I'll be resuming these properly next week.
*****
As the Robert
Mueller-led investigation
into Russian
interference in the 2016 US Presidential election shows connections to the
Russian government
for the first time, an article is published on standing
up to authority, and a call is made by a major technology company for regulation
of facial recognition because of “the potential for abuse” (see also here on Australia’s new online health records system), the USA’s racist CEO
(aka 45th “President”) has
completed his un-presidential swath
of destruction through Europe [including
Ukraine]
(this is a good example of why I refer to
that evil person as Voldemort II - another example is the way the USA is dragging its heels on
complying with a US court order to reunite refugee/asylum seeker/”immigrant”
families).
In the course of completing his swath of
destruction, the US “President”, behaving more like a CEO on a junket, has contradicted
the US intelligence and investigation communities (followed by a blatant lie to try to retract what he said – but see also here, here, and here), resulting in condemnation
from both
sides
of politics in the USA (although his
supporter base is being more tested by the effects of the developing trade war with China) and elsewhere
(see also here),and calls for more secure
elections. His “strongman” tactics have also been criticised,
as has his selective
use of intelligence, and an article has stated that left
politics can win in the USA - if policies engages grassroots leaders. In
the response, an insensitive MP has suggested the parents of victims on a plane
shot down by Russian armed reels should ignore
it – which is a perfect example of the emotional incompetence of
neoliberals who do not understand why an apology for past abuses s necessary.
The nation he has been playing up to –
Russia - has been criticised for exceptionally
severe treatment of female protestors.
The USA, in the meantime, has been
criticised for “the profound cost of American exceptionalism” (an excellent article, with good graphs).
Evidence shows burma’s military deliberately
planned the genocide of the Rohingya.
Controversially, Israel – which is getting closer to China - has
enshrined itself as a Jewish nation (this is different from existing to provide
a safe haven for Jew: this step disenfranchises all non-Jews). Turkey has lifted its two year
state of emergency (now that its President has got the power he wants?).
Also on abuses of power, an excellent
analysis has been published of one Australian political party’s incorrect
claim that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission supported
coal-fired power stations, and on branch
stacking in another party, which – in an Australian version of the FBI’s stuff
up over Hilary Clinton’s emails - may
be subjected to a police investigation over misuse of public funds and is
having problems with infighting.
Journalists have been shut
out of an event. An authority head was “moved
on” for trying to do the right thing. Another
holding to account involving “raising of consciousness” (i.e., education) has led to a cisgender actress withdrawing
from a transgender role. Also on holding to
account, an examination of how “good eating” became “an excuse to judge ‘bad’ people” can be found here
– which is the sort of moral snobbery that exists in many other places as well,
and underlies problems such as social classism, sexism, religious snobbery and
hate (leading to things such as Nigerian children
being accused of harmful witchcraft), and so forth, and an infamous torture
and murder case from the 1950s that led to the modern civirl rights movement
will be re-investigated
. Other analyses (i.e., an academic
“holding to account”) have shown that the sexist assumptions of
micro-assistance programmes aimed at empowering women can cause long
term harm, high government funding income enables
the hiding of budgetary problems, and a proposed coal mine in Australia
will cause more
job losses than it creates. The use of police to kill “socially suspect”
people may now have reached Indonesia, where police have shot 52 suspects, killing
11, in a two week period. A controversial “food delivery” company has threatened
to sack workers if they do not sign new employment contracts. China is abusing
its power by providing hospital ships for Pacific nations if they do not
recognise Taiwan – and it is now calling
in its loans to at least one of those nations (a call has been made for Australia
to fund development instead). As a deportee is arrested
upon being returned to his point of origin, Australia (and at least one problem in the UK) is continuing
to commit unconscionable
abuse
of refugees (and pushing for assimilation
of immigrants as our criticised
deportation policies put the relationship with New Zealand at
risk). Cameroon’s crisis
is continuing. A French Presidential bodyguard beat
a protestor. The US EPA protected its disgraced former leader against
formaldehyde as he stopped
others being protected. Search
engines are being sued for defamation, and a social media company will remove
posts that could lead to violence from some, but not
all, of its platforms. Viêt Nám has used cybersecurity as an
excuse to impose rules that will enable it to suppress
dissent more readily . . . and Egypt also cracks
down on social media (and some
Chinese language social media is dangerously
ludicrous).
There has also been a call
for more federal police resources as evidence of foreign corruption emerges
against yet another Australian company. Elsewhere, Iraqis have stormed a local
government building in protest
at corruption. Tanzania set an examples of bad governance when its
President’s claimed
–contrary to Articles 4 and 5 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights – that prisoners are “free” (i.e., slave)
labour, and should be violently assaulted if necessary.
Encouragingly, a Pakistani politician has
returned to face his corruption
sentence (and four trans candidates are
standing for election in a campaign which has included accusations of security
establishment interference), a US authority has admitted
mistakes in its response to the disaster in Puerto Rica, my home state is acting to boost
women in local government, religious freedom can be protected by minor
tweaks, a celebrity has won a privacy
case.
Problems with systems (i.e., aspects of governance) have been shown by the appalling grilling
of a rape victim, the failure
to support a woman with disability whose abusive partner was removed, failure
to deal with bullying which resulted in the victim being jailed for assault
when he lashed out, inadequate
training of prison guards on indigenous issues, simplistic and downright stupid
assumptions
by some prison guards who wound up killing an indigenous prisoner, stuffed
up security for Australia’s online heath records system, continuing
unemployment and stagnant wages, disillusionment
with politicians, ambulance
organisations’ use of aggressive
debt collectors is making members of the public less
likely to help others.
Problems with cultures have been
illustrated by sexist
reactions to a female TV character, and the appalling
prolonged gang rape of a girl in India
. . . and of a tourist
. . . at least Spain
is doing something positive (and unis;
Spain has also dropped
its extradition request against Catalan separatists who fled). Street art
is being used to warn
Kenyans of the risk of slavery. Other cultural; issues include a blind medical
profession addiction to prescribing drugs
for depression, and a counter
to the tap-and-go culture. Pill
testing has led to a decrease in drug use at a festival. More on pop
up shelters to help the homeless.
Problems with workplace cultures include
CEOs not
understanding how angry workers are about the excessive pay given to
executives, and yet another nail
in the open office coffin (the
article is wrong when it claims this about collaboration: it started to cut
costs; that’s also why it continues despite so much evidence of problems – it
is cheaper).
Political problems including pressure on
engineers not
to speak out, the abuse
of a female politician caught between two unions and a government policy.
I also heard a radio debate on population
growth in Australia which suggested increasing humanitarian intake while
reducing overall immigration. I consider there are environmental grounds for
that (especially around having limited
water), but the economic arguments are, in my view debatable – immigrants,
for example, are often younger and thus can help with the issue of an ageing
population. We are also putting our food production at
risk as we continue to lose agricultural land to the greed and
short-sightedness of developers (when I
started work in central Queensland in 1980, the local Council was trying to
steer development around good agricultural land. All Councils need to do that –
rather than idiotic things like converting prime agricultural land to the
suburb of Park Orchards. And rates need to be kept low to help those pockets!)
On the environment, the problem of high
night time temperatures is getting worse,
pesticide poisoning
in Brazil, examination
of sustainability certification, Norway
is leading the way on deforestation, a call for business to commit genuinely
to sustainability, the USA is worst
on extinctions, recycling mistakes,
dirty water is slowing
the rates of recovery of the Great Barrier Reef, faster
recycling, an article on how corporations shifted
responsibility for recycling from themselves to us, whales are being
crowded,
and staggering
and deliberate waste to maintain high costs in the fashion industry.
There has also been a racist
beat ups by Australia’s neoliberal party and sections of the media, staggering
personal abuse
by a US inventor when his invention for the recent cave rescue of a boys sports
in Thailand was rejected – leading to his company losing $2 billion in value on
the stock market and the recipient of the abuse considering legal action before
investors demanded
and got
him to issue an apology.
Elsewhere in the world, as Israeli military
forces threaten
Syrians fleeing Russian-backed forces of the Assad regime and kill
more Palestinians (this time in air
attacks) before a ceasefire
was agreed, a comment
has been published that calling for the “right
of return” undermines a potential two
state solution and “fuels conflict”. Tensions are growing between Turkey
and Syria and the accord between those two nations is at
risk. Student protestors
in Nicaragua were attacked and one killed. The USA has rewarded
the misogynistic violent extremists in Afghanistan’s Taliban by agreeing to
talk directly with them: those talks may end the overtly violent conflict, but
at the risk of allowing violence against women and minorities to continue. The
US government is also listening to a US think tank that is advocating for regime
change in Iran.
During the week, I also heard a speaker at
a meeting state that 50% of PNG kids are stunted – more than the 20% in North
Korea, which I had thought was terrible. That speaker also talked about the
years of displacement and discrimination that led to fighting back and then the
massive ethnic cleansing of Rohingya – more on that here.
He also pointed out that refugee kids who can’t go to school for years may well become
the next batch of extremists – just as happened in burma.
In encouraging
news, Cuba will recognise private property for the first time since the 1959
revolution, and South Sudan’s leader claims
to be ready for peace . . . (we’ve
been here before) … and … some success in a campaign against
slavery in Thailand as Australia imports
billions of dollars’ worth of potentially slave-made goods.
Finally …
