All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

Donald Trump contradicts SDF, claims 100 percent of IS Syria territory retaken

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The US President claims all IS territory in Syria has been retaken. However, the US-backed SDF alliance maintains it will take another week before a complete victory.

How violent American vigilantes at the border led to Trump’s wall

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From the 80s onwards, the borderlands were rife with paramilitary cruelty and racism. But the president’s rhetoric has thrown fuel on the fire. By Greg Grandin

No myth in American history has been more powerful, more invoked by more presidents, than that of pioneers advancing across the frontier – a word that in the United States came to mean less a place than a state of mind, an imagined gateway into the future. No writer is more associated with the idea of the frontier than Frederick Jackson Turner, who, in the late 1800s, argued that the expansion of settlement across a frontier of “free land” created a uniquely American form of political equality, a vibrant, forward-looking individualism. Onward, and then onward again. There were lulls, doubts, dissents and counter-movements. But the expansionist imperative has remained constant, in one version or another, for centuries. As Woodrow Wilson, who before he was president was a colleague of Turner, said: “A frontier people always in our van, is, so far, the central and determining fact of our national history. There was no thought,” Wilson said, “of drawing back.”

So far. The poetry stopped on 16 June 2015, when Donald Trump announced his presidential campaign by standing Turner on his head. “I will build a great wall,” Trump said.

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Pete Souza’s best photograph: Obama lays into Putin

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‘Trump acts as if Russia is our best friend. But it’s our adversary. And this is how you should talk to an adversary’

I wasn’t supposed to be here for this picture. It was taken on the 70th anniversary of the Normandy landings – all the heads of state had gathered there and were coming out of an impromptu luncheon. The official photographers from each country had been kicked out – we were all supposed to leave the building. But I have a knack of making myself small and sticking around.

The shot shows the kind of interaction President Obama had with President Putin during his tenure. It was 2014, a particularly tense time between the two countries. You can see in the facial expressions and gestures that this was a very serious conversation. There are interpreters stood behind them, but I get the impression from Putin’s face that he understood exactly what was being said in English.

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Viral ‘Momo challenge’ is a malicious hoax, say charities

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Groups say no evidence yet of self-harm from craze, but resulting hysteria poses a risk

It is the most talked about viral scare story of the year so far, blamed for child suicides and violent attacks – but experts and charities have warned that the “Momo challenge” is nothing but a “moral panic” spread by adults.

Warnings about the supposed Momo challenge suggest that children are being encouraged to kill themselves or commit violent acts after receiving messages on messaging service WhatsApp from users with a profile picture of a distorted image of woman with bulging eyes.

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Trump: I took Kim at his word over Otto Warmbier’s torture

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President says he believes North Korean leader knew nothing about treatment of US student

Donald Trump has said he took Kim Jong-un “at his word” when he denied any responsibility in the imprisonment and torture of Otto Warmbier that led to the US student’s death in 2017.

“Some really bad things happened to Otto,” Trump said. “But Kim tells me that he didn’t know about it and I will take him at his word.”

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Anti-vaxx ‘mobs’: doctors face harassment campaigns on Facebook | Technology | The Guardian

Kass is only the latest pro-vaccine health practitioner to be subjected to an online harassment campaign by anti-vaxxers. Networks of closed Facebook groups with tens of thousands of members have become staging grounds for campaigns that victims say are intended to silence and intimidate pro-vaccine voices on social media. The harassment only exacerbates an online ecosystem rife with anti-vaccine misinformation, thanks in part to Facebook’s recommendation algorithms and targeted advertising. “Their goal is to tell my patients what a bad person I am so I lose business,” Kass told the Guardian by phone, five days into his ordeal. “It’s made me reluctant to engage online.”

Source: Anti-vaxx ‘mobs’: doctors face harassment campaigns on Facebook | Technology | The Guardian

Republican who denied he was racist suggested Obama was born in Africa | US news | The Guardian

“What we’re going to do is take back our country,” Meadows said. “2012 is the time that we’re going to send Mr Obama home to Kenya or wherever it is. We’re gonna do it.” In an interview with Roll Call in 2012, Meadows said he had used a “poor choice of words” and acknowledged that Obama was an American citizen.

Source: Republican who denied he was racist suggested Obama was born in Africa | US news | The Guardian

Trump was out of his depth in Hanoi. This failure is his greatest flop yet | Simon Tisdall

The blunderer-in-chief has let North Korea’s dictator emerge unscathed over his regime’s appalling human rights abuses

Donald Trump’s self-reverential style of personalised, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants diplomacy just crashed and burned in Hanoi. It is fitting, perhaps, that Vietnam – scene of past American humiliations – was the setting for the blunderer-in-chief’s greatest flop. Trump tried to wing it in nuclear talks with North Korea’s more canny leader, Kim Jong-un, and got what he deserved: precisely nothing. The summit, like last year’s effort in Singapore, was a Trump vanity project – and proved a labour in vain.

In principle just about everybody, including close neighbours South Korea, China and Russia, would like to see North Korea’s nuclear arsenal brought under international supervision, and preferably eliminated altogether. To make such a mess of things, given this exceptional consensus, is a true measure of Trump’s incomparable incompetence. Yet this is barely a surprise. It is entirely of a piece with his amateurish approach to key foreign policy challenges the world over.

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Will violence Let Go of the DRC long enough to kick out Ebola virus?

The 2018/19 outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was showing some promising signs of control earlier this week. Then the latest attacks hit. Now, who knows?


A health worker prepares to disinfect MSF’s partly burnt-out Ebola treatment centre in Katwa, North Kivu, DRC, 25 February 2019. Photo and text from MSF.[1]

This week has seen two violent attacks resulting in damage to Ebola treatment centres (ETCs) and in one instance, the death of a nurse.

The first attack came at night

The first attack occurred on an Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) ETC on 24th of February in Katwa, North Kivu.[1] Structures were burned and equipment damaged.

The Katwa health zone is the hotzone for most current EVD activity, having surpassed the case count in the previous most active zone of Beni (now almost controlled).

There were 10 EVD patients, including 4 confirmed cases, in this ETC. All safely transported to other ETCs.

⚡#DRCongo #News:

We have decided to suspend the activities of an #Ebola Treatment Centre in #NorthKivu after a violent attack on 24 February where our facility was partially burnt down. pic.twitter.com/iT9clrSDIR— MSF International (@MSF) February 26, 2019

A second attack, a second hotspot

#RDC En ce moment, attaque du Centre de Traitement d’Ebola de l’ITAV/Butembo par des “assaillants” non autrement identifiés. Échange de tirs avec les FARDC. C’est la 2ème fois en l’espace de qlqs jours qu’un CTE est attaqué à Butembo. Quelle irresponsabilité! pic.twitter.com/21O3UtL9l8— Grégoire Kiro (@kiro_gregoire) February 27, 2019

The second and most recent attack was on 27th February and targeted the MSF ETC in Butembo; the biggest ETC built for this outbreak so far.[2] 32 of 38 suspected cases and 4 of 12 confirmed cases fled as a result.[3]

#News ⚡

Tonight another deplorable attack on an #Ebola treatment facility has taken place, this time in the city of #Butembo.

This follows last week’s attack on our Ebola treatment centre in Katwa.

Our efforts are now focused on the immediate safety of our staff & patients. https://t.co/AKLIYP4ipO— MSF International (@MSF) February 27, 2019

Both Katwa and Butembo health zones are active Ebola virus transmission areas.

That means these health zones have active cases in their ETCs and most likely, in the surrounding community.

OCHA Map of the hotzones, via Reliefweb.[4]

There has been frequent mention of resistance to the response to this EVD outbreak, from the community in the Katwa HZ. There is resistance to vaccination, resistance to presenting early for treatment when ill and resistance to safe and dignified burials. And there’s evidence for that; the outbreak is in its 8th month. That MSF article painfully spelt out the problem.

Organisations, including MSF, have failed to gain trust from communities; approaches to people must change

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) [1]

Working together, anything is possible

There was overwhelming evidence from the multi-country EVD epidemic in West Africa that engaging the community could shut down EVD. This engagement hasn’t succeeded – for whatever reasons – in the DRC this time around. Without everyone on the same page, transmission will continue its cruel and relentless path through family after family.

Disrupted responses in the region of most active transmission are bound to cause problems, just as we were warned from the outset. Infected people may move away from conflict and carry the virus to new (or back to old) places. Interruption of treatment, contact tracing, data recording, reporting and vaccination could drive new flare-ups in Katwa and Butembo.

The on-going #Ebola transmission in Butembo and Katwa 🇨🇩 means the outbreak could reach into even more volatile & dangerous areas – where almost no partners would be able to operate. This is why support is needed now. https://t.co/quhDfJ03GR pic.twitter.com/PgZ2Zilp1U

— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) February 26, 2019

We don’t know what’s next

As with all things outbreak, it’s impossible to accurately predict what will happen next. Impossible except for knowing that the heroic and dangerous efforts of a host of foreign and local health workers of all types will keep striving to grind the virus to a standstill.

And now there are new calls by the World Health Organization for vigilance and urgent financial aid.[5] A new plan to better empower the local response and communities has also been rolled out.

The violence and community resistance seems unwilling to let go and after recent events, this outbreak has regained the upper hand. There is still much work ahead before this particular Ebola virus is kicked out of the DRC.

References

  1. North Kivu: Ebola centre inoperative after violent attack
    https://www.msf.org/msf-ebola-centre-north-kivu-inoperative-after-violent-attack-democratic-republic-congo
  2. Unknown forces attack Butembo Ebola treatment center, CIDRAP
    http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2019/02/unknown-forces-attack-butembo-ebola-treatment-center
  3. EPIDEMIOLOGICAL SITUATION IN THE PROVINCES OF NORTH KIVU AND ITURI Wednesday, February 27, 2019  http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=auto&langpair=auto|en&u=https://us13.campaign-archive.com/%3Fu%3D89e5755d2cca4840b1af93176%26id%3D693337893b
  4. RD Congo – Ituri et Nord-Kivu : 3W Qui faitquoi Où – Riposte de la Maladie à Virus Ebola (Semaine 06 : du 04 au 10 février 2019)
    https://reliefweb.int/report/democratic-republic-congo/rd-congo-ituri-et-nord-kivu-3w-qui-fait-quoi-o-riposte-de-la-1
  5. Ebola response in Democratic Republic of the Congo risks slowdown.
    https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/26-02-2019-ebola-response-in-democratic-republic-of-the-congo-risks-slowdown

The post Will violence Let Go of the DRC long enough to kick out Ebola virus? appeared first on Virology Down Under.