All posts by nedhamson

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

What to watch in Sisi’s run for president of Egypt | Nervana

What to watch in Sisi’s run for president of Egypt | Nervana.

www.german-foreign-policy.com – Rewriting history again and blame Serbs for WW One?

Insane? Yes and no. No, because their are Germans, like Japanese counterparts, who cannot seems to feel good about themselves or their future, unless they can pretend that they were not so bad in the past – bunkum, is still bunkum and grounds for new Hitlers!

New Debate on the Responsibility for War

2014/02/04

BERLIN

(Own report) – In the few months leading up to the one-hundredth anniversary of the beginning of World War I, a new debate, over who was responsible for starting the war, is gaining momentum in Germany. As relevant publications – such as the bestseller, \”The Sleepwalkers\” by the historian Christopher Clark – show, \”a shift in paradigm has taken place\” in scholarship, according to a recent press article: \”The German Empire was not \’responsible\’ for World War I.\” The debate strongly contradicts the recognition that, even though Berlin did not bear it alone, it bore the primary responsibility for the bloody escalation of the 1914 July Crisis. This insight, which was derived particularly from the analyses of the historian Fritz Fischer in the 1960s, is now being massively contested. Historians are strongly criticizing remarks, such as those by Christopher Clark, who, working closely with government-affiliated academic institutions, is denying German responsibility for the war. According to Clark, \”the Serbs\” are supposedly a priori \”the bad guys\” of the pre war era, while he openly displays his preference for the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The denial of Germany\’s main culpability for the war is \”balm on the soul of educated social sectors, grown more self-confident\” at a time when Berlin\’s political power is again on the rise.

via www.german-foreign-policy.com.

The Gun Report, 1 Year Later – NYTimes.com

After The Gun Report had been up and running for a while, several Second Amendment advocates complained that we rarely published items that showed how guns were used to prevent a crime. The reason was not that we were biased against crime prevention; it was that it didn’t happen very often. (When we found such examples, we put them in The Gun Report.) More to the point, there are an increasing number of gun deaths that are the result of an argument — often fueled by alcohol — among friends, neighbors and family members.

via The Gun Report, 1 Year Later – NYTimes.com.

China to expand Antarctica research – Xinhua | English.news.cn

Why? It’s what “big” nations do!

The current icebreaker, Xuelong, or Snow Dragon, continued its research in Antarctic after being trapped by heavy floes from December last year until Jan. 7.

China is looking into establishing a fourth research base in Antarctica to expand the range of research and improve safety.

China launched its first Antarctic expedition in 1984 and has established three research stations on the continent — Great Wall, Zhongshan and Kunlun.

via China to expand Antarctica research – Xinhua | English.news.cn.

Globalization has unintended consequences… often: Malaria cases reach 40-year high in U.S. | Vaccine News Daily

The number of malaria cases reported in the U.S. in 2011 was the largest since 1971, according to a recent report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC held a webinar last week on information and guidance for clinicians related to the increase in U.S. malaria cases. There were 1,925 reported cases of malaria in the U.S. with an onset of symptoms in the U.S. in 2011, which represented a 14 percent increase from 2010 and a 48 percent increase from 2008. The majority of the infections occurred among persons who traveled to regions with ongoing malaria infection.

The CDC said that imported malaria can reintroduce malaria into regions where the disease is not endemic if environmental conditions are present to support the lifecycle of the malaria parasite.

via Malaria cases reach 40-year high in U.S. | Vaccine News Daily.

Sexual harassment leads Egyptian women to martial arts – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

Sexual harassment leads Egyptian women to martial arts – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East.

For her part, Asra Saleh, who works in marketing, told Al-Monitor that she will join the campaign because she gets harassed daily. Saleh has filed several harassment claims but was forced to retract many of them because of societal pressure. And the police often do not treat her claims seriously. Despite that, she thinks that filing a harassment claim is very important, in addition to martial arts training for women, because they allow the girls’ voices to be heard.

Azza Kamel, president of the Centre for Appropriate Communication Techniques for Development (ACT) and a feminist activist, said in an interview with Al-Monitor that she welcomed the spread of those campaigns because women should be able to defend themselves at any time. “These campaigns are not new. The Shoft Tahrosh campaign had previously trained girls and conducted awareness campaigns that attracted volunteers to warn that harassment is a crime and is rejected by society,” Kamel said.

It should be said that self-defense is the best way to deal with sexual harassment, which has become a real threat to the moral fabric of Egyptian society. Harassment in Egypt is getting worse, and it is especially acute during demonstrations. Sexual harassment should not be tolerated, especially in light of the slow government action against it and the state’s preoccupation with fighting terrorism in Egypt and ignoring social problems, of which sexual harassment is one of the worst.

Reham Mokbel
Contributor, Egypt Pulse

Reham Mokbel is a political science researcher at the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies. She is based in Cairo and is a freelance reporter for Deutsche Welle. Reham has a BA from the faculty of economics and political science in the English section at Cairo University and is preparing a master’s in international relations.

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/02/anti-sexual-harassment-campaigns-egypt.html#ixzz2sJR0c3OL

Building Community in Cleveland: A Story of Weaving Gifts

Emergence

“What you see depends on what you are looking for.”                                                                                         – Jan Thrope, Inner Visions of Cleveland 

In my last post, I talked about extending the right kind of invitation as part of building community – and the importance of asking about people’s gifts and assets, rather than focusing solely on their needs and problems.  I shared the story of Adele from Indiana.  Through conversations that invited Adele to talk about her gifts, combined with intentional acts of connecting Adele to others in the community, Adele’s cooking skills were activated in ways that not only benefited her own quality of life, but the broader community as well.  I ended my post by talking about the inherent power of stories like Adele’s to create a new narrative for community based on hospitality, gifts, and connectedness, and so I issued an invitation for others to also share their experiences.

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