Category Archives: Global Politics

Agenzia Fides – ASIA/INDIA – Condemnation of the Bishops: Hindu leader offends Mother Teresa

According to the Hindu nationalist leader, “Mother Teresa organized the illegal trafficking of 50,000 women, making them work as nuns after converting them to Christianity”. Swami also said that the religious undeservedly received the highest national honor, the “Bharata Ratna” prize in 1980 by the Government of India.”Is this not an insult to the nation and to the President of India who recognized the services of the Mother to the poor, the needy, the terminally-ill, the elderly, the abandoned and the suffering?”, wonders Archbishop Bala.”The work of Saint Mother Teresa – continues the text – is recognized all over the world and in 1979 was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Currently there are 5.161 Sisters of Mother Teresa in 758 Homes working in 139 countries. Besides, the comments of Paripoornananda Swamiji were not requested because the subject of the discussion was something different. It was not necessary for Swamiji to speak of the Pope and Mother Teresa”.The Archbishop notes that “Paripoornananda Swamiji’s comments and accusations on Mother Teresa not only deeply hurt the hearts and feelings of the Catholic Church and the Christian community, but also of people belonging to all regions and religions who respect her as saint and mother of the poor and the suffering”.The Indian Church condemns the attempts of those “who try to bring division in society”. Following the footsteps of Jesus Christ, “we can forgive Paripoornananda Swamiji”, the Archbishop said, recalling religious leaders of all faiths that “the primary duty of every religious leader is to foster harmony and peace in the community of our pluralist nation and safeguard the secularity and religious freedom guaranteed by our Constitution”. The Bishops ask the government to ensure that such incidents are not repeated in the future.

Source: Agenzia Fides – ASIA/INDIA – Condemnation of the Bishops: Hindu leader offends Mother Teresa

Guggenheim drops artworks after threats of violence – IFEX – Real threats or fake threats from Putin/Russian Fakes trying to undercut culture and trust?

The Guggenheim’s alarming action continues a growing worldwide trend in which threats of violent protest are silencing artistic expression and posing a danger to free speech in general. Whether or not the provocations of artists are defensible or morally unacceptable, we need to take an uncompromising position against threats of violence. When cultural institutions cave in to such threats, others who are convinced of the moral rectitude of their cause are encouraged to embrace similar tactics. This time it is animal rights activists. Next time it could be religious or political extremists.

Source: Guggenheim drops artworks after threats of violence – IFEX

FBI terrorism unit says ‘black identity extremists’ pose a violent threat | US news | The Guardian – The FBI at risk of being arm for KKK

DeRay Mckesson, a prominent Black Lives Matter activist, likened the “black identity extremist” monitoring to the FBI’s highly controversial domestic counterintelligence program known as Cointelpro, which was used to target political groups and activists like the NAACP, Martin Luther King Jr, socialist and communist groups and anti-war protesters.“We knew that we were likely being watched,” said Mckesson, who has spoken out about being monitored by the US government and FBI. “This is confirmation that the work of social justice continues to threaten those in power.”

Source: FBI terrorism unit says ‘black identity extremists’ pose a violent threat | US news | The Guardian

Republican congressman floats conspiracy that George Soros funded neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville – U.S. News – Haaretz.com

Asked directly whether he thinks Soros funded the neo-Nazis, Gosar replied, “Wouldn’t it be interesting to find out?”Soros’ Open Society Foundation responded to Vice News in a statement, condemning Gosar for his remarks.“Such baseless allegations are insulting to the victims of the Holocaust, to all Jewish people, and to anyone who honors the truth. It is an affront to Mr. Soros and his family, who against the odds managed to survive one of the darkest moments in our history,” a spokeswoman wrote in a statement published by The Hill news site.

Source: Republican congressman floats conspiracy that George Soros funded neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville – U.S. News – Haaretz.com

Tusk criticizes Myanmar over plight of Rohingya minority | News | DW | 06.10.2017 But cares for naught about killing and repressing Shia Muslims in Saudi Arabia and Gulf states? Oil talks and buys get out of genocide jail card?

The EU’s Donald Tusk called on the South Asian country to meet its human rights obligations. Meanwhile, the UN fears things will get worse in Myanmar and neighboring Bangladesh before they get better.

Source: Tusk criticizes Myanmar over plight of Rohingya minority | News | DW | 06.10.2017

 Rohingya crisis: UN ‘suppressed’ report predicting its shortcomings in Myanmar | Global development | The Guardian {“Why is this such an issue now and why past/present killings/oppression of Shia and Sufi is not a pressing ‘issue’?” Oh yes, Myanmar is not a major oil producer – silly me. And US and Britain can pretend to care about Muslims in a non-oil-ally state. Duh! All the killings and oppression should be opposed!}

In little more than a month, more than half a million Rohingya have fled over the border to Bangladesh amid allegations of massacres by Myanmar’s armed forces and Rohingya insurgents. On Thursday Bangladesh announced that it would build one of the world’s biggest refugee camps to house all those who have sought asylum.

Source: Rohingya crisis: UN ‘suppressed’ report predicting its shortcomings in Myanmar | Global development | The Guardian

New Russian Facial-Recognition Tech May Fight Crime But It’s Already Misused Against Opposition

Clearly, FindFace and similar programs will be used not only by cities in CCTVs to fight crime and terrorism, and intelligence agencies everywhere, but will be used by all sides in every conflict, for good and ill. The policy question then will likely becomes how to create remedies for misuse rather than deterrence.Devising remedies means a lot more research is needed on the misuse of the technology. But in the Russian setting, there are so many factors at work against the opposition already — including covert surveillance of their private lives by state TV and broadcasting without their permission —  that isolating the effect of FaceFind could be difficult.

Source: New Russian Facial-Recognition Tech May Fight Crime But It’s Already Misused Against Opposition

‘Leave UK immediately’: scientist is latest victim of Home Office blunder | UK news | The Guardian – A Prequel to what Trump would like to see in US?

Danaie holds Canadian-Iranian joint citizenship. He is an electron microscopy scientist who has worked since October 2016 at Diamond Light Source, the UK’s national synchrotron, based at Harwell science and innovation campus in Oxfordshire. He has a work visa valid until September 2019 and previously worked at Oxford University’s department of materials.Danaie went public with his case after the Guardian highlighted the introduction of “hostile environment” immigration status bank account checks last week, and following an assessment by the chief inspector of borders that there was a 10% error rate in Home Office records used for some forms of enforcement action.“I happen to be in that 10% statistic. Despite having a valid work visa, I received this letter,” he said. “It hurts on so many levels. They even have a typo in my name. Such disarray is astonishing in an office responsible for security.”

Source: ‘Leave UK immediately’: scientist is latest victim of Home Office blunder | UK news | The Guardian

TBS Friday! Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos rescinds Obama-era guidelines on campus sexual assault – LA Times

“Those documents have led to the deprivation of rights for many students – both accused students denied fair process and victims denied an adequate resolution of their complaints,” the department’s acting assistant secretary for civil rights, Candice Jackson, said in a letter Friday. (Poor guy babies – raping and abusing females forever and getting away with it – one guy maybe falsely accused and the world has to stop being better? Total BS pimping for rightwing white guy votes!)

Source: Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos rescinds Obama-era guidelines on campus sexual assault – LA Times