The political classes
in our country seem to relish moments of high ritual and symbolic
occasions with TV news routinely bringing these events to a country more
engaged with awards shows and sporting contests.
The State of the
Union, the annual presidential projection of power enjoys a special
status because it showcases the prowess of the incumbent to weave a
self-congratulatory narrative before what is in effect a peanut galley
to cheer him on. Widely understood is that the Congress is at a new low
in public approval.
Even when half the
office holders, cabinet members, Supreme Court Judges (minus 3) and
military brass is sitting on its hands, with some glowering hostility,
the acoustics make it seem as if the Speechifier-in-chief’s every word
is receiving a standing ovation. His guests joined in to make it appear
as if it was a pep rally or he had won the lottery.
Obama may not be a brilliant politician or program implementer, but
he is a good speaker and his speech was crafted like a Hollywood script,
sprinkled with humor and closing with a crescendo of bi-partisan
patriotic adulation for an injured soldier—the modern equivalent of
manipulative flag waving. With wife Michelle beaming love for the
obsessive and sicklywarrior with his l0 “deployments,” the goal was to
reinforce the halo that Obama was hoping would turn around his low
approval ratings.
But people are getting distracted from the big picture by focusing on metadata.
As security expert Bruce Schneier wrote yesterday:
What frustrates me about all of this — [the Privacy and
Civil Liberties Oversight Board] report, the president’s speech, and so
many other things — is that they focus on the bulk collection of cell
phone call records. There’s so much more bulk collection going on — phone calls, e-mails, address books, buddy lists, text messages, cell phone location data, financial documents, calendars, [smartphone apps] etc. — and we really need legislation and court opinions on it all. But because cell phone call records were the first disclosure, they’re what gets the attention.
Indeed, Schneier confirmed last October what we’ve been saying for years … don’t get too distracted by the details, because the government is spying on everything:
Honestly, I think the details matter less and less. We have to assume that the NSA has EVERYONE who uses electronic communications under CONSTANT surveillance. New details about hows and whys will continue to emerge …but the big picture will remain the same.
The situation in Ukraine is a fluid one and changing by the hour.
Although it had appeared that there was a resolution to the protests
that had broken out after the government of Ukraine had made the
sovereign decision of sticking with Russia and saying no to closer
European Union integration, excessive violence from the western backed
opposition has spread like a wave throughout the country.
The so called Ukrainian “opposition” now resembles something more
akin to armed insurgents in Syria involved in a coup d’état than
opposition protestors.
The situation in Ukraine once again underlines US hypocrisy. The
US, which prides itself on protecting its police, supports an
“opposition” which is threatening, attacking, kidnapping and setting
young police officers on fire. The scene currently playing out in
Ukraine has all of the signs of a foreign engineered regime change
operation and with the taking of government buildings, has unarguably
moved into a scenario where the continuity of the state is in question.
Voice of Russia regular and NATO expert Rick Rozoff discussed all of
these issues and more as the situation threatens to spin out of control.
Satellite imagery, witness statements, and video and photographic evidence show that Syrian authorities deliberately and unlawfully demolished thousands of residential buildings in Damascus and Hama in 2012 and 2013, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
The Catalan business community is deeply annoyed with the Spanish
Government for not publishing transparent data on Catalonia’s fiscal
contribution to the rest of Spain and therefore not recognizing the
fiscal deficit.
On Tuesday Catalonia’s main employers
association—Foment del Treball—demanded 'maximum transparency' regarding
the so-called fiscal balances, which calculates how much money Catalan
citizens and companies pay each year to the Spanish Government in taxes
and how much of this money comes back to Catalonia in the form of
investments, infrastructures, and services.
Furthermore, on Monday, Luís Conde, President of Seeliger y Conde,
stated in a radio interview that businesspeople were outraged that the
government had not published the data and that it instead had changed
the calculation method. On Saturday Conde organized a VIP lunch at his
country estate for over 250 guests, including several Spanish and
Catalan ministers, political leaders and some of Catalonia's largest
employers. The closed-doors meeting with Catalonia’s main movers and
shakers and Spanish authorities was held on the second day of the
convention organized in Barcelona by the People’s Party (PP), which runs
the Spanish Government.
The day before the lunch, the Spanish Finance Minister, Cristóbal
Montoro, announced that the so-called fiscal balances would no longer be
calculated and published in their present form. Montoro was supposed to
issue them last December but their publication was delayed without
explanations. Instead, in late January, he said he would publish the
'regionalized public figures' stating the costs of public services per
citizen in March. This announcement caused great astonishment and
frustration among Catalan politicians, businesspeople and academics,
since there the question of how much Catalan taxpayers’ money is spent
in the rest of Spain is a paramount issue. The change of criteria
implies that the Spanish Government refused to publish this information
in order to avoid fueling support for Catalan independence.
Previous studies have shown that Catalonia’s fiscal deficit
represents an average of 8% of its GDP, which means that each year
Catalans give away 43% of their taxes, some €16 billion per year. The
Spanish Government only published this information once, in 2008 with
data from 2005; it posted a fiscal deficit between 6.38% and 8.70% for
Catalonia that year (depending on the calculation formula). Another
study from the Catalan Government showed that an average of 8% of
Catalonia’s GDP has been annually transferred to the rest of Spain
between 1986 and 2010 using the money flow formula (which is the
most-commonly used calculation). This means that Catalans have given
200% of Catalonia’s GDP to the rest of Spain in 25 years, an amount that
nowadays represents some €400 billion. The annual budget of the Catalan
Government, which is soley responsible for public healthcare, education
and social policies,amounts to €29.31 billion for 2014; in 2012 it
posted a deficit representing 2.21% of Catalonia’s GDP (some €4.4
billion).
The fiscal agreement proposed by the President of the Catalan
Government, Artur Mas, to the Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in
September 2012 was aimed at addressing this issue. It guaranteed
Catalonia’s solidarity with poorer territories but at the same time it
included some limitations to ensure that Catalan public services were
not under-budgeted compared to other parts of Spain. The proposal had
been widely discussed in Catalonia among all the political parties,
including the PP, and it was backed by most of the Catalan business
community. At the time, it was also backed by some 80% of the Catalan
population. Rajoy rejected the proposal out of hand and refused to even
discuss it in further meetings. From that point forward, the Catalan
President stopped publicly defending a new fiscal agreement and began to
back demands for self-determination. A month ago, a majority of the
Catalan Parliament groups led by Mas agreed on an exact date and the
specific wording for the question to hold a self-determination vote in
Catalonia.
Montoro criticized the fiscal balances but now says they are 'correct'
On Friday, the Spanish Finance Minister justified the decision to
cancel the publication of the fiscal balances by saying they were
'incomplete and incoherent'. Montoro also criticized the Catalan
Government for basing its claims on these figures. However, after
hearing the reactions of the Catalan business community last weekend and
on Monday, he changed his stance. On Tuesday, Montoro recognized that
the fiscal balances are 'correct' and 'they are OK'. However he added
they are 'wrongly used' to support Catalan independence claims. 'There
are people who think that they need to become independent because of
their territory's fiscal balance', he stated. According to him, the
fiscal balances made it possible 'to give the citizens ideas' that were
used to rile up 'spirit of confrontation' instead of 'a unifying
vision'. 'Far from informing the debate, what they have brought is a
confrontation', Montoro said on Tuesday. He insisted that 'territories
do not pay taxes but citizens do' and for this reason he insisted on
providing the 'regionalized public figures' in relation to the costs of
public services. The aim is to offer 'new arguments' and to 'overcome
the limitations of the current method', he added.
The Catalan Government accuses Montoro of 'censorship' and making a 'partisan use' of this information
On Tuesday, the Spokesperson of the Catalan Government, Francesc
Homs, accused the Spanish Finance Minister of making a 'partisan use' of
the information to calculate the fiscal balances between Catalonia and
Spain. Homs said that the Spanish Government was 'censoring' this
information as a 'retaliation' and to 'punish' Catalonia for the
independence demands voiced by a large part of the society. The Catalan
Government asked the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, to correct
the situation by publishing the fiscal balance figures. He pointed out
that Rajoy had announced they would be published before the end of 2013.
Homs added that changing the criteria and hiding these figures 'does
not help to inform the debate' on the relationship between Catalonia and
Spain.
On Friday evening, a few minutes after Montoro announced he would not
be publishing the fiscal balances, the Catalan Finances Minister,
Andreu Mas-Colell, asked the Spanish Government to publish the
underlying data in order to enable other people to calculate the fiscal
balances. 'Data is power, and we want transparency with the data,'
Mas-Colell insisted. 'We want the data,' he demanded. Mas-Colell, who is
a former Professor of Economics at Harvard and Berkeley, had suggested a
few days ago that the fiscal balances should be calculated by
independent international experts, in order to guarantee transparency
and shed light on this crucial aspect regarding the relationship between
Catalonia and Spain. On Friday, Mas-Colell said he was 'disappointed'
about Montoro’s announcement. Furthermore, on Sunday, the Catalan
President, Artur Mas, stated that not publishing this information is a
way 'to cover up a problem that is a thorn in the side of' the Spanish
Government. It is a way 'to cover up' the 'existing inequalities in
Spain that impoverish the productive territories', he added.
Catalan employers request 'maximum transparency'
The main employer association in Catalonia, Foment del Treball, said
it would be 'a good idea' to publish the fiscal balances with the
traditional methodology. In a press release, Foment stated that the
publication of regionalized public figures does not justify not
publishing the other information. The Catalan employers association,
chaired by Joaquim Gay de Montellà, added that the new calculation can
complement the traditional methodologies and that both should be
offered. Both systems 'can coexist with the objective of shedding
greater light and offering better data, with the objective of helping
make informed decisions based on objective figures'. Foment requested
'maximum transparency' from the Spanish Government.
A fairer fiscal plan for Catalonia is 'the best strategy' to recover from the economic crisis
Besides, the employers association added that solving the Spanish
Government’s investment deficit in Catalonia and the insufficient
funding of the Catalan Government to pay for public services 'is the
best strategy for ensuring the competitiveness of the Catalan economy'.
On Friday, while announcing that the fiscal deficit figures would not be
published, Cristóbal Montoro also praised the Catalan economy for being
Spain’s main engine and 'taking the country out of the [economic]
crisis'. The day before Montoro’s speech it was announced that Catalonia
is leading Spain’s unemployment reduction with a drop of 64,500 Catalan
jobseekers while in the whole of Spain unemployment decreased by 69,100
people.
Oriol Junqueras, the president of the Catalan Republican Left, was
interviewed yesterday on Catalan TV3, as the leader of the opposition.
'It's obvious that the current situation in this country is
unsustainable,' he said. And he continued, 'The best way to resolve this
situation is to use the best possible tools… The best way to do it is
to put the future of the country in the hands of the people of
Catalonia.' With respect to the famous lunch on Saturday between
politicians and business leaders in Fonteta, Junqueras said, 'The future
of the country should not be decided by a politician or by someone with
a lot of money, or by someone who represents someone else with a lot of
money. The decision has to be taken by each and every one of the
citizens. We'll decide the matter by going to vote.'
Opposition
The interview began talking about the role of 'leader of the
opposition': 'I am opposed to everything, and I do it very well. In the
same way that some of the most important countries in Europe don't think
it's a problem that the executive and the opposition collaborate
together, we also think it's a positive thing.'
Junqueras was clear about his position: 'We act as the opposition in
the most responsible way possible. We think it's good do it this way
because the country is going through a very difficult moment.'
He also spoke of his willingness to form part of the executive:
'We've always said that when there was an agreement on the date and the
question for the referendum, that we'd be willing to join the executive.
We continue to be open to the president calling us to talk about it.'
Budget 'We will do everything possible so that
the additional income forecast for the budget is there. But we find
ourselves in a situation in which the whole budget of the Catalan
Government is not decided by us, but by the Spanish government, which
also decides how much we are able to go into debt. In these terrible
circumstances, our responsibility is to make the best budget possible.
But it is a terrible budget, like the current circumstances. But they
are the most social accounts in history, in percentage terms.'
European Elections 'The ERC's goal is to
prioritize the national focus of the Catalan Countries and the
personality of a civic candidacy, and therefore, the incorporation of
independent citizens in the list. And we think it's really important to
have a broad-based list that represents a broad spectrum of the Catalan
socialdemocracy and center-left. We cannot force anyone to form part of a
joint list if they don't want to. There are many who have distanced
themselves. I will defend a clear position with these priorities to the
national council this Saturday. We'll have to see if we are able to
incorporate these independent citizens but for now, we already have
Josep Maria Terricabras as the head of our candidate list with a
specific profile.'
Plan for holding the referendum 'Our plan for
holding the referendum is to trust in democracy; and to plan on being
able to hold the referendum on November 9. You have to recognize that
Rajoy speaks with totally clear pedagogy. We defend the legal current
frameworks for holding a referendum. If they do not allow us to use
those legal frameworks, we will use alternative ones. For example, we
will look to see what the international legal jurisprudence says, which
says that democracy is what defines the legal frameworks and not the
reverse. International law says that it is the exercise of democracy
that signals what is legal.'
'Our roadmap is that the referendum is our best option. I will not
talk about alternatives because I don't want to undermine the
possibility of holding the referendum. We want to do exactly the same
thing that more than half of the current European States have done, who
have chosen their future democratically. With respect to elections, note
that the polls forecast that ERC will win, but we are not interested in
snap elections.'
PSC and confidence in the president 'The
leadership of the PSC are doing everything possible to distance
themselves from the exercise of democracy. We're not asking them to be
in favor of independence, but we are asking that they not oppose the
possibility of a vote. And it's not true that the majority of socialist
are opposed; it is just some leaders who are.'
'I trust the president, I want to trust him and I need to trust him.
And I'll stand firm on that. I do the same with Iniciativa, la CUP and
anyone else necessary. We need the commitment of as many people as
possible in order to exercise democracy.'
International involvement 'The lack of
international involvement will be the dominant trend in the
sovereigntist process until the Catalans have made their decision. Until
we have voted and won, it's obvious that it remains an internal affair
of the Spanish State. What are we if not an autonomous community? The
situation will shift 180° on November 9th. Even the Spanish Government
will open up to negotiating despite the fact that now they now employ
insults and fear-mongering. The best way to counter these attacks is
with democracy.'
A group comprised of members of the European Parliament and
representatives of the Platforma per la Llengua have asked the European
Commission to act to prevent language discrimination. They ask that such
discrimination be considered as serious as the discrimination against
sexual orientation, religion, and ethnic origin. Ramon Tremosa, Salvador
Sedó, Maria Badia, Raimon Obiols, Raül Romeva, Izaskun Bilbao, Iñaki
Irazabalbeitia and the president of the intergroup on Minorities and
Languages, the Hungarian Socialist Czaba Tabajdi, have demanded that EU
legislation adopt 'measures to combat' attacks on language.
The director of the Plataforma per la
Llengua, Daniel Mundet, presented a report with forty cases of language
discrimination to the representatives of the EU leadership, in
particular by the public administration. 'This cannot be allowed in a
state which is considered democratic; there are too many cases for this
to be just anecdotal,' he complained. In twenty-five of these cases,
there are security force agents invovled: of the Spanish police and the
Civil Guard. 'It is a clear that there is an attitude that is
particularly insensitive to citizens by agents who in theory should be
serving those citizens, who impose the Spanish language and often bring
legal proceedings or even physical aggression against those citizens,'
said Mundet.
Tremosa, Sedó, Badia, Obiols, Romeva, Bilbao, Irazabalbeitia and
Tabadji have sent a complaint to the European Commissioner of Justice,
Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, Viviane Reding, and to that of
Education, Culture, Multilinguism and Youth, Androulla Vassiliou. The
MEPs consider it dysfunctional that 'the EU legislation prohibits and
combats discrimination for sexual orientation, religion, and ethnic
origin, but not in the cases in which citizens are discriminated against
for their language.' And they denounce that 'unfortunately, in some
member states, there is a systematic policy of language discrimination
whicih requires a legal response at a European level.'
Romeva was very frank: 'We are asking Commissioner Reding —Justice,
Fundamental Rights, and Citizenship—to stop saying that this is an
internal matter. People rely on Europe as a project that serves to
protect its rights. It's frustrating to have to spend ten years working
for Catalan to be an official language in the European institutions and
not have been successful. And I can tell that that makes many people
stop trusting the European project… It's a question of human rights, but
it's also the same idea as for the European Union. The EU cannot stop
being the guarantor of human rights.'
The MEPs and the Plataforma per la Llengua propose modifying the
directive 2000/78/EC from November 2000 on equality of treatment in the
labor market in order to disallow discrimination of a worker or
candidate in a job interview because of the language they speak. They
also want to include language in the proposal for a European directive
that 'implements the principle of equal treatment among people
irrespective of their religion or beliefs, capacities, age, or sexual
orientation.' In addition, they ask Reding and Vassiliou that they
articulate a specific directive on non-discriminatory language policy,
based on Article 21 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights.
The director of the Plataforma per la Llengua has accused the Spanish
State of 'not acting strongly enough' against the aggressions, and it
criticized it as a 'lack of sensitivity' and assured that 'it wants the
Catalan language to have the same recognition and rights of equality as
Spanish'.
In the dark of the hut, it is hard to see her, but the smell of death is unmistakable. The woman’s curled hand sticks out from beneath the bed she hid under in one last, futile act to save herself. Outside in the church compound, four other women lie dead, one with an obvious bullet hole in her head. In another room the bodies of six women lie in a mess of their embroidered sheets and foods, putrid body fluids and maggots that cover the floor.
Traveling around the South Sudan town of Bor, I saw scores of bodies and fresh graves. In the Block 10 neighborhood the bodies of a woman and a girl are rotting together in one room. “The woman stayed here because her daughter was sick,” a neighbor says. “But they were both killed by the rebels.”
#Thailand's
army says it will increase the number of troops in the capital on
standby to 10,000 ahead of Sunday's election that anti-government
protesters say they will disrupt as part of their campaign to overthrow
Prime Minister Yingluck #Shinawatra. http://aje.me/1e9welG
The government has pressed ahead with the Feb. 2 election, which protesters say they'll disrupt. [EPA] [-]
There are would-be murderers, all around the world who want to kill you and me, and themselves, because they are motivated by what they think is the highest ideal..." - Richard Dawkins. In this television documentary, Richard Dawkins raises the question, is religion the root of all evil and wouldn't the world be better without religion? Part 1 examines some unproven beliefs and miracles that are treated by many religions as genuine.
"Forget copyright infringement, YouTube is now complying with removal
orders from governments to stop populist rage going viral.
In a frightening example of how the state is tightening its grip around the free Internet, it has emerged that You Tube is complying with thousands of requests from governments to censor and remove videos that show protests and other examples of citizens simply asserting their rights, while also deleting search terms by government mandate.
The
latest example is You Tube’s compliance with a request from the British
government to censor footage of the British Constitution Group’s Lawful
Rebellion protest, during which they attempted to civilly arrest Judge
Michael Peake at Birkenhead county court.
.. We then click through to learn that, “YouTube occasionally receives requests from governments around the world to remove content from our site, and as a result, YouTube may block specific content in order to comply with local laws in certain countries.” "
The Philippine military has said at least 40 fighters have been killed
since it began an offensive against a rebel group on Monday. The leader of the BIFF, however, says their struggle is far from over.http://aje.me/1k7B56G
“The only way to stop the unprecedented homophobic witch-hunt taking
place in Côte d’Ivoire is for the authorities to investigate the attacks
and bring those responsible to justice. Failing to do that will only
lead for more violence,” said Gaëtan Mootoo, West Africa researcher at
Amnesty International.
The offices of Alternative Côte d’Ivoire were attacked by an homophobic mob.
Israeli soldiers have shot dead an 18-year-old Palestinian north of the
West Bank city of Ramallah, Palestinian medical and security sources
have said. http://aje.me/1exgvb4
Palestinian sources said Mubarak was working as a labourer for a local construction company [Reuters]
Fatimatu Yamsa knew that her desperate attempt to flee the slaughter all around her had failed as soon as she saw the Christian anti-balaka militia at a roadblock. Fatimatu was on a truck in Boali, about 100 kilometers northwest of Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic. Knowing she was about to die, Fatimatu pleaded with the Christian woman next to her to take her seven-month-old baby and pretend it was the woman’s own.
“If you make it to the next town, ask for the Yamsa family, and give them my baby,” Fatimatu pleaded in desperation as she was ordered to descend from the vehicle.
Local Christians, including
children, loot and burn homes in the Muslim neighborhood of PK13 located
on the outskirts of Bangui. After the Seleka’s self-appointed
president, Michael Djotodia, was forced from power on January 10th and
fled into exile, many Seleka fighters also fled. Anti-balaka forces
moved in attacking and killing the Muslim population and destroying
their homes and mosques. January 22, 2014.
The US National Security Agency and its UK counterpart, GCHQ, have the ability to harvest sensitive personal data from phone apps that transmit users’ data across the web, such as the extremely popular Angry Birds game.
Along with obtaining information about the specific dimensions and model of an individual’s iPhone or Android, the intelligence agencies are also able to acquire details on that person’s age, gender, and location. Details about a user’s political affiliation, sexual orientation, and how promiscuous they are may also be vulnerable.
As part of its latest reporting on leaked NSA documents, the New York Times did not properly redact a PDF that listed the name of a National Security Agency employee who prepared the document as well as a target of the program.
The Times published Monday the latest revelation stemming from leaks supplied by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, that US spy agency and its UK cohort, GCHQ, have the ability to harvest sensitive personal data from phone apps that transmit users’ data across the web, such as the extremely popular Angry Birds game.
"By failing to engage with other land users — which are both important
drivers of deforestation and potential agents of sustainable
alternatives — there is a risk that deforestation may cease in one area
but increase elsewhere," says Isilda Nhantumbo in a new blog addressing
private-sector REDD+ projects --> http://www.iied.org/what-s-missing-private-sector-redd
In talking with Betty Medsger about her new nonfiction book, The Burglary: The Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover's Secret FBI, one can hear her journalistic neutrality yield to an admiration for individuals who would risk their futures to expose government acts (in this case, by the FBI) that corrupt the Constitution.
Medsger broke the story with articles in The Washington Post about government files - obtained through a 1971 burglary of an FBI office - that documented a shadow FBI that spied at will on US citizens. Several decades later she spent years researching how this little-known robbery with a monumental impact came to be - and she learned for the first time who had carried it out, eluded the FBI and avoided prosecution.
"What Gar is talking about is not reform; it's revolution. If you have
worker-owned and worker-managed enterprises, you've got a different
sociopolitical system. Mondragón goes part of the way towards that: it's
worker-owned, not worker-managed, but a link-up to that would be a very
significant. " ― Noam Chomsky
The US government is reportedly looking at ways to prevent anyone from spying on its own surveillance programs of US citizens’ phone records.
The US government is quietly funding research to prevent phone company employees and other eavesdroppers from seeing who the US is spying on, The Associated Press has learned.
The research is being carried out as the Obama administration considers moving the collection of those records from the National Security Agency (NSA) to storing them with phone companies or elsewhere.
A newly unveiled agriculture bill in the United States is drawing heavy fire from Canada, which is threatening retaliatory action if the law’s country-of-origin labeling mandate earns enough support to go into effect.
On Monday, congressional lawmakers announced they had secured an agreement on a five-year farm bill that would leave in place rules requiring meat sold in US markets to detail its country of origin.
Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, has been
convulsed by violence for weeks, but most of the city’s hospitals are no
longer functioning. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières
(MSF) runs the only trauma unit in the city, at Community Hospital,
where staff have treated more than 800 patients—most with bullet or
knife wounds—since fighting broke out in early December. Here, project
coordinator Jessie Gaffric, who manages MSF’s operations at Community,
describes the situation:
“Last November, we had already identified a significant need for
surgical care and had begun working [at Community] on December 2. No one
suspected then that the situation would explode three days later.
“That day, we received 120 wounded patients and another 60 the
following day. We were submerged. We had to manage the situation under
extremely difficult conditions. It was chaos. Because the hospital did
not have enough room, we set up tents next to the building to house
patients who needed post-operative care. Over time and as the emergency
continued, we improved the patient pathway, management of the emergency
department and the quality of care.”
“On January 11, following the resignation of former president Mr.
Djotodia, we received more than fifty patients referred by other MSF
health centers located in Bangui or in IDP camps in the town.
“One man came by ambulance. He had been shot in the foot and tried to
treat his injury himself. The infection was so severe that his foot had
to be amputated. Another had had a motorcycle accident. A third had
knife wounds. Patients stream in every day and every case is different.
On average, 20 wounded people come to the hospital every day, with the
flow peaking on certain days.
“Our primary challenges have to do with insecurity and time management,
specifically because we must leave the hospital no later 6 pm, when
curfew begins. Nine expatriates and approximately 50 Central African
staff work in this facility. Of those, some are living in the displaced
persons camps. They cannot come to work when fighting occurs or must
even stay and sleep in the hospital. What is also striking is the
severity of the wounds, whether from a knife or machete. They attest to
the level of violence and its relentlessness.”
MSF has managed both of the Community Hospital’s two operating
rooms until now. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
recently took over one of them. Ultimately, the ICRC is expected to
assume responsibility for the entire surgical department and MSF is
preparing to work in another hospital in the city.
The capital of the Central African Republic, Bangui, for weeks is prey
to violence but most hospitals no longer work. Jessie Gaffric is the
project coordinator for MSF. She manages our activities in the only
trauma service within the city community hospital.
"
Since fighting broke
out in Bangui, on December 5, our teams have treated more than 800
patients, mostly gunshot wounds or stab.
Almost deserted, Avenue des
Martyrs, one of the main arteries of Bangui, seems quiet. Hard to
imagine that the same here last night violent clashes between armed
groups have taken place.
"
Very close, not far
from the stadium, is the community hospital, the reference structure of
the capital, a decrepit building with a trauma service, the only one in
town, currently managed by MSF.
"Since the month of November, we
identified a pressing need for surgical care and launched our business
on December 2," says Jessie Gaffric, MSF project coordinator. "No one
then suspected that the situation would explode three days later. That
day, we received 120 wounded and 60 more the next day. We were
collapsed. Had to handle the situation in extremely difficult
conditions, this was chaos. As there was no place
"
in the hospital, we
installed shopping on hospital premises to accommodate patients
requiring postoperative care. Eventually seeing the emergence and
continued, improved circuit of patients, emergency department
management, quality of care ... "
Since its opening, this service has
treated nearly 800 people injured, essentially gunshot and stab wounds.
On January 11, the day after the resignation of former president M.
Djotodia, we received fifty patients provided by other MSF health
centers in Bangui or in camps in the city at community hospital. A man
came by ambulance with a gunshot wound in the foot that had tried to
heal itself and it was so infected they had to amputate. Another had a
motorcycle accident. Another had a stab wound. Patients not stopped
arriving throughout the day and each case was different from the
previous.
On average, each day
twenty wounded arrive with peak influx few days.
"The main difficulties
we encountered are time management, especially because we have to leave
the hospital at 18pm at the latest hour curfew, when insecurity is
higher," says Jessie. "In this hospital we work nine expatriates and
Central African fifty employees. Among these, some are living in camps
and can not come to work when clashes occur or are forced to stay
overnight in the hospital. What also hits, is the severity of injuries
either white gun or machete.
"
All reflect a level of
violence and cruelty unlimited ... "
The two community hospital
operating theaters to date managed by MSF have just been made by the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Finally, the ICRC has
to stop assuming full surgical service.
While MSF is prepared
to work in another city hospital.
Central African Republic
Article 5 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights expressly forbids that any person “be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”
When then-Senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama promised to end torture, close the Guantanamo Bay gulag and restore habeas corpus, he was speaking to a fundamental desire within the American public consciousness to restore the ideals upon which the United States is based – ideals which had been all but discarded under the Bush administration.
Americans wanted an end to CIA torture sites, an end to “enhanced interrogation” and an end to arbitrary and indefinite detention. Once elected, President Obama did his best to present the appearance that the country had restored its humanity by signing Executive Order #13,491, effectively ending the “enhanced interrogation” policies enacted under George W. Bush.
In today's Brief: #CARcrisis "may need 10,000 troops"; #Kyrgyzstan police extort & abuse gay men; #Ukraine on the "brink of civil war"; 70-year wait for primary school; #UK mass surveillance illegal, says top lawyer; rethinking development; and poignant portraits of #Afghan refugee children.
We need your help, right now, to stop a new GMO being
grown on the fields. The EU member states will decide whether Pioneer's
GM maize (technical name 1507) will be allowed to be grown in Europe.
It is now clear that the final decision will be taken by the EU member states at a Council meeting on 11 February. Discussions preceding that may take place at meetings of the permanent representations on 29 January or 5 February.
This would be the first GM maize to be allowed for growing on the field in Europe since 1998.
The European Commission's freeze in negotiations over dangerous
corporate rights in the EU-US trade deal (TTIP) announced this week is
an important first success for the growing anti-TTIP movement. But a
closer look at the Commission’s line shows that it might just be a smart
trick to dispel concerns...
PROTESTS - Our reporter Gulliver Cragg gives FRANCE 24 English the latest news from Ukraine. http://youtu.be/h03uw_sR4Vs - According to you, will the government's concessions be enough to solve this political crisis?
La Catalogne sur la route de la Suisse, par Beatrice Riand "Et si
Mariano Rajoy, devenant enfin homme d’Etat, osait l’impensable, un geste
de gratitude envers la Catalogne, une parole marquant la fin des
hostilités verbales et la volonté de résoudre avec le Catalan ce moment
si difficile de l’inéluctable séparation. Faire l’accolade à Artur Mas
et accepter, même avec cette blessure d’orgueil si profonde, que la
Catalogne réussisse son indépendance. Et entrer ainsi sans le savoir
dans l’histoire du monde. Ce chemin, la Suisse peut aider l’Espagne à le
parcourir."
There is another important aspect to which I would like to draw your attention in today’s debate on foreign policy.
Our country’s foreign policy must reflect and respect the most
important principle of democracy. It is the principle which enabled us
to establish our own state of Latvia – it is the principle of
self-determination of nations. It is the fundamental legal basis, the
inherent fairness of which determined that the state created by the
Latvian people shall be independent and free.
Today, in the Europe of the 21st century, there is a nation that for
hundreds of years has confirmed its nationhood by its deep historical
and cultural roots, its own language and a unique identity. Much like
the Baltic nations in 1989, last September this nation joined hands in
the name of a noble and beautiful dream – their own independent state.
1.6 million people formed a living chain of almost 500 kilometres to
announce to the world: “We want to realize our basic right – our
nation’s right of self-determination.” Even in the Europe of the 21st
century there are people who doubt these rights.
I am speaking about the Catalans, whose
democratically elected parliament has announced a referendum on
independence on 9 November of this year. The highly-esteemed Georgetown
University has named this one of the most important foreign policy
events in 2014.
The media regularly use public opinion polls in their reporting of
important news stories. But how exactly do they report them and to what
end? In this insightful and accessible film, Professor Justin Lewis
demonstrates the way in which polling data are themselves used by the
media to not just reflect what Americans think but instead to construct
public opinion itself.
Personally, I'm skeptical of the idea of "conscious capitalism" because
its meaning could vary from truly radical and workable to super
watered-down and green-washed into meaninglessness.
My metric
of success? Don't call it conscious unless the profits of the business
are shared equitably between all workers and workers participate in
making decisions and owning the business.
The top-down,
authoritarian, wage labor system is THE WORST aspect of capitalist
businesses. One could even argue that without wage labor it isn't
capitalism, but at this point I really don't care what we call it.
We need cooperative, democratically managed businesses en masse
(otherwise known as WSDEs). And we need corporate charters and laws that
don't make PROFIT the one commandant that businesses shall not disobey.
Enter the B corporation and many other similar solutions.
Barcelona (ACN).- The General Assembly
of the International Federation of Liberal Youth (IFLRY) approved a
motion recognising the self-determination process in Catalonia. Last
weekend, Krakow has welcomed this meeting attended by the youth sections
of Liberal parties from all over the world. A hundred Liberal parties
backed the motion presented by the JNC, the youth section of Catalan
Liberal party ‘Convergència Democràctica de Catalunya’ (CDC). CDC is the
main force within the two-party Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU)
that is running the Catalan Government; the other force is the Christian
Democrats (UCD). CiU is in favour of holding a self-determination
referendum in Catalonia and was involved in the political agreement
reached last December to present a specific question and date. The
motion explicitly recognises Catalans’ right to decide on their own
collective future, following the example of the United Kingdom and
Scotland as well as the right to self-determination of nations, while
respecting legal frameworks. The President of the Catalan Liberal Youth
JNC, Marta Pascal, said she was “very pleased” to have fulfilled two
objectives: on the one hand, “internationalising the Catalan process,
with the support of a hundred of political youths around the world” and,
on the other hand, “demonstrating the usefulness, more than ever, of
voting Liberal.”
Marta Pascal, President of the Catalan Liberal Youth, speaking at the Catalan Parliament a few months ago (by R. Garrido)
Incredibly, who and what the police have
cashed everything relating to the checks in the danger area: among
others Plastic buckets, plastic bag and a tent ... " "However, only
taken a close look not ensured also was an untold number of toilet
brushes and a roll of toilet paper with the inscription" Peng "." Full
Hamburg laughs at the police!
In the danger areas a total of 19 fireworks and several weapons and Vermummungsgegenstände were seized by the police.
Photo: Marius Röer
Barcelona (ACN).- The Catalan business
community is deeply annoyed with the Spanish Government for not
publishing transparent data on Catalonia’s fiscal contribution to the
rest of Spain and therefore not recognising the fiscal deficit. On
Tuesday Catalonia’s main employers association – Foment del Treball –
demanded “top transparency” regarding the so-called fiscal balances,
which calculates how much money Catalan citizens and companies pay each
year to the Spanish Government in taxes and how much of this money comes
back to Catalonia in the form of investments, infrastructures and
services. Furthermore, on Monday, Luís Conde, President of Seeliger y
Conde, stated in a radio interview that businesspeople were outraged for
not publishing such information and changing the calculation method.
Conde had organised on Saturday in his country house a VIP lunch for
over 250 guests, including several Spanish and Catalan ministers,
political leaders and some of the main employers in Catalonia. The
closed-doors meeting with Catalonia’s main decision-makers and Spanish
authorities was held on the second day of the convention organised in Barcelona by the People’s Party (PP),
which runs the Spanish Government. The day before the lunch, the
Spanish Finance Minister, Cristóbal Montoro, announced that the
so-called fiscal balances would no longer be calculated and published in
the present form. Montoro was supposed to issue them last December but
their publication was inexplicably delayed. Instead, in late January, he
said he would publish in March the “regionalised public figures”
stating the costs of public services per citizen. This announcement
caused great astonishment and frustration among Catalan politicians,
businesspeople and academics, since there were great expectations to
know how much of the Catalan taxpayers’ money is spent in the rest of
Spain. The change of criteria implies that the Spanish Government
refused to publish this information in order not to fuel the support of
Catalan independence.
Previous studies have shown that Catalonia’s fiscal deficit
represents an average of 8% of its GDP, which means that each year
Catalans give away 43% of their taxes, some €16 billion per year. The
Spanish Government only published this information once, in 2008 with
data from 2005; it posted a fiscal deficit between 6.38% and 8.70% for Catalonia that year (depending on the calculation formula). Another study from the Catalan Government showed that an average of 8% of Catalonia’s GDP has been annually transferred to the rest of Spain between 1986 and 2010
using the money flow formula (which is the most-commonly used
calculation). This means that Catalans have given 200% of Catalonia’s
GDP to the rest of Spain in 25 years, an amount that nowadays represents
some €400 billion. The annual budget of the Catalan Government, which
exclusively pays for public healthcare, education and social policies, amounts to €29.31 billion for 2014; in 2012 it posted a deficit representing 2.21% of Catalonia’s GDP (some €4.4 billion).
Montoro criticised the fiscal balances but now says they are “correct”
On Friday, the Spanish Finance Minister justified the decision to
cancel the publication of the fiscal balances by saying they were
“incomplete and incoherent”. Montoro also criticised the Catalan
Government for basing its claims on these figures. However, after
hearing the reactions of the Catalan business community last weekend and
on Monday, he changed his stance. On Tuesday, Montoro recognised that
the fiscal balances are “correct” and “they are OK”. However he added
they are “wrongly used” to support Catalan independence claims. “There
are people who think that they need to become independent because of the
fiscal balance of their territory”, he stated. According to him, the
fiscal balances enabled “to transfer the citizens’ ideas” that were used
to foster “a spirit of confrontation” instead of “a vision for
integration”. “Far from rationalising the debate, what they have brought
is a confrontation”, Montoro said on Tuesday. He insisted that
“territories do not pay taxes but citizens do” and for this reason he
insisted on providing the “regionalised public figures” in relation with
the costs of public services. The aim is to offer “new arguments” and
to “go beyond the limitations of the current method”, he added.
The Catalan Government accuses Montoro of “censorship” and making a “partisan use” of this information
On Tuesday, the Spokesperson of the Catalan Government, Francesc
Homs, accused the Spanish Finance Minister of making a “partisan use” of
the information to calculate the fiscal balances between Catalonia and
Spain. Homs considered that the Spanish Government was “censoring” this
information as a “retaliation” to “punish” Catalonia for the
independence claims expressed by a large part of the society. The
Catalan Government asked the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, to
rectify and publish the fiscal balances. He pointed out that Rajoy had
announced they would be published before the end of 2013. Homs added
that the change of criteria and hiding these figures “does not help
rationalising the debate” on the relationship between Catalonia and
Spain.
On Friday evening, a few minutes after Montoro announced he would not
be publishing the fiscal balances, the Catalan Finances Minister,
Andreu Mas-Colell, asked the Spanish Government to publish the
information in order to enable other people to calculate the fiscal
balances. “Data is power, and we want transparency with the data”,
Mas-Colell emphasised. “We want the data” he demanded. Mas-Colell, who
is a former Professor of Economics at Harvard and Berkley, had suggested
a few days ago that the fiscal balances should be calculated by
independent international experts, in order to guarantee transparency
and shed light on this crucial aspect regarding the relationship between
Catalonia and Spain. On Friday, Mas-Colell said he was “disappointed”
about Montoro’s announcement. Furthermore, on Sunday, the Catalan
President, Artur Mas, had stated that not publishing this information is
a way “to cover up a problem that annoys” the Spanish Government. It is
a way “to cover up” the “existing inequalities in Spain to impoverish
the productive territories”, he added.
Catalan employers request “top transparency”
The main employer association in Catalonia, Foment del Treball,
considered it was “convenient” to publish the fiscal balances with the
traditional methodology. In a press release, Foment stated that the
publication of regionalised public figures does not justify not
publishing the other information. The Catalan employers association,
chaired by Joaquim Gay de Montellà, added that the new calculation can
complement the traditional methodologies and that both should be
offered. Both systems “can coexist with the objective to shed greater
light and offer greater data, with the will to help taking informed
decision based on objective figures”. Foment requested “top
transparency” from the Spanish Government.
A fairer fiscal scheme for Catalonia is “strategic” to recover from the economic crisis
Besides, the employers association added that solving the Spanish
Government’s investment deficit in Catalonia and the insufficient
funding of the Catalan Government to pay for public services “is
strategic to ensure the competitiveness of the Catalan economy”. On
Friday, while announcing the cancellation of the fiscal deficit,
Cristóbal Montoro also praised the Catalan economy for being Spain’s
main engine and “putting the country out of the [economic] crisis”. The
day before Montoro’s speech it was published that Catalonia is leading Spain’s unemployment reduction with a drop of 64,500 Catalan jobseekers while in the whole of Spain unemployment decreased by 69,100 people.
Legendary broadcaster Bill Moyers joins us to discuss his latest investigation which explores how the influence of large, untraceable political donations known as "dark money" have become the greatest threat to democracy in the United States. In "State of Conflict: North Carolina," Moyers and his team explore how wealthy right-wing donors are greatly influencing state politics. "This is more than North Carolina," Moyers says. "It's a harbinger of how organized money is the greatest threat to democracy because it unbalances of equilibrium. Democracy is suppose to check the excesses of private power and private greed and if money disestablishes that equilibrium we're in trouble." Moyers, the host of "Moyers & Company," also talks about the long fight to secure voting rights. Fifty years ago, he was serving in President Lyndon B. Johnson's administration at the time of the "Freedom Summer" campaign in 1964 and the formation of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. Moyers has won more than 30 Emmy Awards. He also was a founding organizer of the Peace Corps, served as press secretary for President Lyndon Johnson, and was a publisher of Newsday and senior correspondent for CBS News.
The National Security Agency and its UK counterpart GCHQ have been developing capabilities to take advantage of "leaky" smartphone apps, such as the wildly popular Angry Birds game, that transmit users' private information across the internet, according to top secret documents.
The data pouring onto communication networks from the new generation of iPhone and Android apps ranges from phone model and screen size to personal details such as age, gender and location. Some apps, the documents state, can share users' most sensitive information such as sexual orientation – and one app recorded in the material even sends specific sexual preferences such as whether or not the user may be a swinger.
Many smartphone owners will be unaware of the full extent this information is being shared across the internet, and even the most sophisticated would be unlikely to realise that all of it is available for the spy agencies to collect.
GCHQ documents use Angry Birds – reportedly downloaded more than 1.7bn times – as a case study for app data collection.
Today
the government’s proposed
Lobbying Bill
will go into parliamentary
ping-pong
between the House of Commons and the House of Lords. If this Bill passes
without significant amendments it will do nothing to stop secret corporate
lobbying, making a mockery of the coalition’s open government aspirations.
Every
year an estimated £2 billion is spent attempting to influence decisions in
Westminster, an amount that is topped only by spending in Washington and
Brussels. Even more than its counterparts across the channel and across the pond,
London’s lobbying industry has been able to operate in the dark, free from scrutiny
and interference: unregulated, unrecorded and unimpeded.
Four
years ago next month, just before the 2010 general election, David Cameron announced
his intention,
if elected, to tackle the “unhealthy influence” of “secret corporate lobbying”.
He pledged to “sort out” what he
called “crony capitalism”, to shine the “light of transparency” on lobbying,
and to force our political system to “come clean about who is buying power and
influence”.
Government wants to register Lobbying Agencies alone (Alliance for Lobbying Transparency)
