Saturday, 15 June 2024

FROM this week’s news ON: politics & democracy, and international affairs, including the war in West Asia [Note: Content Warning - links to distressing reports on this topic. Reader discretion is advised]

Note: CONTENT WARNING - some of this content is about upsetting, disturbing or triggering events & attitudes. Seek competent help - including professional - if you need it. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that linked articles may contains names and/or images of deceased people. READER CAUTION IS RECOMMENDED! For anyone distressed by anything in this post, or for any other reason considering seeking support, resources are available in Australia here, here, and here. In other nations, you will have to do an Internet search using terms such as “mental health support - <your nation>” (which, for instance, may lead to this, this, and this, in the USA, or this, this, and this, in France [biased towards English-language - my apologies]), or perhaps try https://www.befrienders.org/. 

Note: in my “from the news” posts, quotes are shown italicised and blue, my comments are in a different shade of blue, and “good” items are (when I remember) shown in green. I have loosely grouped the posts where such seemed reasonable, but that is subjective (i.e., my opinion - others are free to disagree), and challenging, as some posts belong in multiple “groups”.

 

From thiis week’s news on the war in West Asia, politics & democracy, and international affairs (note: I may continue to add links for a few days, possibly up to a week, after these are published), and noting the conflicts, listed here, for instance, and other global issues, such as those listed here, that may not have made it into this weeks news (please note: this is a cut down and/or  version of what I used to do): 

 

the war in West Asia (note: I object to the colonial term “Middle East”), in imperialistic Israel, Gaza, and adjoining nations: 

Note: my usual preamble to these posts can be found on the post at https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2024/04/from-this-weeks-news-on-war-in-west_24.html. I will omit the full version of that from now on for the sake of brevity, but the main points are:   (i) I do not give violent extremists/other mass murderers the oxygen of publicity, nor the satisfaction of using the t word;   (ii) _____ have for many years been identified as genocidal;   (iii) I consider a safe place for Jewish people must exist because of the world's collective failures on antisemitism - everywhere, not only Germany of the 1930s/40s, but the Arab nations’ proposal for a single nation with Arab and Jewish provinces should have been given more consideration, IMO;   (iv) now, Israel's existence can ONLY be morally justified as part of a two state solution where Palestine becomes a modern, functional, prosperous sovereign nation-state;   (v) I note   https://theconversation.com/when-is-criticism-of-israel-antisemitic-a-scholar-of-modern-jewish-history-explains-220995   on when criticism of Israel becomes antisemitic;   (vi) Israel’s conduct since the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the collapse of the Oslo Accords has been both devastating to its victims and damaging of its standing, and its conduct now risks an even more self-damaging Pyrrhic “victory”;   (vii) note that the ICJ has issued preliminary directions, but not made a formal finding regarding genocide.



on peace/ceasefires:



on human rights and human suffering (on both sides) aspects:


  • “Israel joins I__L, T_____n, Sudan on UN Blacklist of Violators of Children, Killing or Maiming 20,000 last Year”   https://www.juancole.com/2024/06/blacklist-violators-children.html   “_____ and the Palestinian _______ _____ have been added to this category this year as well, especially for their attacks on Israeli children on October 7, 2023.”     

  • “UN Commission of Inquiry: Israel guilty of Crimes against Humanity, _____ Guilty of War Crimes”   https://www.juancole.com/2024/06/commission-inquiry-humanity.html   “The IICIOPTI made an extensive investigation into the October 7 massacre in Israel staged by the _____ paramilitary and its allies. The Commission “met with more than 70 victims and witnesses, more than two thirds of them women.” It also sought out open-source reporting on the events of that horrible day. The Palestine Authority (led by the PLO, the primary rival to Hamas) provided it with further information. Israeli authorities declined to cooperate with the commission and attempted to obstruct its work by forbidding Israeli physicians to talk to it.”   Despite that, the article includes considerable information on the event that started this calamitous war - including around 15,000 wounded and 150,000 displaced - many still displaced. Figures were reported for the victims of Israeli attacks, with a note that they are likely lower than reality, owing to the number of bodies still hidden under rubble, and an assessment made of likely orders - with commentary on the difference between this and previous attacks on Gaza     


on military aspects:



regionally:


  • “It Is Time to Rethink Red Sea Convoys! | The H_____s Have Diverted 2 Out Of 3 Ships Around Africa”   https://youtu.be/hvT61UoxPGs?si=O1cQZmgkG59Cmxsq   This is a comprehensive and sound overview of the effects of the H_____ on shipping, the nominal (token) response of some of those nations affected, and what could be done to change the situation. I particularly appreciated the criticism - by a US YouTube channel - of the USA’s failure to sign a key international treaty      



internationally:

 


global:  

 

 

  • “Canada’s Big Worry: A US Civil War”   https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/06/11/canada-us-civil-war-00162521   “There is one credible scenario for American civil war, drawn not from the distant past or from far away but from a recent, nearby example — Canada’s own.   The Quebec separatism battle of the 1960s was not a full-blown civil war, but it was a sustained, violent attack on the state, carried out by sectional militants who believed the federal system had changed in unacceptable ways. Nearly a decade of bombings, robberies and kidnappings culminated in the October Crisis of 1970”   I consider the example to be a likely example of how such violence could occur (see also here) - IF it does      
  • “UN envoy warns Yemenis not to return to the battlefield”   https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/06/1151026   “After months of relative stability in Yemen between Government and Houthi forces, a return to all-out war is looking inevitable unless the current escalation in violence is halted, the top UN envoy for the country said”      
  • “Great Expectations: The Future of Iranian-Saudi Détente”   https://www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/gulf-and-arabian-peninsula/iran-saudi-arabia/b92-great-expectations-future   “Progress in restoring relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia has sputtered over a year after China brokered a rapprochement. To get it going again, the two states will need to contain disagreements while they work to advance in less political domains.   ...   If the two states do not build on the 2023 deal, they could revert to that acrimony, leading to dangerous incidents like the 2019 attack on oil installations in Saudi Arabia.”     


  • “Elite researchers in China say they had ‘no choice’ but to commit misconduct”   https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-01697-y   “Anonymous interviewees say they engaged in unethical behaviour to protect their jobs — although others say study presents an overly negative view.”   Hmm ...     




Australia: 


“Human rights and legal groups warn Queensland’s proposed ‘castle law’ law will encourage vigilantism”   https://nit.com.au/12-06-2024/11947/proposed-castle-law-law-in-queensland-will-allow-vigilantism-human-rights-legal-groups-say   “A proposed law allowing Queenslanders to kill home intruders without legal consequences has been heavily criticised as effectively sanctioning “state-supported murder,” as the discussion around crime continues to surface before the upcoming state election.”   The problem in Queensland is not just government decisions; it is also the violent racism of too many voters ...      a The Guardian exclusive reports:   “Queensland Labor shelves reforms to stop faith-based schools discriminating against gay teachers”   https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/jun/14/queensland-labor-shelves-reforms-to-stop-faith-based-schools-discriminating-against-gay-teachers   “Exclusive: Disabled people, DV victims also at risk after broken promise to pass new anti-discrimination laws, advocates say”   The problem in Queensland is not just government decisions; it is also the bigotry of too many voters ...       

 

“The robodebt six: why it’s time we were told who was referred to the corruption commission | Paul Karp | The Guardian”   https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/jun/10/the-robodebt-six-why-its-time-we-were-told-who-was-referred-to-the-corruption-commission-ntwnfb     


My links for activism post may aid any activism you may decide to do on any/all of these. If you do, don’t get too fixated on specific instances of problems - important though they may well be: take a moment to also consider the broader issues these incidents and groups of incidents may suggest/reveal.

Note: as with other mass murderers/serial killers/and the like, violent extremists and other evil people/groups crave publicity, so I refuse to give that to them - including not using their names (which is a policy adopted by good law enforcement and media for other mass murderers - and I can do as I am a secondary news source [the name(s) are often in the primary sources if people wish to know them] ).

 

 

 

Assumptions / basis 

In writing this, I have assumed / started from the following: 

  • this blog states quite clearly that it is about political and human rights matters, including lived experience of problems, and thus I will assume readers are reasonable people who have noted the content warning in the post header;

Possible flaws 

Where I can, I will try to highlight possible flaws / issues you should consider:

  • there may be flawed logical arguments in the above: to find out more about such flaws and thinking generally, I recommend Brendan  Myers’ free online course “Clear and Present Thinking”; 
  • I could be wrong - so keep your thinking caps on, and make up your own minds for yourself.

 

If they are of any use of interest, the activism information links from my former news posts are available in this post. 

 

If you appreciated this post, please consider promoting it - there are some links below. 

Note that, as with my main blog [see here], I am cutting back on aspects of my posts.

Remember: we need to be more human being rather than human doing, and all misgendering is an act of active transphobia/transmisia that puts trans+ lives at risk & accept that all insistence on the use of “trans” as a descriptor comes with commensurate use of “cis” as a descriptor to prevent “othering”.

Copyright © Kayleen White 2016-2024     NO AI   I do not consent to any machine learning aka Artificial Intelligence (AI), generative AI, large language model, machine learning, chatbot, or other automated analysis, generative process, or replication program to reproduce, mimic, remix, summarise, or otherwise  replicate any part of this post or other posts on this blog via any means. Typo’s may be inserrted deliberately to demonstrate this is not an AI product.     Otherwise, fair and reasonable use is accepted under Creative Commons 4.0 on an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike basis   https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/  

 

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