On psychic, spiritual and related matters, including interesting reading:
- conspiracy fantasists can't think;
(Mægan)
On Uganda this week:
- Museveni is continuing his stay in, and abuse of, power - see here on a land grab;
- privacy concerns over planned mandatory car tracking includes problems with the selected Russian company;
- a ban on plastic bags;
- private organisations may make up the shortfall on vaccines;
- a soldier has been arrested for what is - in terms of Ugandan history - a relatively mild breach of human rights (is this a distraction from more serious crimes, or a step in the right direction? Will the punishment be appropriate?);
- allegations police have been selling impounded vehicles;
On Burma this week:
- the protests and killing continue - see here,
- the double crisis in Burma;
- the army's business riches behind the coup;
From the news this week:
- on the climate crisis and the environment:
WE ARE STILL RUNNING ON THE SCHEDULE PREDICTED IN THE 1970S THAT PREDICTED CIVILISATION WOULD COLLAPSE AROUND 2040; the Netherlands boost its flood defences and extreme weather occurs ahead of negotiations "to validate a UN science report that will anchor autumn summits charged with preventing climate catastrophe on a planetary scale"; the ALP under Gillard carbon taxed big polluters, the neolib nitwits under dinosaur Abbott made taxpayers pay carbon polluters, and now EU will carbon tax companies; a call for more small farms; the USA as an idiocracy; growing pressure for France's President to "apologise for the devastating legacy of decades of nuclear testing in French Polynesia"; environmental legal activism in response to years of government, business & community inaction and ineptness; where solar panels are effective; the UK's Court of Appeal has reopened a legal case against a mining company for a dam failure that caused Brazil's biggest environmental disaster; "US, European and UK diplomats meet to encourage Australia to ramp up climate action" (our wilful backwardness on this makes me embarrassed to be Australian); concerns about possible corrupt connections of companies awarded gas fracking contracts in the NT; no apology but France “owed “a debt” to French Polynesia over nuclear tests conducted in the South Pacific territory between 1966 and 1996”; the (economically expensive) problem of pest species; Senegal's green defence; work is progressing on removing asbestos in Cambodia;
(responsibility) - on international relations including war:
a deal to complete a gas pipeline has stoked "fears of Russian aggression in eastern Europe"; China has responded with counter-sanctions against the USA; concerns over China's growing nuclear armed missile capability; Turkey is cultivating its position with the nations of the Sahel; "North and South Korea agree to restore cross-border communications"; in response to advances by VEs, most of Afghanistan is being under a night time curfew - see also this assessment; opposition groups have backed the peace deal in South Sudan; "Sudan in crisis as mistrust poisons security sector reform agenda"; fears that the disaster in Afghanistan may be exported to Pakistan and India (which is reforming its military) - possibly leading to another border conflict or even war; the fighting in Tigray could threaten Ethiopia; criticism of Israel's observer status at the AU; a drone attack on an Israeli-owned oil tanker off Oman has been blamed on Iran; China wants to provide weapons to CAR, but others want an arms embargo; surveillance in Asia;
- on the COVID-19 pandemic:
ways to manage the long ignored reality of airborne transmission; more on the mental impacts of lockdown; anti-lockdown conspiracy fantasists are now facing a conspiracy fantasy that their protests are police "honeypot" traps . . . (wow - talk about being hoisted by one's own petard 😁 ); "challenges of taking care of a child with special needs in times of COVID-19"; the World Bank will pay for more vaccinations for poorer nations; families in India left with crippling debts; the need for basic computer security measures; the "IMF warns of growing poverty, unrest and geopolitical tensions" after the pandemic; GRAVE CONCERNS OVER THE INVOLVEMENT OF AUSTRALIA'S MILITARY IN A CIVIL OBEDIENCE CAMPAIGN; NSW is prioritising politics over the pandemic, according to doctors;
(Berkana - healing & compassion) - on genocides and other human rights issues:
"free speech doesn’t give you the right to endanger other people’s health"; since it has failed every other time, Israel is trying collective punishment of Gazans again; disturbing concerns about one popular social media platform - and anorexia nervosa predators; a refugee team is at the olympics; ageism in the workforce; “Federal Court judge orders 'very large' NT youth justice class action settlement figure be made public” (to happen soon); scores of refugees have drowned when their boat capsized in the Mediterranean; yet more oppression in Belarus - which is kept afloat on Russian roubles; "Haitians displaced by gang violence face [a] bleak future"; another US state has banned child marriage; AFTER MANY WARNINGS, MOBILE PHONE LOCATION DATA HAS BEEN WEAPONISED BY BIGOTS - see also this; a call for Morocco not to deport a Uyghur to China; a backlash against human rights; Genocide Watch considers Afghanistan to be at Stage 9: Extermination; Genocide Watch considers Nigeria to be at Stage 9: Extermination (by violent extremists) and Stage 10: Denial; genocide denial has been banned in Bosnia; we will return stolen artefacts to India; an extremely bigoted RWNJ has been dropped from one of his media roles - not over inciting hate, but over COVID lies; a Syrian doctor has been charged with committing torture; lawyers have expressed concern about a notorious secret trial in Australia and its potential to undermine the justice system; the successful defence against a defamation case lodged by a politician will be kept secret; a court has overturned a company's decision to sack 200 workers and outsource their jobs (but that will be appealed);
- from Human Rights Watch:
concerns over new civilian deaths at the hands of Afghanistan's Taliban; Tunisia faces political crisis; Australia should support equitable vaccine access; Saudi Arabia punishes ex-official's children; a massive purge of civic groups in Belarus; France ratifies workplace violence treaty; and Hungarians show support for LGBT rights; new research into recent fighting in Gaza; the Myanmar junta's assault on free media; Saudi Arabia jails media personality on bogus charges; lead poisoning at Zambia mine; NGOs suing France for police discrimination; the EU tells people to get vaccinated while blocking wider vaccine production; COVID-19 impact worsens hunger in Nigeria; Israeli airstrikes killed scores of civilians in Gaza; Syria doctor charged with crimes against humanity; Chile deports Venezuelan asylum seekers; India should free detained Myanmar asylum seekers; facebook limits how it targets teen users; children in Greek refugee camps don't have access to education; Global Education Summit plans to raise $5-billion; summary executions of adults and children in South Sudan; France's highest court upholds conviction of Equatorial Guinea's vice president; autocrats use faux democratic rituals to remain in power; Earth Overshoot Day marks the day humanity has used up the year's natural resources; spyware is enabling government abuses; devastation in Tigray, Ethiopia; Iran's bloody crackdown on protestors continues; Nepal's new government should address rights; a much needed conversation about mental health at the Olympics;
- on democracy:
the problem of the pre-eminence of "wealth supremacists"; after protests, the government in Tunisia was dismissed by their President - leading to demonstrations in support of that, but subsequently coup-like power grabs and suppression of dissent; in the USA, is Arizona the first “democracy domino” to fall?; lunacy and an appropriate response; a progressive teen radio in Malawi; a reminder of the benefits of profit sharing with WORKERS; protests over power and water shortages in Iran are continuing; India's government has again been accused of attempting to intimidate the media; suppression of dissent in eSwatini; the problem of "zombie democracies" - including Belarus, Egypt, Russia, Uganda, and Venezuela; a move towards stability in the Ivory Coast; questions about a legacy colonial law which is undermining India's democracy; a "social media giant had “serious questions to answer” on its activity in Australia" (I question the ethics of everyone who is on that platform because they are on that platform); Fiji is still suppressing dissent; Malta FAILED to protect a murdered journalist; a reminder that "good policy matters"; protests against the junta in Chad; protests against Guatemala's president for firing an anti-corruption figure;
(democracy) - on LGBTIQ+ matters:
protests against anti-LGBT hate in Hungary; violent LGBT-phobia in Georgia; - on racism:
racism at a major sporting event by an official; some US cities are offering a "right to return" to minorities displaced by urban programmes in the 50s and 60s; the family of a death in custody victim have been honoured - and a young activist; after 160 years, an apology for blackbirding by a mayor; an apology for past police racist thuggery in new Zealand; - on sexism and misogyny:
US marines committing sexual assaults in the NT are being shipped out to evade justice; an activist in Malawi working for safe spaces for girls; a transphobic pseudo-feminist clinic in NSW is being evicted; homophobic anti-Semitic graffiti in my home city; applause when a homophobic anti-mask nut job (who works as a real estate agent) was escorted of a plane in the USA; "a teenager who was raped in state care after ... authorities knowingly forced her to live with an abuser could be entitled to millions of dollars in compensation claims for her ordeal"; how to fix the misogyny at Parliament House; - on animal rights:
a temporary reprieve for animals subjected to live export for slaughter; - on other matters:
an exposé of the damage - including suicides - reality shows do to "contestants"; disturbing revelations of thuggery by criminal developers in NSW;
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