Location based News:
- With regard to the conflict in Afghanistan (noting that
Afghanistan was once a peaceful and modern society, even allowing women in
miniskirts, before the Russian invasion – see here):
a Finnish aid worker who was abducted four months ago in Afghanistan has been freed;
see also here; - With regard to Africa, the Africa
Center for Strategic Studies (and other sources) has:
- the imported pest fall armyworm is causing major problems to African agriculture;
- Australian miners have backed the ethical supply of minerals, as illegal mining in Africa impacts gorilla habitats (not to mention connections with child slavery and conflict … );
- helping women in African prisons with literacy (including a story about someone who was jailed because she didn’t know what the word “guilty” meant … );
- “leaked case files show “egregious mishandling” of sexual misconduct allegations against U.N. peacekeepers in Central African Republic”;
- an opposition proposal for transition has been rejected by allies of the President of the “Democratic” Republic of Congo, who want him included;
- ethnic fighting has killed 32 people in Ethiopia;
- Gabon is considering an amnesty for hundreds who were jailed for their role in violence after last year’s Presidential election;
- the EU has said Kenya’s elections were marred by confusion, rather than conspiracy;
- malnourishment is leading to stunting of children in Madagascar;
- “the remains of victims of concentration camps in Namibia which were gathered by a German racialist scientist for use in experiments have been found in the collection of a major US museum”;
- “at least 33 people drowned after an overloaded boat carrying traders from Niger capsized in northwest Nigeria”; Nigeria will build its biggest hydro-electric power plant;
- 35 people have been murdered in political violence in a South African province in just under two years;
- Tunisia has ended a ban on Muslim women marrying non-Muslims; allegations of connections between Tunisia’s President’s family and an illegal oil deal with the UAE;
- the experience of refugees in Uganda;
- Zimbabwe’s Ancient, Decrepit and Despotic Dictator Mugabe has appointed his Violent Spring Chicken Wife to a key electoral position; - With regard to China (may her
growing middle class bring a love of peace and freedom), East and
South East Asia and the Pacific (noting the risks of atrocities in North Korea and Burma):
- on China, including Hong Kong, the DPRK (North Korea) and South Korea (which need to accept their partition – for now – and sign a peace treaty), Taiwan, and the free but invaded and occupied nation of Tibet:
- noting the plans to ban new diesel and petrol vehicles by 2040 of France and Germany, as part of efforts to reduce pollution and carbon emissions China, the world's biggest car market (they made 28 million cars last year), also has started planning to ban the production and sale of diesel and petrol cars and vans (the date has not yet been set). Also, Chinese-owned carmaker Volvo said in July that all its new car models would have an electric motor from 2019. China's proposed ban on non-electric cars could be a tipping point (and a revival for Aussie car industry); “fifteen Chinese fishing boats [have been] caught with thousands of sharks in Timor-Leste waters in a joint raid by local police and activist group Sea Shepherd”;
- businesses outside North Korea “from Europe to Asia” are being used to fund the “lavish lifestyle” of that nation’s leader;
- South Korea has tested a stealth cruise missile; an assessment of the possibility that South Korea could try to assassinate the DPRK’s leader (and why);
- elsewhere in Asia:
- violence and the disintegration of democracy in Cambodia – and a call for sanctions;
- an Indonesian woman has been caned for adultery (which I consider utterly barbaric – President Widodo, you are better than this!);
- the Philippines have given an annual budget of just 1,000 pesos ($20) to the public body investigating the country's controversial war on drugs – which critics say is punishment for the body's staunch criticism of the so-called “drugs war” (and makes a mockery of what little was left of that nation’s reputation); according to his sister, the Philippines President has a problem with women;
- Singapore has selected it’s only candidate for President … ;
- and in the Pacific: “Papua New Guinea's biggest Opposition party has split, with its leader and most of its members joining the Government”; “tens of thousands of Papua New Guineans have been without electricity for the past two days because of an electronic payment system glitch”; - With regard to Europe and the European
Union (EU):
- Norway's conservative party appears set for a second term after hooking up with an anti-immigration party and promising tax cuts (the opposition Labour Party campaigned on a promise to raise taxes for the wealthiest in a bid to improve public services);
- Spain's public prosecutor in Catalonia has ordered the seizure of all ballot papers ahead of a banned independence referendum deemed illegal ... ; - With regard to the conflict in Iraq (noting that Iraq was once a peaceful and
prosperous society, before the UK / USA / CIA backed revolution – see here, and that it needs an emphasis on
a secular society and
citizenship – but also here, although based
in Syria and here):
- an article on the “battle” to rebuild a devastated Iraq; the President “of Iraqi Kurdistan has signalled it will draw the borders of a future Kurdish state if Baghdad does not accept a vote for independence in a referendum due later this month”; Iraq's Parliament has voted to continue subjugating the Kurds; Iraq is holding 1,000 family members of suspected violent extremists; volunteers have saved thousands of books from Mosul’s library, which had been burned by violent extremists;
- and the Iraq Body Count project reports 71 people violently killed in the last week; - With regard
to the Libyan civil war:
the UN Security Council has “extended for one year the mandate of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, focused on supporting the North African country's political process and key national institutions, as well as coordination of international assistance”; despite the human rights abuses, the EU will continue blocking refugees from Libya; - With regard to Russia (which is
currently supporting an – in my opinion, based on R2P principles - illegitimate
regime in Syria), Russian influenced nations and eastern Europe, and
responses (see also the section on Europe):
rage at a controversial film about Russia’s last tsar is suspected as a motive in arson attacks on cars (which were unconnected to the film, or anyone connected to the film … ); the joint military exercise by Russia and Belarus (and such things are genuinely needed if forces are to work effectively together, as is demonstrated by the USA and South Korea), part of a four-year rolling cycle of manoeuvres that focus each year on one broad region or "front" ("West", "Eastern", "Central" or "Caucasus") is drawing much greater attention than did its predecessor in 2013 – which is understandable, given Russia’s invasions since then (are they bigger than normal, or just big? The reporting leaves much to be desired … ); “co-ordinated groups of Twitter bots pushing pro-Russian propaganda have developed an odd but occasionally effective strategy - retweeting messages that the bot-makers disagree with and flooding their enemies with followers” – see also here; Egyptian-Russian military exercises are underway; “in a move likely to escalate tensions between [the USA and Russia], the Department of Homeland Security has ordered all federal agencies to stop using software made by the Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab”; - With regard
to South and Central America:
- even in the midst of the tragedy of Mexico’s earthquake, the generosity is overwhelming, as shown by one man in a city of 100,000 where one-third of all the houses are now uninhabitable;
- gold prospectors may have killed up to a fifth of the members of a so-called uncontacted tribe in Brazil's Amazon – and boasted about it, and paraded “trophies” … ; hours before a new corruption investigation into him was authorised, Brazil's President has accused his country's judiciary of using allegations of corruption – which he denies - to destroy reputations;
- Venezuela's proposal for people to eat rabbits has been met with contempt; - With regard to South Asia (aka
the Indian
sub-continent), The
Hindu and other sources have:
- the terrible injuries and other consequences of India’s indiscriminate use of shotguns for crowd control; one death and continuing mortar fire on the India-Pakistan border;
- on India:
- a detailed assessment of why inequality in India is at its highest level in 92 years; “a strange pattern of tropical cyclones in the Western Pacific appear to be the reason for the drying up of monsoon rains in August across India”; the families of prisoners who died in Indian jails (from unnatural causes) must be compensated; a warning has been issued on an internet game which sets dangerous challenges for children that has led to at least one death; “miracle” busting in India; developing ties between India and japan;
- on Pakistan:
- Pakistan has, without explanation, told the renowned medical aid charity Médecins Sans Frontières to close its operations in a violent extremist-hit tribal district on the Afghan border, where it had been operating since 2004; "the bodies of a teenage Pakistani couple feared murdered in an "honour killing" bear marks suggesting they were electrocuted"; a “Christian man [has been] sentenced to death for blasphemy in Pakistan” (“civil rights groups argue that some Muslims use the laws to settle personal disputes with the minorities”);
- elsewhere in South Asia:
- the loss of Bangladeshis to abusive work in West Asia and elsewhere; - With regard to Sudan and South Sudan:
- arms proliferation remains a problem in Darfur, Sudan, but the area is clam;
- the UN says the security situation in South Sudan has improved, but has cautioned against holding elections until the four year long civil war ends, and will discuss the growing humanitarian crisis; - With regard
to the conflict in Syria, where Assad’s regime has, in my opinion, lost all
claims to legitimacy, and it is time to consider partition (see here, here, here and here):
one man’s story of how his village ejected violent extremists (published on a credible news site); a new “de-escalation zone” in Syria has been agreed; - With regard
to Turkey:
Turkey is heading towards more open worship of the Ottoman Empire; - With regard to West Asia (aka “the
Middle East”) and North Africa, the Middle
East Eye and other sources have:
- on Israel and Palestine: Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are using street art to keep hope alive; a cinema has reopened in Gaza after 30 years; the Israeli government is trying to overturn the separation of powers; threats of violence against BDS supporters, and “Western supremacist” groups in the USA;
- elsewhere in the region:
- Egyptian-Russian military exercises are underway;
- the plight of Afghani refugees, driven out in 1979, in Iran; Iran is trying to gain political capital out of the Rohingya crisis; Kurds in Iran;
- a Jordanian woman is fighting prejudice to take to body building;
- Saudi Arabia is continuing to crack down on dissent; possible meetings between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
Other News:
- “a landmark court hearing involving [a casino] and [a] poker machine manufacturer … has been told that pokies have been deceptively designed to give players the impression they have won when they have not” (I know 2 people who lost homes from pokie addiction, but I’m not sure the case is on a sound legal footing – even if their claims are correct: see here for a better informed analysis);
General Comments/Information
(Dear Reader, please remember, I expect you
to think when reading this blog, and I reserve the right to occasionally sneak
in something to test that)
Many
others are very capably doing this type of work – for instance, the Lucis Trust's Triangles network (which has been running for many decades), the Correllian
Tradition's 'Spiritual
War for Peace' (see also here,
here,
and here), the Hope, Peace, Love and Prosperity Spell
(also from the Correllian Tradition, in around 2007 or 2008), the Healing Minute started by the
late, great Harry
Edwards (running for decades);
the “Network of Light” meditations; and
also see here, here and here –
even commercial organisations (for instance, see here), online groups (e.g. here
and here
– which I do not know the quality of)
and even an app. Thus, if you don't like what I am suggesting here, but want to be
of service, there are many other opportunities for you – including
secular opportunities: e.g., see here,
here and here. Again, activism
in the physical world is also required - see here,
here
and here,
here,
and, of course, here.
(Please note that I now specifically have a role for (absent) healers
on Saturdays, as explained in the Psychic Weather Report posts. Anyone who
wishes to be protector has a role every day :). At all times, on all levels and
in ways, BOTH must ALWAYS be
BPM in the way they perform such roles.)
If I am ever late getting
my Psychic Weather Report up any week, there is a default
plan.
I apologise for publishing these posts
twice, but Blogger keeps changing my formatting.
No signature block for these posts.
