Category Archives: Global Politics

As Sunni Tribes Sit on Sidelines, U.S. Airstrikes Don’t Halt ISIS – NYTimes.com

“The Sunnis in Anbar and other provinces are facing oppression and discrimination by the government,” said Mohamed el-Bajjari, a tribal sheikh and spokesman for a coalition of tribes. “This government must be changed to form a technocratic government of nonsectarian secular people, or the battles and the anger of the Sunni people will continue.”

via As Sunni Tribes Sit on Sidelines, U.S. Airstrikes Don’t Halt ISIS – NYTimes.com.

Photos: 400,000 Protesters March To Prevent Annihilation By Global Warming: Gothamist

Socialists, grandmothers, Baptists, babies, domestic workers, veterans, anarchists, and Leonardo Di Caprio all rallied to save the human species from itself during the People’s Climate March on Sunday, in what one of the organizers called “the largest political gathering about anything in America in at least a decade.”

The “final” head count from the march’s officials stood at 400,000, though there is no magic number that triggers the world leaders meeting to discuss climate change at the UN on Tuesday to actually do something about it.

via Photos: 400,000 Protesters March To Prevent Annihilation By Global Warming: Gothamist.

Just Because They Can – JBTC – Israel bans Muslims from Ibrahimi Mosque Thursday, Friday | Maan News Agency

The Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron will be closed to Muslim worshipers on Thursday and Friday, an official at the mosque told Ma’an Sunday.

Hijazi Abu Sneina told Ma’an the mosque would be open to Israeli settlers during the two days of Rosh Hashanah, or Jewish New Year, but closed to Muslims.

via Israel bans Muslims from Ibrahimi Mosque Thursday, Friday | Maan News Agency.

ISIS seizes 16 Kurdish villages in north Syria: Kurds | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR

ISIS fighters have seized 16 Kurdish villages in northern Syria in a major advance towards the city of Ayn al-Arab at the border with Turkey, a Kurdish military official and an activist group said Thursday.

Ocalan Iso, a commander in Kurdish armed group YPG, told Reuters that ISIS fighters were using heavy weapons including tanks in their attack near the city, known as Kobani in Kurdish. He also said the Syrian Kurds were seeking support from other groups including the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) to fend off the advance by ISIS. Speaking via Skype, he said they wanted support “in all military aspects.”

Rami Abdel-Rahman, founder of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the villages had been seized in an ISIS advance that started Wednesday. “They have a large number of fighters,” he told Reuters by phone.

via ISIS seizes 16 Kurdish villages in north Syria: Kurds | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR.

Figueres: ″If we want to prevent conflicts, we have to address climate change now″ | Environment | DW.DE | 18.09.2014

The whole week in New York will see much press attention to the summit. Not only because we will have hundreds of thousands of people on the street, not only because we will have hundreds of political leaders there, hundreds of corporations, but because they are all coming to New York for one very powerful reason. That is, climate change is now the biggest challenge that humanity has faced, certainly in this century. And there is growing awareness of this. There is already a lot of conflict around the world, around water scarcity, around migration, around food and security, and that is exacerbated by climate change. So if we want to prevent conflicts that will scale out of control, then we have to address climate change in a timely fashion.

via Figueres: ″If we want to prevent conflicts, we have to address climate change now″ | Environment | DW.DE | 18.09.2014.

Jewish government supported extremists try to change status quo at Al-Aqsa – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

JBWC – just because we can – this is the new Israeli policy and ideology of an occupier and attempting to do to Palestine and Islam what colonialist Britain could not do to either Ireland, or South Africa. Each week, Israeli actions become more and more provocative. The visits are longer, and the ban on Jewish prayers at the mosque compound are increasingly ignored. What began with Jewish visitors inaudibly mumbling a few words is becoming louder and louder. Most Jewish intruders wear prayer clothes, often under their regular clothes, which points to their intention of holding prayers on the mosque compound.

The peace treaty Jordan signed with Israel contains provisions on the protection of holy sites in Jerusalem. Jordan has confronted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the visits, but was told that no change had occurred to the status quo, in place since 1967. Jordan also signed an agreement with the Palestinian government regarding Jerusalem.

via Jewish extremists try to change status quo at Al-Aqsa – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East.

The Mathematics of Ebola Trigger Stark Warnings: Act Now or Regret It | WIRED

We need someone to take over the position of “command and control.” The United Nations is the only international organization that can direct the immense amount of medical, public health and humanitarian aid that must come from many different countries and nongovernmental groups to smother this epidemic. Thus far it has played at best a collaborating role, and with everyone in charge, no one is in charge.

A Security Council resolution could give the United Nations total responsibility for controlling the outbreak, while respecting West African nations’ sovereignty as much as possible. The United Nations could, for instance, secure aircraft and landing rights…

The United Nations should provide whatever number of beds are needed; the World Health Organization has recommended 1,500, but we may need thousands more. It should also coordinate the recruitment and training around the world of medical and nursing staff, in particular by bringing in local residents who have survived Ebola, and are no longer at risk of infection. Many countries are pledging medical resources, but donations will not result in an effective treatment system if no single group is responsible for coordinating them.

I’ve spent enough time around public health people, in the US and in the field, to understand that they prefer to express themselves conservatively. So when they indulge in apocalyptic language, it is unusual, and notable.

via The Mathematics of Ebola Trigger Stark Warnings: Act Now or Regret It | WIRED.

Neil Young Keep On Rockin In The Free World + Lyrics – YouTube

Neil Young Keep On Rockin In The Free World

Lyrics:

There’s colors on the street

Red, white and blue

People shufflin’ their feet

People sleepin’ in their shoes

But there’s a warnin’ sign

on the road ahead

There’s a lot of people sayin’

we’d be better off dead

Don’t feel like Satan,

but I am to them

So I try to forget it,

any way I can.

Keep on rockin’ in the free world,

Keep on rockin’ in the free world

Keep on rockin’ in the free world,

Keep on rockin’ in the free world.

I see a woman in the night

With a baby in her hand

Under an old street light

Near a garbage can

Now she puts the kid away,

and she’s gone to get a hit

She hates her life,

and what she’s done to it

There’s one more kid

that will never go to school

Never get to fall in love,

never get to be cool.

Keep on rockin’ in the free world,

Keep on rockin’ in the free world

Keep on rockin’ in the free world,

Keep on rockin’ in the free world.

We got a thousand points of light

For the homeless man

We got a kinder, gentler,

Machine gun hand

We got department stores

and toilet paper

Got styrofoam boxes

for the ozone layer

Got a man of the people,

says keep hope alive

Got fuel to burn,

got roads to drive.

Keep on rockin’ in the free world,

Keep on rockin’ in the free world

Keep on rockin’ in the free world,

Keep on rockin’ in the free world.

via Neil Young Keep On Rockin In The Free World + Lyrics – YouTube.