Palestinian village of Silwad, owns six acres there, where she once cultivated wheat. She has not been able to visit her land for 20 years, since Amona was established in the mid-1990s. She expects to return to the land when the settlers leave.






Of Mosques And Grassroots: The Sites Of Resistance In Kashmir
by Waqas Farooq Kuttay 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/20/of-mosques-and-grassroots-the-sites-of-resistance-in-kashmir/

Although, the mosques are the important sites of resistance and can be helpful in the short term but this can’t be a long term strategy. Using the mosques as sole source of mobilization makes the separatist groups more ‘undemocratic and unaccountable’ because there is complete absence of checks and balances via this channel. 





Respecting The National Anthem
by Nivedita Dwivedi 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/20/respecting-the-national-anthem/

My humble plea to the Honorable Supreme Court is to kindly consider passing some landmark judgments forcing the citizens of India (including those in power), to abide by the abovementioned Fundamental Duties in letter and in spirit. Abiding by only these two duties will amount to nothing less than a revolution (to say the least).






Stop The Intimidation And Harassment Of Kathputli Colony Residents
by PUDR 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/20/stop-the-intimidation-and-harassment-of-kathputli-colony-residents/

PUDR notes with concern the intimidation of the residents of Kathputli colony by the Delhi police since the night of 18 December. While Police presence was visible in and around Kathputli colony for the past few days, the police were deployed in large numbers (approx. 250 police personnel) on 18th night and barricades around the colony were erected. The next morning, on 19 December, DDA officials along with the police went to get the signatures of some residents who have decided to shift to a transit camp at Anand Parbat. However there are also reports that the DDA officials were trying to pressurise other residents to sign as well

RSN: The Seven Stages of Establishment Backlash: Corbyn/Sanders Edition, Modern-Day Slavery and Environmental Devastation Go Hand in Hand,

Reader Supported News | 21 January 16

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Marc Ash 
Curator, Reader Supported News

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Glenn Greenwald | The Seven Stages of Establishment Backlash: Corbyn/Sanders Edition

Glenn Greenwald, The Intercept
Greenwald writes: "Evidence of a growing Sanders movement is unmistakable. Because of the broader trends driving it, this is clearly unsettling to establishment Democrats - as it should be."
READ MORE

he British political and media establishment incrementally lost its collective mind over the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the country’s Labour Party, and its unraveling and implosion show no signs of receding yet. Bernie Sanders is nowhere near as radical as Corbyn; they are not even in the same universe. But, especially on economic issues, Sanders is a more fundamental, systemic critic than the oligarchical power centers are willing to tolerate, and his rejection of corporate dominance over politics, and corporate support for his campaigns, is particularly menacing. He is thus regarded as America’s version of a far-left extremist, threatening establishment power.

For those who observed the unfolding of the British reaction to Corbyn’s victory, it’s been fascinating to watch the D.C./Democratic establishment’s reaction to Sanders’ emergence replicate that, reading from the same script. I personally think Clinton’s nomination is extremely likely, but evidence of a growing Sanders movement is unmistakable. Because of the broader trends driving it, this is clearly unsettling to establishment Democrats — as it should be.

A poll last week found that Sanders has a large lead with millennial voters, including young women; as Rolling Stone put it: “Young female voters support Bernie Sanders by an expansive margin.” The New York Times yesterday trumpeted that, in New Hampshire, Sanders “has jumped out to a 27 percentage point lead,” which is “stunning by New Hampshire standards.” The Wall Street Journal yesterday, in an editorial titled “Taking Sanders Seriously,” declared it is “no longer impossible to imagine the 74-year-old socialist as the Democratic nominee.”

Just as was true for Corbyn, there is a direct correlation between the strength of Sanders and the intensity of the bitter and ugly attacks unleashed at him by the D.C. and Democratic political and media establishment. There were, roughly speaking, seven stages to this establishment revolt in the U.K. against Corbyn, and the U.S. reaction to Sanders is closely following the same script:

STAGE 1: Polite condescension toward what is perceived to be harmless (we think it’s really wonderful that your views are being aired).

STAGE 2: Light, casual mockery as the self-belief among supporters grows (no, dears, a left-wing extremist will not win, but it’s nice to see you excited).

STAGE 3: Self-pity and angry etiquette lectures directed at supporters upon realization that they are not performing their duty of meek surrender, flavored with heavy doses of concern trolling (nobody but nobody is as rude and gauche online to journalists as these crusaders, and it’sunfortunately hurting their candidate’s cause!).

CLICK IN LINK TO VIEW

STAGE 4: Smear the candidate and his supporters with innuendos of sexism and racism by falsely claiming only white men support them (you like this candidate because he’s white and male like you, not because of ideology or policy or contempt for the party establishment’s corporatist, pro-war approach).

STAGE 5: Brazen invocation of right-wing attacks to marginalize and demonize, as polls prove the candidate is a credible threat (he’s weak on terrorism, will surrender to ISIS, has crazy associations, and is a clone of Mao and Stalin).

STAGE 6: Issuance of grave and hysterical warnings about the pending apocalypse if theestablishment candidate is rejected, as the possibility of losing becomes imminent (you aredestined for decades, perhaps even generations, of powerlessness if you disobey our decrees about who to select).

STAGE 7: Full-scale and unrestrained meltdown, panic, lashing-out, threats, recriminations, self-important foot-stomping, overt union with the Right, complete fury (I can no longer in good conscience support this party of misfits, terrorist-lovers, communists, and heathens).

Britain is well into Stage 7, and may even invent a whole new level (anonymous British military officials expressly threatened a “mutiny” if Corbyn were democratically elected as prime minister). The Democratic media and political establishment has been in the heart of Stage 5 for weeks and is now entering Stage 6. The arrival of Stage 7 is guaranteed if Sanders wins Iowa.

Headline covering Jeremy Corbyn. (photo: The Intercept)

Headline from The Daily Beast. (photo: The Intercept)

It’s both expected and legitimate in elections for the campaigns to harshly criticize one another. There’s nothing wrong with that; we should all want contrasts drawn, and it’s hardly surprising that this will be done with aggression and acrimony. People go to extremes to acquire power: That’s just human nature.

But that doesn’t mean one can’t find meaning in the specific attacks that are chosen, nor does it mean that the attacks invoked are immune from critique (the crass, cynical exploitation of gender issues by Clinton supporters to imply Sanders support is grounded in sexism was particularly slimy and dishonest given that the same left-wing factions that support Sanders spent months literally pleading with Elizabeth Warren to challenge Clinton, to say nothing of the large numbers of female Sanders supporters whose existence was nullified by those attacks).

People in both parties, and across the political spectrum, are disgusted by the bipartisan D.C. establishment. It’s hardly mysterious why large numbers of adults in the U.S. want to find an alternative to a candidate like Clinton who is drowning both politically and personally in Wall Street money, who seems unable to find a war she dislikes, and whose only political conviction seems to be that anything is justifiably said or done to secure her empowerment — just as it was hardly a mystery why adults in the U.K. were desperate to find an alternative to the craven, war-loving, left-hating Blairites who have enormous amounts of blood stained indelibly on their hands.

But the nature of “establishments” is that they cling desperately to power, and will attack anyone who defies or challenges that power with unrestrained fervor. That’s what we saw in the U.K. with the emergence of Corbyn, and what we’re seeing now with the threat posed by Sanders. It’s not surprising that the attacks in both cases are similar — the dynamic of establishment prerogative is the same — but it’s nonetheless striking how identical is the script used in both cases.

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/34744-the-seven-stages-of-establishment-backlash-corbynsanders-edition

The White House Asked Social Media Companies to Look for Terrorists. Here's Why They'd #Fail.
Jenna McLaughlin, The Intercept
McLaughlin writes: "The White House asked internet companies during a counterterrorism summit earlier this month to consider using their technology to help 'detect and measure radicalization.'"
READ MORE

Wealth, Influence of Gates Foundation Distorting International Development
RT
Excerpt: "Enormous wealth and influence wielded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) is distorting the direction of international development in a global vacuum of accountability, a new report claims."
READ MORE

US Congressional Committee Subpoenas Ex-Drug CEO Shkreli
Sarah N. Lynch and David Ingram, Reuters
Excerpt: "A U.S. congressional committee has demanded that former drug executive Martin Shkreli appear at a hearing on drug prices to testify about his former company's decision to raise the price of a lifesaving medicine by more than 5,000 percent, congressional aides said on Wednesday."
READ MORE

Parent: Fiorina 'Ambushed' Children With Anti-Abortion Rally
Bradford Richardson, The Hill
Richardson writes: "Republican primary candidate Carly Fiorina has been accused of ambushing a group of Iowa pre-schoolers, who were on a field trip to a botanical garden, with an anti-abortion rally."
READ MORE

Detroit's Teachers Are Holding a Massive 'Sickout' to Protest the Conditions in Their Schools
Casey Quinlan, ThinkProgress
Quinlan writes: "Detroit's public school teachers are staging mass 'sickouts' - which involves large groups of teachers across the city all calling in sick to work - to protest against what they call 'deplorable conditions,' such as mold, warped floors, and dead rats."
READ MORE

Modern-Day Slavery and Environmental Devastation Go Hand in Hand
Katie Herzog, Grist
Herzog writes: "Slavery didn't end with the Emancipation Proclamation. Despite slavery being illegal in every country on the planet, there are more enslaved people alive today than at any point in history."
READ MORE

Many of the workers who toil in slavery are in industries, which lead to large environmental 
destruction. (photo: Shutterstock)


lavery didn’t end with the Emancipation Proclamation. Despite slavery being illegal in every country on the planet, there are more enslaved people alive today than at any point in history. From fishing boats in Thailand to private homes in New York to diamond mines in Congo to rock quarries in India, there are an estimated 30 million people working in bondage right now. That’s right — 30 million.

Modern slavery is the subject of Blood and Earth, a new book by Kevin Bales, who cofounded Free the Slaves, an organization working to end slavery around the world. Bales spoke with Fresh Air’s Dave Davies, and he said that the devastation bondage causes isn’t limited to the lives of enslaved people themselves; it also has a devastating effect on both the planet and the climate. He said:

I was amazed to discover the role that slavery plays in CO2 emissions and in the simple and basic fact of how global warming takes place ….

When we calculated up, very conservatively, how much CO2 is coming from slavery, it worked out like this: That if slavery were a country it would have the population of Canada, but it would be the third-largest emitter of CO2 after China and the United States.

This is, in part, due to deforestation. Bales continued:

I can point to … the gigantic mangrove forests at the bottom of Bangladesh, India, Thailand, and Burma that’s called the Sundarbans forest, and it’s the largest carbon sink in Asia. In other words, [it’s] a place where carbon is taken out of the air and sequestered by the trees, both into the sea and into the trees themselves. So this is a very important forest for removing atmospheric carbon. This is also a place where slaveholders are using slaves to clear cut these mangrove forests, to put in shrimp farms, to put in rice paddies, to burn the wood, to do a lot of different things with it. But it’s almost all slave-based deforestation.

So what’s the consumer to do? How can we be sure the shrimp on our plates and the phones in our pockets aren’t the product of slave labor? Unfortunately, Bales says, there’s a lack of information out there for even informed consumers:

At the moment, if we were only able to use just the minerals or just the foodstuffs or materials that we know are absolutely clean, we would all be sort of short on cellphones and clothes and food, because a lot of it is still rather murky. I spend some time in the book walking through the supply chain that leads to our cellphones and our laptops and trying to point to who are the criminals and who are the accomplices and who are the people who are deeply and certainly responsible, and at what level that responsibility lies.

Of course, the ultimate responsibility on the ultimate end of the supply chain rests with us. And we’re responsible for what we buy and what we use, but we’re not as responsible as the people who sell it to us, and we’re certainly not as responsible as the people who make the phones, because this is their business, they should be clean about what they do.

Big business, however, isn’t exactly known for its transparency — or its responsibility. Besides, it’s not like there’s a label for “slavery-free,” like there is for free-range or organic. Even retailers like Whole Foods that advertise their commitment to social and environmental justice have been accused of selling food processed by enslaved people. But there are some things you can do, Bales says, like talking to the managers of the stores you frequent, looking at where your investments are, and getting involved with anti-slavery organizations. These may seem like small steps, but there are 30 million people — and one giant planet — that need you.

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/34738-modern-day-slavery-and-environmental-devastation-go-hand-in-hand

CounterCurrents: US To Give Arms, Air Support To Islamist Militias In Syria, Iraq Leans Toward Russia, U.S. Still Fights To Win Long-Term

Dear Friend,

If you think the content of this news letter is critical for the dignified living and survival of humanity and other species on earth, please forward it to your friends and spread the word. It's time for humanity to come together as one family! You can subscribe to our news letter herehttp://www.countercurrents.org/subscribe.htm. You can also follow us on twitter, http://twitter.com/countercurrents and on Facebook,http://www.facebook.com/countercurrents

In Solidarity
Binu Mathew
Editor
www.countercurrents.org


US To Give Arms, Air Support To Islamist Militias In Syria 
By Bill Van Auken

http://www.countercurrents.org/auken101015.htm

The Obama administration Friday announced an “operational pause” of the disastrously failed Pentagon program for arming and training “vetted rebels” in Turkey and sending them back across the border into Syria. Instead, Pentagon and White House officials indicated, the focus will now shift to cementing ties with leaders of existing “rebel” militias, consisting overwhelmingly of Sunni Islamist forces with connections to Al Qaeda. US backing to these groups will apparently include both arms and ammunition as well as close air support from warplanes deployed by the US and its so-called coalition


Columbus Lives 
By David Swanson

http://www.countercurrents.org/swanson101015.htm

Columbus was a murderer, a robber, an enslaver, and a torturer, whose crimes led to possibly the most massive conglomeration of crimes and horrific accidents on record. But Columbus was a product of his time, a time that has not exactly ended. If Columbus spoke today's English he'd say he was "just following orders." Those orders, stemming from the Catholic "doctrine of discovery," find parallels through Western history right down to today's "responsibility to protect," decreed by the high priests of the United Nations


Iraq Leans Toward Russia, U.S. Still Fights To Win Long-Term 
By Eric Zuesse

http://www.countercurrents.org/zuesse101015.htm

On October 7th, Reuters headlined, “Iraq Leans Toward Russia in War on Islamic State,” and reported, from Baghdad, that, “Iraq … wants Moscow to have a bigger role than the United States in the war against the militant group, the head of parliament's defense and security committee said on Wednesday.”


Afghanistan And Iraq: Lessons For The Imperial 
By Ralph Nader

http://www.countercurrents.org/nader101015.htm

Guess who is winning? An estimated thirty-thousand Taliban soldiers with no air force, navy, or heavy weapons have been holding down ten times more Afghan army and police and over 100,000 U.S. soldiers with the world’s most modern weaponry – for eight years. ISIS forces from Syria have taken over large areas of northern and western Iraq, including its second largest city, Mosul, and the battered city of Fallujah. ISIS forces in Iraq and Syria are estimated to number no more than 35,000. Like the Taliban, ISIS fighters, who vary in their military training, primarily have light weaponry. That is when they are not taking control of the fleeing, much larger, Iraqi army’s armored vehicles and ammunition from the United States


Why A US Congressional Special Investigative Committee (CSIC) 
Must Be Created To Investigate The MSF Hospital Bombing
By Franklin Lamb

http://www.countercurrents.org/lamb101015.htm

The bombing of the DoctorsWithoutBorders/Medicine Sans Frontiers (MSF) hospital at Kunduz is a punishable war crime and the Pentagon stands indicted and must be held accountable depending on the findings of fact. Massive international customary law and a host of treaties and conventions in force, including the Geneva Conventions specifically protect medical facilities and their medical staffs and patients make this plain


Book Review: "The Educator And The Oligarch:
A Teacher Challenges The Gates Foundation" 
By Raghav Kaushik

http://www.countercurrents.org/kaushik101015.htm

The book notes that the Gates Foundation is careful to distance itself from crude applications of its principles. For example, it recommends using value-added models as only one of multiple measures of effective teaching. However, such a defense is facile. As noted earlier, much of the funding in the “school reform” movement is by the Gates Foundation itself, making it hard to excuse the gap between principle and practice. Even setting aside the funding aspect, a set of principles can only be judged by how it is actually put into practice, not by some putative non-existent ideal