Category Archives: Global Politics

Humans of New York

“I got a message from God the other day about how to solve the world’s problems. We’ve got to send all the world leaders to play on one of Trump’s golf courses. Then while they’re gone, we replace them with grandmas. Because nobody ever got invaded by a grandma.”

Source: Humans of New York

Insane Things Republicans Say: Ted Cruz Edition – The New York Times

Donald Trump is so outrageous and noisy that it’s easy to forget about Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. So we Googled him this morning and we were rewarded.Here is what he said on Thursday about Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who went to jail for contempt of court after she refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples:“Today, for the first time ever, the government arrested a Christian woman for living according to her faith. This is wrong. This is not America.”He’s right. That’s not America – in the real country, as opposed to his fictional version, Ms. Davis was not arrested for living according to her faith. She was arrested for using her government power to impose her religious beliefs on others. A conservative should be furious at her for violating the First Amendment.But no — Mr. Cruz said: “I stand with Kim Davis. Unequivocally. I stand with every American that the Obama Administration is trying to force to choose between honoring his or her faith or complying with a lawless court opinion.”Leaving aside the interesting phrase “lawless court opinion,” when did the Obama administration try to compel anyone to make that choice? Certainly not in the case of Ms. Davis, who was directly flouting a ruling by the Supreme Court. Mr. Obama had nothing to do with it.

Source: Insane Things Republicans Say: Ted Cruz Edition – The New York Times

A look at Japan′s anti-government protests | Asia | DW.COM | 04.09.2015

Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered outside the parliament building in Tokyo on Sunday, while as many as 300 other protests took place across the country on the same day, manifestations of the public’s displeasure with the legislation presently being debated in the Diet. A vote on the new laws could take place in the Diet as soon as September 14.And while privately they admit that the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s overwhelming majority in the Diet means that it is inevitable that it will ram through security bills that they believe trample across the nation’s pacifist constitution, the demonstrators insist this is just the start of their campaign.

Source: A look at Japan′s anti-government protests | Asia | DW.COM | 04.09.2015

80,000 Brits want Netanyahu arrested, petition

PNN/ Bethlehem/

More than 80,000 people in the UK until the moment have signed the petition calling for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes against Palestinians during official visit to Britain in September.

The petition aims to reach 100,000 signatures within the deadline February 7, 2016.
After 10,000 signatures, the British government must respond to the petition, and after 100,000 signatures, it will be considered for debate in the parliament.

The online petition, uploaded on August 7 to the UK parliament’s official website, demands the apprehension of Netanyahu for the slaughter of thousands of Palestinians during the Israeli military’s 51-day military aggression against the Gaza Strip last year. The petition has garnered 60,454 signatures as of Sunday morning.

The petition reads:

“Under international law, [Netanyahu] should be arrested for war crimes upon arrival in the UK for the massacre of over 2,000 civilians in 2014.”

The Israeli Ministry for Foreign Affairs said in a statement said that the petition has “no real meaning,” adding, “Bilateral ties between Britain and Israel are closer than ever before.”

Israel unleashed its military onslaught on the Gaza Strip in early July 2014. The offensive ended on August 26, 2014, with a truce that went into effect following indirect negotiations between representatives from Palestinian resistance movement Hamas and Israeli regime in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.

Nearly 2,200 Palestinians, including 577 children, lost their lives in Israel’s war. Over 11,100 others – including 3,374 children, 2,088 women and 410 elderly people – also sustained injuries.

via 80,000 Brits want Netanyahu arrested, petition.

New immigration bill to make Britain ‘hostile environment’ for some migrants

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Amid rising migrant figures, the UK has announced harsher measures aimed at curbing the trend. But some critics say the government is using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Samira Shackle reports from London.

via New immigration bill to make Britain ‘hostile environment’ for some migrants.

IRIN Middle East | Iraq’s mystery murders | Iraq | Conflict | Early Warning

Abdul Kareem, originally from Diyala, explained the situation: “Tuz Khurmatu is divided in two: al-Jumhuriyah is run by the Kurdish police, and there are no problems; but Hay al-Askary is controlled by Shia militia. Sunnis will find problems there.”

“I cannot understand exactly what’s going on, but people disappear,” he said. “Some days four people, some days six.”

Mohammed Hassan was attending the distribution with four of his brothers. He lowered his voice: “When ISIS came, the city was antagonised and Sunnis started to be targeted.” To protect themselves, they “only move when it’s necessary.”

A large gathering of Sunni Arab IDPs might attract the wrong sort of attention. There were shouts as people tried to leave the distribution fast, piling the blankets and boxes into shared pick-ups.

Many of the displaced back in Sankur are too scared to even enter Tuz Khurmatu to sign up for a government cash grant. Sa’ad pointed out that they “cannot go into Tuz to register because of the killing.”

via IRIN Middle East | Iraq’s mystery murders | Iraq | Conflict | Early Warning.

Breaking the Media Blackout in Western Sahara | Inter Press Service

This year will mark four decades since this territory the size of Britain was annexed by Morocco after Spain pulled out from its last colony of Western Sahara.

Since the ceasefire signed in 1991 between Morocco and the Polisario Front – the authority that the United Nations recognises as a legitimate representative of the Sahrawi people – Rabat has controlled almost the whole territory, including the entire Atlantic coast. The United Nations still labels Western Sahara as a “territory under an unfinished process of decolonisation”.

via Breaking the Media Blackout in Western Sahara | Inter Press Service.

Opinion: Children of the World – We are Standing Watch for You | Inter Press Service

We must also continue to raise our voices in the face of tremendous opposition from groups that continue to oppose the treaty, arguing that it infringes upon national sovereignty. Quite the opposite is true: no sane definition of national sovereignty includes the right to sell arms for the violation of human rights in other countries. A nation willing to carry out such an act is not defending itself, but rather infringing upon the sovereignty of other nations that only want to live in peace.

We must also avoid using the danger and terrorism in the world today as an excuse for lack of regulation. Cicero’s famous phrase “silent enimleges inter armas” – among arms, laws are silent – has often been used to support the mind-set that the law does not apply during times of war.

But it is at times of war that the law must speak most bravely. When weapons are circulating freely into the worst possible hands, the law must speak. When the lives of the innocent are placed in danger by an absence of regulation, the law must speak.

via Opinion: Children of the World – We are Standing Watch for You | Inter Press Service.