Carnivorous Plants!!!!
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Carnivorous plants are plants that derive some or most of their nutrients (but not energy) from trapping and consuming animals or protozoans, typically insects and other arthropods. Carnivorous plants have adapted to grow in places where the soil is thin or poor in nutrients, especially nitrogen, such as acidic bogs and rock outcroppings. Charles Darwin wrote Insectivorous Plants, the first well-known treatise on carnivorous plants, in 1875.
True carnivory is thought to have evolved independently six times in five different orders of flowering plants, and these are now represented by more than a dozen genera. These include about 630 species that attract and trap prey, produce digestive enzymes, and absorb the resulting available nutrients. Additionally, over 300 protocarnivorous plant species in several genera show some but not all of these characteristics.
Pitfall traps are in general they are phytotelmata, water bodies collected or secreted into specialised containers, and ultimately held by plants for various functions such as in particular, the trapping and digestion of prey.
The simplest ones are probably those of Heliamphora, the marsh pitcher plant. In this genus, the traps are clearly derived from a simple rolled leaf whose margins have sealed together. These plants live in areas of high rainfall in South America such as Mount Roraima and consequently have a problem ensuring their pitchers do not overflow. To counteract this problemthey have an overflow similar to that of a bathroom sink—a small gap in the zipped-up leaf margins allows excess water to flow out of the pitcher.
Heliamphora is a member of the Sarraceniaceae, a New World family in the order Ericales (heathers and allies). Heliamphora is limited to South America, but the family contains two other genera, Sarracenia and Darlingtonia, which are endemic to the Southeastern United States (with the exception of one species) and California respectively. Sarracenia purpurea subsp. purpurea (the northern pitcher plant) can be found as far north as Canada. Sarracenia is the pitcher plant genus most commonly encountered in cultivation, because it is relatively hardy and easy to grow.
In the genus Sarracenia, the problem of pitcher overflow is solved by an operculum, which is essentially a flared leaflet that covers the opening of the rolled-leaf tube and protects it from rain. Possibly because of this improved waterproofing, Sarracenia species secrete enzymes such as proteases and phosphatases into the digestive fluid at the bottom of the pitcher; Heliamphora relies on bacterial digestion alone. The enzymes digest the proteins and nucleic acids in the prey, releasing amino acids and phosphate ions, which the plant absorbs.
Darlingtonia californica, the cobra plant, possesses an adaptation also found in Sarracenia psittacina and, to a lesser extent, in Sarracenia minor: the operculum is balloon-like and almost seals the opening to the tube. This balloon-like chamber is pitted with areolae, chlorophyll-free patches through which light can penetrate. Insects, mostly ants, enter the chamber via the opening underneath the balloon. Once inside, they tire themselves trying to escape from these false exits, until they eventually fall into the tube. Prey access is increased by the “fish tailsâ€, outgrowths of the operculum that give the plant its name. Some seedling Sarracenia species also have long, overhanging opercular outgrowths; Darlingtonia may therefore represent an example of neoteny.
The second major group of pitcher plants are the monkey cups or tropical pitcher plants of the genus Nepenthes. In the hundred or so species of this genus, the pitcher is borne at the end of a tendril, which grows as an extension to the midrib of the leaf. Most species catch insects, although the larger ones, such as Nepenthes rajah, also occasionally take small mammals and reptiles. Nepenthes bicalcarata possesses two sharp thorns that project from the base of the operculum over the entrance to the pitcher. These likely serve to lure insects into a precarious position over the pitcher mouth, where they may lose their footing and fall into the fluid within.[10]
The pitfall trap has evolved independently in at least two other groups. The Albany pitcher plant Cephalotus follicularis is a small pitcher plant from Western Australia, with moccasin-like pitchers. The rim of its pitcher’s opening (the peristome) is particularly pronounced (both secrete nectar) and provides a thorny overhang to the opening, preventing trapped insects from climbing out. The lining of most pitcher plants is covered in a loose coating of waxy flakes, which are slippery for insects, prey that are often attracted by nectar bribes secreted by the peristome and by bright flower-like anthocyanin patterning. In at least one species, Sarracenia flava, the nectar bribe is laced with coniine, a toxic alkaloid also found in hemlock, which probably increases the efficiency of the traps by intoxicating prey.[11]
The final carnivore with a pitfall-like trap is the bromeliad Brocchinia reducta. Like most relatives of the pineapple, the tightly packed, waxy leaf bases of the strap-like leaves of this species form an urn. In most bromeliads, water collects readily in this urn and may provide habitats for frogs, insects and, more useful for the plant, diazotrophic (nitrogen-fixing) bacteria. In Brocchinia, the urn is a specialised insect trap, with a loose, waxy lining and a population of digestive bacteria.[citation needed]
The flypaper trap is based on a sticky mucilage, or glue. The leaf of flypaper traps is studded with mucilage-secreting glands, which may be short (like those of the butterworts), or long and mobile (like those of many sundews). Flypapers have evolved independently at least five times.
In the genus Pinguicula, the mucilage glands are quite short (sessile), and the leaf, while shiny (giving the genus its common name of ‘butterwort’), does not appear carnivorous. However, this belies the fact that the leaf is an extremely effective trap of small flying insects (such as fungus gnats), and its surface responds to prey by relatively rapid growth. This thigmotropic growth may involve rolling of the leaf blade (to prevent rain from splashing the prey off the leaf surface) or dishing of the surface under the prey to form a shallow digestive pit.
The sundew genus (Drosera) consists of over 100 species of active flypapers whose mucilage glands are borne at the end of long tentacles, which frequently grow fast enough in response to prey (thigmotropism) to aid the trapping process. The tentacles of D. burmanii can bend 180° in a minute or so. Sundews are extremely cosmopolitan and are found on all the continents except the Antarctic mainland. They are most diverse in Australia, the home to the large subgroup of pygmy sundews such as D. pygmaea and to a number of tuberous sundews such as D. peltata, which form tubers that aestivate during the dry summer months. These species are so dependent on insect sources of nitrogen that they generally lack the enzyme nitrate reductase, which most plants require to assimilate soil-borne nitrate into organic forms.[citation needed]
Suspected Uighurs Rescued From Thai Trafficking Camp
By Andrew R.C. Marshall
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A suspected Uighur from China’s troubled far-western region of Xinjiang, weeps as he speaks with a translator after being detained at the immigration regional headquarters near the Thailand-Malaysia border in Hat Yai, Songkla March 14, 2014. About 200 people rescued by police from a human smuggling camp in southern Thailand on Wednesday are suspected Uighur Muslims from China’s troubled far-western region of Xinjiang, say Thai police. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha |
HAT YAI, Thailand (Reuters) – Police rescued about 200 people believed to be Muslim Uighurs from a human smuggling camp in southern Thailand, police sources said on Friday, in the latest crackdown on a burgeoning trafficking network in Southeast Asia.
The latest trafficking victims, possibly from China’s troubled far-western region of Xinjiang, brings the total number of people freed from human traffickers to well over 800 since Reuters exposed the whereabouts of the illegal camps in a December 5 investigation.
The raid is further evidence that human smugglers in southern Thailand – already a notorious trafficking hub for Rohingya boat people from Myanmar – are exploiting well-oiled networks to transport other nationalities in large numbers, despite an ongoing crackdown by Thai police.
“The human smugglers are expanding their product range,†said Police Major General Thatchai Pitaneelaboot, who has launched a series of raids on trafficking camps in southern Thailand, including the 200 rescued on Wednesday.
In Washington, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said, “We do welcome reports that a group of approximately 200 Uighurs were rescued by Thai police from a camp in which they were being held.â€
“We are urging the Thai Government to provide full protection to the victims to ensure that their humanitarian needs are met, and continue to urge and encourage Thailand to conduct thorough investigations for signs of trafficking, including in cases with alleged government complicity,†Harf said.
Two police raids in January, based on information provided in the Reuters investigation, freed a total of 636 people. At least 200 of them were Bangladeshis – an “unprecedented†number, said Thatchai.
The rest were Rohingya, mostly stateless Muslims from western Myanmar, where deadly clashes with ethnic Rakhine Buddhists in 2012 killed at least 192 people and left 140,000 homeless. Since then, tens of thousands of Rohingya have fled from Myanmar by boat, many of them coming ashore in southwest Thailand.
The Reuters investigation in December reported that Rohingya were held hostage in illegal camps hidden near the border with Malaysia until relatives paid ransoms to release them. Some were beaten and killed. The investigation also found that Thai authorities had adopted a covert policy to push Rohingya detainees out to sea – and back into the hands of human traffickers – because police immigration detention camps were overwhelmed with new arrivals.
CLAIM TO BE TURKISH
The suspected Uighurs were discovered on Wednesday night in a hilly rubber plantation in an area where the Reuters report identified at least three camps used by Rohingya smugglers last year. The camp guards fled as police approached, Thatchai said.
Those rescued included at least 100 children, most of them toddlers or still breastfeeding, and a pregnant woman. They now sit on plastic mats in a parking lot at the regional immigration headquarters – the nearest police detention center is too full of Rohingya and Bangladeshis to accommodate them. Police say the group claims they are Turkish, although they have no documents to prove that.
The group in Hat Yai shows strong similarities to Turkic-speaking Uighur asylum-seekers who have been detained in Bangkok, police sources say.
In a possibly related incident, Malaysian police arrested 62 people who had illegally crossed the porous border between Thailand and Malaysia on Thursday, the New Straits Times newspaper reported. They also claimed to be Turkish, although it is highly unusual for Turks to seek asylum in this way.
Unrest in China’s Xinjiang has killed more than 100 people in the past year, prompting a crackdown by Chinese authorities. Many Uighurs resent restrictions on their culture and religion, and complain they are denied economic opportunities amid an influx of Han Chinese into the province. Many Uighurs refer to Xinjiang as East Turkestan. The region came under Chinese control following two short-lived East Turkestan republics in the 1930s and 1940s.
KEEPING SILENT
Thai police are struggling to officially identify the group detained in Hat Yai. So far, none of them has spoken more than a few words of Arabic, even to local Thai Muslims who have arrived to offer help.
Their silence is only broken by the mewling of children. They all have fair, Caucasian features and the women wear headscarves which leave only the eyes uncovered.
“These people will refuse to acknowledge Chinese citizenship to avoid being forcibly repatriated,†said Kayum Masimov, president of the Montreal-based Uyghur Canadian Society. “They will simply refuse to talk. They fear for their safety.â€
Masimov spoke by telephone to the man identified by police as the group’s leader and said he understood the Uighur language. The leader gestured toward men not to talk when Reuters approached them.
“The leader says who can talk and who cannot talk,†said Thatchai, the police major-general.
The 200 people in Thailand were part of what Masimov called an “unprecedented†exodus of Uighurs from western China in recent years. “We have never had so many people leaving our homeland,†he said.
A Chinese diplomat had arrived to assess the situation, while Turkish officials were en route from Bangkok, police said.
FEARING DEPORTATIONS
Thatchai said he planned to move the women and children into a meeting room inside the headquarters. Many of the suspected Uighurs were growing impatient. “They’re under pressure,†he said. “They want to go somewhere but they don’t want to go back to China.â€
In 2009, 20 Uighurs were deported from Cambodia to China despite the objections of the United Nations and human rights groups, who said they faced lengthy jail terms upon their return..
New York-based Human Rights Watch also criticized Malaysia for deporting six Uighurs to China last December.
At least 100 Uighur men, women and children are being held at an immigration detention center in Bangkok, part of a small but growing number arrested for illegally entering Thailand, most likely overland through Laos from southwest China.
The United Nations refugee agency would not confirm the identity of the people detained in Hat Yai.
“We understand a large group of people were rescued after a smugglers’ camp was raided (in Thailand),†said Babar Baloch, a spokesman for the UNHCR. “We have a team there to assess their urgent humanitarian and any protection needs.â€
Malaysia, a Muslim-majority nation with a chronic shortage of labor, is often the ultimate destination for growing numbers of Asian migrants and asylum-seekers who are falling prey to human trafficking rings.
On March 6, Reuters reported that human traffickers had held hundreds of Rohingya Muslims for ransom in houses in northern Malaysia. Their graphic accounts of abuse suggested that trafficking gangs had shifted their operations into Malaysia as Thai authorities cracked down on jungle camps on their side of the border.
(Reporting by Andrew R.C. Marshall; Editing by Bill Tarrant and Ken Wills)
16-14
Obama to Putin: Do as I Say Not as I Do
By Ralph Nader
Dear President Obama:
As you ponder your potential moves regarding President Vladimir V. Putin’s annexation of Crimea (a large majority of its 2 million people are ethnic Russians), it is important to remember that whatever moral leverage you may have had in the court of world opinion has been sacrificed by the precedents set by previous American presidents who did not do what you say Mr. Putin should do – obey international law.
The need to abide by international law is your recent recurring refrain, often used in an accusatory context toward Mr. Putin’s military entry in Crimea and its subsequent annexation, following a referendum in which Crimean voters overwhelmingly endorsed rejoining Russia. True, most Ukrainians and ethnic Tatars boycotted the referendum and there were obstacles to free speech. But even the fairest of referendums, under UN auspices, would have produced majority support for Russia’s annexation.
Every day, presidential actions by you violate international law because they infringe upon national sovereignties with deadly drones, flyovers and secret forays by soldiers – to name the most obvious.
President Bush’s criminal invasion and devastation of Iraq in 2003 violated international law and treaties initiated and signed by the United States (such as the Geneva Conventions and the UN Charter). What about your executive branch’s war on Libya, now still in chaos, which was neither constitutionally declared, nor authorized by Congressional appropriations?
“Do as I say, not as I do,†is hard to sell to Russians who are interpreting your words of protest as disingenuous. This is especially the case because Crimea, long under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, became part of Russia over 200 years ago. In 1954, Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev gave Crimea to Ukraine, which was then part of the Soviet Union, out of sympathy for what Ukraine endured under the Nazi invasion and its atrocities. It mattered little then because both “socialist republics,†Ukraine and Crimea, were part of the Soviet Union. However, it is not entirely clear whether Khrushchev fully complied with the Soviet constitution when he transferred Crimea to Ukraine.
Compare, by the way, the United States’ seizure of Guantanamo from Cuba initially after the Spanish-American War, which was then retained after Cuba became independent over a century ago.
The Russians have their own troubles, of course, but they do have a legitimate complaint and fear about the United States’ actions following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Led by President William Jefferson Clinton, the United States pushed for the expansion of the military alliance NATO to include the newly independent Eastern European countries. This was partly a business deal to get these countries to buy United States fighter aircrafts from Lockheed Martin and partly a needless provocation of a transformed adversary trying to get back on its feet.
As a student of Russian history and language at Princeton, I learned about the deep sensitivity of the Russian people regarding the insecurity of their Western Front. Hitler’s attack on the Soviet Union took many millions of Russian lives. The prolonged Nazi siege of the city of Leningrad alone is estimated to have cost over 700,000 civilian lives, which is about twice the total number of United States soldiers killed in World War II.
The memories of that mass slaughter and destruction, and of other massacres and valiant resistance are etched deeply in Russian minds. The NATO provocation was only one of the West’s arrogant treatments of post-Soviet Russia, pointed out in the writings of Russian specialist, NYU professor Stephen Cohen. That sense of disrespect, coupled with the toppling of the elected pro-Russian President of Ukraine in February, 2014 (which was not lawful despite his poor record) is why Mr. Putin’s absorption of Crimea and his history-evoking speech before the Parliament, was met with massive support in Russia even by many of those who have good reasons to not like his authoritarian government.
Now, you are facing the question of how far to go with sanctions against the Russian government, its economy and its ruling class. Welcome to globalization.
Russia is tightly intertwined with the European Union, as a seller and buyer of goods, services and assets, and to a lesser but significant degree with the United States government and its giant corporations such as oil and technology companies. Sanctions can boomerang, which would be far worse than just being completely ineffective in reversing the Russian annexation of Crimea.
As for sanctions deterring any unlikely future Russian moves westward into Ukraine, consider the following role reversal. If Russia moved for sanctions against the United States before Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Yemen and other attacks, would that have deterred either you or George W. Bush from taking such actions? Of course not. Such an outcome, politically and domestically, would not be possible.
If you want continued Russian cooperation, as you do, on the critical Iranian and Syrian negotiations, ignore the belligerent baying pack of neocons who always want more United States wars, which they and their adult children avoid fighting themselves. Develop a coalition of economic support for Ukraine, with European nations, based on observable reforms of that troubled government. Sponsor a global conference on how to enforce international law as early as possible.
Drop the nonsense of evicting Russia from the G8 – a get-together forum of leaders. Get on with having the United States comply with international law, and our constitution on the way to ending the American Empire’s interventions worldwide, as has been recommended by both liberal and conservative/libertarian lawmakers, along with much public opinion.
Concentrate on America, President Obama, whose long unmet necessities cry out from “sea to shining sea.â€
Huffington Post / nader.org
16-14
Community News (V16-I14)
Presentation on Hajj to Rotarians
HOUSTON,TX–The Woodlands Rotary Club recently featured a talk on the Hajj. Dr. Abbas Jafri said his recent performance of Hajj was an experience of a lifetime.
During the journey, “One is stripped of all material visages of affluence and status and made to feel one with his fellow pilgrims. The event is overseen by 95,000 security forces and brings approximately $16.5 billion in revenue to Saudi Arabia. The primary lessons I took from this experience were patience, humility, unity, spirituality and gratitude.â€
Mo Khan wins Democratic primary
Mo Khan, a law student,edged out his rival to win the 20th House District Democratic primary election race in Illinois.
Khan said he was already making preparations for a general election battle against Republican state Rep. Michael McAuliffe, a 17-year incumbent.
The 20th House District includes portions of the near Northwest suburbs and Chicago’s Northwest Side.
Tariq Khan elected president of McGill’s students society
Engineering student Tariq Khan was elected president of the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) for the year 2014-15. Khan’s platform revolved around accountability at SSMU and creating more jobs on campus for students.
“I feel as if this is a victory of diversity, it’s the toughest thing that I’ve done in my life and there’s a lot of trust that needs to be won, built,†Khan told The McGill Daily, but added that there was work to do on creating a cohesive executive. “I think we have a very strong team, but we need to obviously sit down together, we have to earn each other’s trust.â€
Prior to being elected as President, Khan served as Engineering Representative to SSMU Council during the 2011-12 academic year. This year, he was the Interest Group Coordinator, where he worked under the Clubs & Services portfolio.
16-14
Story of Heroic Muslim Woman of WWII Coming to Dearborn
Film Premiere of Enemy of the Reich: The Noor Inayat Khan Story to be screened
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A screen grab from the film Enemy of the Reich, the actress representing Noor Khan. The movie is narrated by the eminent actress Helen Mirren. |
What: Detroit area premiere 60-minute docudrama film that tells the story of a young Muslim woman living in Paris who became a spy and wireless operator as part of Winston Churchill’s Special Operations Executive (SOE).
Noor was the daughter of a Muslim musician and Sufi teacher from India, Inayat Khan, who resided in Paris. After the Nazi invasion in June 1940, she fled to England, where she trained as a wireless operator with the SOE. Throughout the war, this organization secretly undermined the Axis powers through espionage and covert disruption. In early 1943, Noor was dropped into France behind enemy From Paris, she transmitted messages back to Britain and for a period was the only link between the U.K. and the French Resistance. Pursued by the Gestapo, she was finally betrayed by French collaborators. The Nazis arrested and imprisoned her in Paris, where she refused to name names, and twice attempted to escape. Too unruly for the Parisian authorities, she was shipped to a German prison and then to the infamous Dachau concentration camp. There she remained uncooperative and was finally killed in the last months of the war.
When: Saturday, March 29th, 2014 at 3:00pm
Where: Ford Community and Performing Arts Center, 15801 Michigan Ave., Dearborn, Michigan 48126
Who: Michigan Muslim Community Council (MMCC) presents a film from Unity Productions Foundation. Local partners include: Indus Community Action Network (iCan), Interfaith Leadership Council of Metropolitan Detroit (IFLC). Pakistani American Association (PAA), Razjan Entertainment.
Why: “Despite the fact that many Muslims played brave roles and sacrificed during
World War II, the prevailing narrative of that conflict usually doesn’t include any mention,†says Alex Kronemer. Kronemer is co-founder with Michael Wolfe of Unity Productions Foundation, which has produced the award-winning documentaries Prince Among Slaves and Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet (s), that have both been aired nationally on PBS.
“More Americans need to know the story of Noor Inayat Khan, who fought against one of the most heinous enemies of humanity of the last 100 years,†says local Muslim activist Razi Jafri.
Visit www.EnemyoftheReich.com for more information
16-14
Zeni Law Introduction to Estate Planning
By Adil James, TMO
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| Serene Zeni discusses estate planning before the Bloomfield audience. |
March 21–Bloomfield—This Friday Bloomfield’s Unity Center hosted an estate planning seminar conducted by professional legal experts knowledgeable in Islamic planning.
Zeni Law is a Muslim law firm based in Troy Michigan. They practice in the areas of estate planning, health care law, and real estate.
Serene Zeni and Serene Kashlan (yes, the same first name) presented the basics of the estate planning field to an assembled group of perhaps fifty people at the Unity Center’s Friday night event.
The essence of the presentation was that estate planning should not be left to chance and should not be left unresolved–and that the rules of the Middle East pertaining to estate planning definitely do not apply in the United States therefore people from the Middle East must make preparations in order to avoid unwanted surprises.
A will is necessary, both because of the order from Prophet (s) that believers have a will and because guardianship of one’s children is determined either by a will or by the determination of a judge who may or may not be sympathetic to the religious views of the decedent or the decedent’s family.
Probate, the lawyers explained, should be avoided because of the long delay in the process (best case it will take one year to resolve) and because all of the probate proceedings will be public record and therefore open to the prying eyes of anyone with the know-how to investigate a decedent’s personal business.
Trusts and powers of attorney are also vital estate planning tools, they explained, because they enable a person to make a careful strategy in advance to shift money to following generations in a manner that completely avoids probate if done correctly and minimizes taxes as well.
Powers of attorney are vital to make plans and simplify decision-making in the event of a person’s incapacity.
The lawyers displayed a comprehensive knowledge of federal and Michigan law and also both confidence and competence.
Another vital feature is Islamic estate planning. One vital lesson of their speech was that Islamic estate planning or Shari’ah compliant estate planning cannot really be done by someone who is not Muslim because the common theme among such practitioners–who want to bring in Muslim clients by offering Shari’ah compliant planning–is that they may not have true respect for the spirit of Islamic law but may rather work around the letter of Islamic law while violating the spirit of the law.
A lively question and answer session followed, and both attorneys fielded questions very ably.
Zeni Law offers estate plans for uncomplicated estates for $1,500 for individuals and $2,000 for couples.
If you are interested in using their estate planning services, please contact Zeni Law directly via their website at zenilaw.com or at 248-876-3326.
16-14
MyK12Ed Launches MOOC Platform for STEM Education
Press Release
Free Online ACT Course
MyK12Ed -a MI based e-learning portal launches Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) platform for STEM Education in K-12, conducting Live Online Classes in the local language of instruction for students world-wide.
Canton, MI,March 25th, 2014 – MyK12Ed announces launch of it’s Beta version of Online Learning platform for STEM education in K-12. Teachers from different areas of expertise in Science, Math, Computers, and Technology will be able to build, manage, and offer courses with live online classes to students globally. Students can choose from a wide array of growing portfolio of online courses that they can take from anywhere, anytime. The courses will have self-paced asynchronous component along with live online classes conducted weekly by experienced teachers in their language of instruction.
Sohail Khan, founder of MyK12Ed said, “knowing the challenges our educators and students face in Math, Science, and Technology education, we are building an online educational Eco-System and a platform where educators can (a) offer Public and Private Courses, (b) create, build, and manage content, (c) conduct flipped instruction, (d) launch and broadcast live virtual classes, and (e) carryout blended and differentiated learning.
Students can (a) enroll in self-paced courses, (b) take live virtual classes from anywhere, (c) learn from a large public video library of over 20,000 videos categorized by grade, topic & common core standards in Math and (d) prepare to earn credits by examination from accredited institution.â€
MyK12Ed is based in Canton, MI. To enroll in ACT Test Prep course and others, visit www.myk12ed.com, or for more information, contact at info@myk12ed.com.
MyK12Ed believes in excellence in education for all. To accomplish this goal, we have created a platform that will enable virtual education for millions of students and educators around the globe. We invite everyone who shares our vision to utilize our platform, interact with our online community of users, and help us continue to find creative ways to make online learning accessible for everyone.
Contact: MyK12Ed; www.myk12ed.com; info@myk12ed.com
16-14
A Hundred Years On, Back To The Future In Crimea
By Uri Avnery
A hundred years after the World War I that started in Crimea, the world seems to have drawn no lessons at all
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Russian military personnel surround a Ukrainian military base in Perevalnoe, Crimea, on March 19. Ukrainian troops have been encircled by pro-Russian forces in their bases for days. Getty Images |
THERE IS an old Chinese curse that says: “May you live in historic times!†(If there isn’t, there should be.)
This week was a historic time. The Crimea seceded from Ukraine. Russia annexed it.
A dangerous situation. No one knows how it will develop. After my last article about the Ukrainian crisis, I was flooded with passionate e-mail messages.
Some were outraged by one or two sentences that could be construed as justifying Russian actions. How could I excuse the former KGB apparatchik, the new Hitler, the leader who was building a new Soviet empire by destroying and subjugating neighboring countries?
Others were outraged, with the same passion, by my supposed support for the fascist gangs which have come to power in Kiev, the anti-Semites in Nazi uniforms, and the American imperialists who use them for their own sinister purposes.
I am a bit bewildered by the strength of feeling on both sides. The Cold War, it seems, is not over. It just took a nap. Yesterday’s warriors are again rallying to their flags, ready to do battle.
Sorry, I can’t get passionate about this side or that. Both, it seems to me, have some justice on their side. Many of the battle cries are bogus.
THOSE WHO rage against the annexation of the Crimea by the Russian Federation and compare it to Hitler’s “Anschluss†of Austria may be right in some sense.
I remember the newsreels of ecstatic Austrians welcoming the soldiers of the Führer, who was, after all, an Austrian himself. There can be no doubt that most Austrians welcomed the “return to the fatherlandâ€.
That seems to be the case now in the Crimea. For a long time the peninsula had been a part of Russia. Then, in 1954, the leader of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev, a Ukrainian himself, presented the Crimea as a gift to Ukraine. It was mostly a symbolic gesture, since both Russia and Ukraine belonged to the same Soviet state and were subject to the same oppression.
But the main point is that the people of the Crimea were not consulted. There was no referendum. The majority of the population is Russian, and undoubtedly wishes now to return to Russia. It expressed this wish in a referendum that, on the whole, seems to be quite authentic. So the annexation may be justified.
Vladimir Putin himself brought up the precedent of Kosovo, which seceded from Serbia not so long ago. This may be a bit cynical, since Russia strenuously objected to this secession at the time. All the Russian arguments then are now contradicted by Putin himself.
If we leave out cynicism, hypocrisy and great power politics for a moment, and stick to simple moral principles, then what is good for the goose is good for the gander. A sizable national minority, living in its homeland, has a right to secede from a state it does not like.
For this reason I supported the independence of Kosovo and believe that the same principle applies now to Catalonia and Scotland, Tibet and Chechnya.
There is always a way to prevent secession without using brute force: to create conditions that make the minority want to stay in the majority state. Generous economic, political and cultural policies can achieve this. But for that you need the wisdom of farsighted leaders, and that is a rare commodity everywhere.
By the same token, Ukrainians can be understood when they kick out a president who wants to bring them into the Russian orbit against their will. His golden bathroom appliances are beside the point.
Another question is what role the fascists play in the process. There are contradictory reports, but Israeli reporters on the scene testify to their conspicuous presence in the center of Kiev.
The problem has confronted us since the Tunisian Spring: in many of the “spring†countries the uprisings bring to the fore elements that are worse than the tyrants they want to displace. The revolutions are started by idealists who are unable to unite and set up an effective regime, and then are taken over by intolerant fanatics, who are better fighters and better organizers.
That is the secret of the survival of the abominable Bashar al-Assad. Few people want Syria to fall into the hands of a Taliban-like Islamic tyranny. That is also the fate of Egypt: the liberal democrats started the revolution but lost the democratic elections to a religious party, which was in a haste to impose its creed on the people. They were overthrown by a military dictatorship that is worse than the regime which the original revolution overthrew.
The emergence of the neo-Nazis in Kiev is worrying, even if Putin uses their presence for his own purposes. If they are supported by the West, overtly or covertly, that is disturbing.
EQUALLY WORRYING is the uncertainty about Putin’s intentions.
In many of the countries surrounding Russia there live large numbers of Russians, who went to live there in Soviet times. Ukraine, Latvia, Estonia, Moldova, Kazakhstan and other countries have large Russian minorities, and even majorities, who yearn to be annexed to the motherland.
No one really knows Putin. How far will he go? Can he control his ambitions? Will he be carried away by his successes and the lack of wise policies in Western capitals?
Addressing his parliament about the annexation of the Crimea, he seemed restrained, but there was no mistaking the imperial trimmings of the event. He would not be the first leader in history who overestimated his successes and underrated the power of his opponents.
And on the other side – is there enough wisdom in Washington and the other Western capitals to produce the right mixture of firmness and restraint to prevent an uncontrollable slide into war?
In three months the world will “celebrate†the hundredth anniversary of the shot in Sarajevo – the shot that ignited a worldwide conflagration.
It may be helpful to recount again the chain of events that caused one of the most destructive wars in human history, a war that consumed millions upon millions of human lives and destroyed an entire way of life.
The shot that started it all was quite accidental. The assassin, a Serb nationalist, failed in his first attempt to kill a quite insignificant Austrian archduke. But after he had already given up, he came across his intended victim again, by chance, and shot him dead.
The incompetent Austrian politicians and their senile emperor saw an easy opportunity to demonstrate the prowess of their country and presented little Serbia with an ultimatum. What could they lose? Except that Serbia was the protégé of Russia. In order to deter the Austrians, the Czar and his equally incompetent ministers and generals ordered a general mobilization of their vast army. They were quite unaware of the fact that this made war unavoidable, because…
The German Reich, which had come into being only 43 years earlier, lived in deadly fear of a “war on two frontsâ€. Located in the middle of Europe, squeezed between two great military powers, France and Russia, it drew up a plan to forestall this eventuality. The plan changed every year in the wake of military exercises, but in essence it was based on the premise that one enemy had to be crushed before the other enemy had time to join the battle.
The plan in place in 1914 was to crush France before the cumbersome Russian mobilization could be completed. So when the Czar announced his mobilization, the German army invaded Belgium and reached the outskirts of Paris in a few weeks. They almost succeeded in defeating France before the Russians were ready.
(25 years later, Hitler solved the same problem in a different way. He signed a sham treaty with Stalin, finished France off and then attacked Russia.)
In 1914, Great Britain, shocked by the invasion of Belgium, hastened to the aid of its French ally. Italy, Japan, and others joined the fray. So did the Ottoman Empire, which ruled Palestine. World War I was underway.
Who wanted this terrible war? Nobody. Who took a cool-headed decision to start it? Nobody. Of course, many national and international interests were involved, but none so important as to justify such a catastrophe.
No, it was a war nobody wanted or even envisioned. The flower of European youth was destroyed by the sheer stupidity of the contemporary politicians, followed by the colossal stupidity of the generals.
And in the end, a peace treaty was concocted that made another world war practically inevitable. Only after another awful world war did the politicians come to their senses and make another fratricidal war in Western Europe unthinkable.
A hundred years after it all started, it is well to remember.
Can anything like this happen again? Can an unintended chain of foolish acts lead to another catastrophe? Can one thing lead to another in a way that incompetent leaders are unable to stop?
I hope not. After all, during these hundred years, some lessons have been learned and absorbed.
Or not?
16-14
Millions Die Every Year From Air Pollution
By Lisa Schlein
The World Health Organization reports air pollution is now the world’s largest single environmental health risk. A new report finds seven million people died from exposure to air pollution in 2012, more than double the number previously estimated in 2008.
Air pollution is a global problem; the World Health Organization reports one in eight people around the world die from air pollution.
It says new data show people exposed to indoor and outdoor air pollution die prematurely from cardiovascular diseases, such as strokes and ischaemic heart disease, as well as chronic pulmonary diseases and cancer.
The World Health Organization reports most deaths from air pollution occur in low-and middle-income countries in Southeast Asia and the western Pacific, where about half the world’s population cook and heat their homes using open fires and simple stoves. Health officials say the use of coal and biomass fuels, such as wood, animal dung and crop waste is responsible for 4.2 million people dying prematurely in 2012. They link an additional 3.7 million deaths in urban and rural areas to outdoor air pollution.
WHO Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health coordinator, Dr. Carlos Dora, said clean air cannot be bought in a bottle.
“To resolve this issue, it is quite important that countries, nations take action, which is more or less coordinated and the reason for that is the air shared-small particles travel thousands of kilometers, normally around the hemisphere traveling east. So pollution in one country will affect a number of other countries downwind,†said Dora.
Dora said air pollution used to be worse in developed than in developing countries. But he says developed countries, notably the United Kingdom, and United States have taken action, which has dramatically reduced air pollution during the past decade.
“We know those interventions work on energy especially. On transportation, better engines, cleaner fuels, more efficient energy technologies, reduction in the need for the use of energy, insulation of houses, etc. Clean energy, solar, wind, energy that does not use combustion is better than those that do use combustion,†he said.
Dora said in most cases healthier air pollution strategies will be more economical in the long run because health care costs will go down.
16-14
Lebanon: Rebuilding Infrastructure … Again
Part 7: (2007 – 2012)
By Laura Fawaz, Contributing Reporter
Getting over the third Israeli invasion devastated more than a lost of human life in Lebanon, it took over Lebanese day-to-day life, with a constant reminder of what was lost.
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Lebanese Hizbullah supporters sweep the street in a destroyed residential area in southern Beirut. Photograph: Kevin Frayer/AP |
In last week’s article, we discussed Israeli’s 2006 invasion, in which Israel admittedly intended to attacked Lebanon’s infrastructures, bridges, roadways, airport, and even hospitals. This was so that the people inside Lebanon would be trapped in their own homes, literally. For safety concerns, most families were not able to take shelter in near by hospitals due to the fact that anyone on road was seen as a moving target. We also spoke with a young lady named Ann in our last article that described seeing numerous cars trying to drive to shelter, but they knew it had to be done in a safe manner. So they would have two people in the back seat of the car, each holding one side of a large white flag, the symbol of a peace. Though according to Ann, this made no difference as she remembered seeing approximately every third car still hit with a missile, with their white flag desecrated to pieces.
In this war, Israel hoped to show the Lebanese government and people that Hezbollah was nothing but a tyrant militia that brought death and destruction. They hoped that this lesson would turn popular opinion against the resistance group, though rather, it did the opposite. With most Lebanese increasing their support for Hezbollah, including the Lebanese Christians who normally were not friendly to Islamic parties. Everyone now was blaming Israel for attacking civilian targets, and in the end, this small Lebanese resistance group, Hezbollah, declared victory in this 34-day war. The specific attacks leading to this war is regarding the large number of prisoners of war. Remember, Israel had five, Lebanon had approximately 360, and Palestine had over 6,800.
There was an agreement between Israel and Hezbollah that Israel would release an agreed upon number of the Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners of war, in exchange for the five that Hezbollah had. But for whatever reason, Israel did not follow through with this agreement, thus leading to the 2006 July war. But in July 2008, Israel and Hezbollah initiated another agreement stating that Hezbollah would turned over the captured Israeli soldiers in exchange for Lebanese civilian prisoner Samir Kuntar, as well as four Hezbollah fighters captured during the July war. Also requested in this exchange were the bodies of approximately 200 other deceased Lebanese and Palestinian fighters held by Israel. Kuntar and the other released fighters, were greeted by a hero’s welcome in Beirut, with celebrations taking place in every town and village.
Since the July war, Lebanon was dedicated to rebuilding it’s infrastructure, yet again. Though this time, the rebuilding process began the day after the war ended. Unlike the people affected by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, the Lebanese people that were affected by the war were reimbursed immediately. How? Hezbollah was the one that handled it, not the Lebanese government. They made sure of it, by giving the affected people money to rebuild right away. But this time, they rebuilt bigger and better. For example, homes in South Lebanon that had to be rebuilt were now set up with solar powered heating on their roofs.
Then in October 2009, the Lebanese government established diplomatic relations with Syria, being the first time since both countries gained independence in 1940s. Within that year, Lebanon is once again; trying to make sure that every religious sect is represented in government. The Druze minority in Lebanon is growing, and is now a politically influential minority. Though unity in the government did not last, because in January 2011, the government collapses yet again. This time, it collapsed after Hezbollah and allied ministers resign. They did so after the western-backed Prime Minister Saad Hariri refused to assemble ministers to discuss how to deal with the naming of suspects in the killing of his father back in 2005. The announcement was timed to coincide with the start of a meeting at the White House between Hariri and Barack Obama.
All 10 opposition ministers resigned, along with Adnan Sayyed Hussein, a minister aligned to Lebanon’s president. His resignation was crucial because it meant more than one third of the cabinet had quit – a move that meets a requirement to bring about the collapse of the government. The energy minister, Gebran Bassil, said Hariri must choose between “Beirut, or Washington, or Beirut and any other capitalâ€.
Still not able to take over Lebanese land, Israel realized that the route to Hezbollah was through those who support them, financially and otherwise: Iran and Syria. The best method of getting to these countries was through American influences and connections. Thus, in early 2012 is when the talks of invading Iran really became a possibility. Though after many Americans protested the idea, citing the disaster that happened in the Iraq war invasion, the idea was put to the back burner.
With the next target in mind, America tried to convince more of the world to go after Syria. The conflict within Syria began in March 2011, and of course, as intended, spilled over into Lebanon in the summer of 2012. With opposition fighters in Northern Lebanon, this time, people were fleeing south. It just so happens, that once again, I was there in November 2012. After completing the fulfilling pilgrimage of Haj, I stopped in Lebanon to visit family members. There, I found a difference in the atmosphere within Lebanon. In the south, where my aunts and uncles live, it was a peaceful lifestyle, with a homey, neighborhood feel, all without the worry of incoming bombs. In the north though, I could not tell you first hand as I was instructed not to go north of Beirut due to the clashing of political groups in Syria and Lebanon.
There is a whole other story when it comes to these “groups†though. Some say that they are the homegrown terrorists that came in Syria from neighboring countries to try to overthrow the government. While others say that they are CIA trained groups trying to overthrow President Bashar Al-Assad for supporting Hezbollah, the only group that has been able to beat Israel. These were the two stories that I heard while in Lebanon, and as an American, was skeptical of course. But then I was reminded that Saddam Hussein, the tyrant who ran Iraq pre-American invasion, was also CIA trained. According to http://www.democracynow.org/, a broadcast of NPR, his first contacts with U.S. officials date back to 1959, when he was part of a CIA-authorized six-man squad, tasked with assassinating then Iraqi Prime Minister General Abd al-Karim Qasim. 2012 ended with 160,00 Syrian refugees streaming into Lebanon following several days of deadly fighting between supporters and opponents of the Syrian president in the Lebanese city of Tripoli.
16-14
Radical Dutch Extremist Geert Wilders Denounced for Racism
By Abdulla Tarabishy, TMO
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People take part in a protest against Geert Wilders, leader of the Dutch hard-right Freedom Party, in Amsterdam March 22, 2014. REUTERS/Cris Toala Olivares |
The Dutch-Moroccan Alliance (SMN) is filing a complaint over the hateful comments made last week by Dutch Politician Geert Wilders. At a rally, Wilders asked supporters whether they wanted, “fewer or more Moroccans†in the Netherlands, to which the crowd enthusiastically responded, “fewer!†Wilders then announced that, “We’ll organize that.â€
The SMN has argued that Wilders’ rhetoric falls under the category of hate-speech because he attacked a specific ethnic group. The statement, they say, is akin to a call for ethnic cleansing, though Wilders’ party claims that it was simply a statement on immigration policy.
Wilders is an extremely controversial and divisive figure both in the Netherlands and around the world. He is the founder and current leader of the Freedom Party (PVV), the fourth largest political party in the Netherlands. Wilders has, in the past, called for a ban on the Quran in the Netherlands, spoke against Prophet Muhammad (s), and proposed a tax on women who wear the hijab. He has also referred to Islam as a Trojan Horse being employed against Europe.
In 2009, Wilders was placed on trial for hate-speech, and polls showed that the Dutch public was deeply divided over his prosecution. Around the world, many strongly criticized the hateful nature of his views, while others defend his right to free speech. Wilders was eventually acquitted, though his trial caused dramatic publicity and inflamed tensions.
Although Wilders’ party has many characteristics of a right-wing fringe group, it has mainstream support in the Netherlands, which is a deeply troubling prospect. Wilders’ rise to popularity epitomizes the emergence of an anti-Islamic sentiment that is sweeping Europe.
Anders Behring Breivik, the infamous Norwegian shooter who killed 77 people in July of 2011, cited Wilders as an inspiration, and described his party as, “the only true party of conservatives.†Breivik cited motivations of anti-Islam and xenophobia, and his attacks spawned several attempted “copycat†attacks around Europe.
On the right-wing, there is an ever-increasing tolerance for radicals such as Wilders, or even Breivik. In fact, following Breivik’s massacres, numerous anti-Islamic Norwegian parties experienced a rise in membership. Recent polling has even indicated that Wilders’ party is the most popular in the Netherlands.
The problem lies in the ends, but with the means. Wilders’ party supports a dramatic reduction in immigration, and a Dutch withdrawal from the European Union, and he has some legitimate reasons for doing so. However, by portraying this as a cultural battle to stop, “the Islamization of Europe,†Wilders is playing a very dangerous game.
The last time a charismatic right-wing leader gained so much popular support, Europe ended up with Adolf Hitler. The comparison may seem somewhat far-fetched, but it is often forgotten that Hitler was democratically elected, at a time when xenophobic and nationalistic sentiment was at a peak.
Wilders’ slanderous comments about Moroccans are just the latest in the career of the highly controversial politician. In the words of the Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, “He again has gone too far.â€
16-14
The Path Towards Self-Realization: Part III
By Karin Friedemann, TMO
Stop Outward Searching
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Once you have made a commitment to yourself to consciously search for the true meaning of life, and you know at least mentally, that the only way to find yourself is to look within yourself; now it is time to look at all the places you have been searching unsuccessfully for fulfillment, and examine the reasons why. On my journey, I have met many people who travel the world searching for their souls. Some of them will find it, I am certain, but they won’t find it in a pub, or on a train, or in the sunset. The moment they stop looking for happiness, is when they are sure to find it.
Many people think of love as the highest joy and fulfillment. But love as paradise is an illusion! People try time and time again to find completion in another human being. Time and time again, they are hurt because the other showed himself or herself to be imperfect. When you love someone’s good points and ignore their bad points, you are in love with a myth, which you have created. This is wonderful for a while; you are filled with passion and energy, like a divine madness. But you are looking through him, not at him. This is unfair to both of you. One day, you are forced to look at him as an imperfect human being with human weaknesses. The love you felt instantly vanishes. Instead of blaming yourself for having expected too much from him, you reject him and search for another person to give meaning and happiness to your life.
A long-lasting, happy relationship between two people who are trying to find perfect fulfillment in the other person is impossible. It is only when you are secure and happy within yourself that you can find harmony with another person. If you are balanced inside yourself, you have the strength to see others truly – to be able to look at their faults, but also beyond all their imperfections and see their magnificence! You can appreciate their whole being, and such a relationship will be meaningful, because you are not expecting the impossible. Not only does this type of love last, but it grows more beautiful with time.
Wanting to Save the World
Many people have aspirations and desires to save the world from corruption and misery. This is quite natural, because the world is imperfect, and people do suffer. But I suggest that the struggles between nations and societies are nothing more than a reflection of all the personal struggles of individuals. If people were at peace with themselves, there would be no need to gain wealth and power at the expense of other people’s freedom and well-being.
There are so many people who have tried, and are still trying to unify the world, and all of them have failed. They say, “Forget your ego and join our cause.†But they are only chopping at the branches, not at the root of the problem. For as long as people are at war with themselves, they will never be able to be at peace with others for any length of time. As long as people are feeling unfulfilled, they will keep trying to gain as much power or as many possessions as they possibly can, in order to feel more secure about themselves.
I am suggesting that often, in trying to organize and change others for the good of humanity, you are conveniently avoiding having to look at the problems inside yourself.
How can you hope to save society if you can’t even save yourself? Society is made up of individuals like yourself, all struggling to find happiness and completeness. As long as you are not at peace with yourself, you are acting out of fear and anger, the root of all evil. You want to save the world, but it is only because you are afraid to die, or because you are angry at what others have taken from you. Obviously, the world is imperfect. But fighting out of anger has never brought about peace, and it never will.
The important thing to do is first to rid yourself of your fears and your anger, by going inside and finding the root of your individual problems. Then you will have the wisdom and courage to truly help others. “It is better to conquer the self than to win a thousand battles, for then, the triumph is yours.â€
Go Inside
The way to come to terms with yourself is to look at yourself. This seems fairly obvious, but people really have problems listening to what their inner voices are saying to them. I personally have this problem especially when it comes to knowing when to rest. I wear myself out, always working too hard, and then wanting to go out and have fun – while my whole inner self is screaming at me: “This is too much stress for me to handle! Please just go home and do nothing for a while!†But I am driven by guilt, or anger, or perhaps a desire to prove something, and so I push myself beyond physical and mental capacity until my body reacts against my will with headaches, illness, and complete exhaustion. Then my mind starts feeling like it’s going bananas, and my emotions act up so I get hysterical over silly incidents, or I get totally depressed and I can no longer function: all because I didn’t listen to my inner voices – my own intuition about what’s best for me. That’s one problem I am working to overcome, through meditation and relaxation, and just learning to live sensibly!
When I say “voices,†I am referring to feelings coming from the Psyche deep within. These voices are also known as intuition, or ESP, or commonly as guilt, anxiety, or a vague longing. When responded to properly, these voices will guide you through every step of your personal evolution. By listening to them, you can learn a great deal about yourself and others. Don’t repress these feelings! Lack of attention to these voices will result in dissatisfaction, depression, and mental instability. One has to develop the ability to perceive these voices and decode their messages. The best way is to practice! So start listening!
For example, if you are feeling a vague sense of guilt, the thing to do is figure out why you are feeling guilty, and what you can do to relieve yourself of it. This will vary. You may need to repent and make amends, or you may need to realize that you are being neurotic and simply forgive yourself. In order to respond to your inner voices appropriately, you first have to be able to separate yourself from the situation and be able to look at it objectively. This is the only way to overcome the natural defenses, which keep you from hearing the voices clearly and receiving internal guidance.
[to be continued…]
16-14
A Palestinian Kuffiya for Benn
Long before the idea of boycott of Zionist Israel turned into a movement, Tony Benn had been fighting for the Palestinian rights in the heart of the West
By Ramzy Baroud
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Long before the idea of boycott of Zionist Israel turned into a movement, Tony Benn had been fighting for the Palestinian rights in the heart of the West |
Long before the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign inched slowly from the fringes of global solidarity with Palestinians to take center stage, Tony Benn had been advocating a boycott of Israel with unrestricted conviction, for years.
“Britain should offer its support for this strategy by stopping all arms sales to Israel, introducing trade sanctions and a ban on all investment there together with a boycott of Israeli goods here and make it a condition for the lifting of these measures that Israel complies with these demands at once,†Benn wrote in his blog on April 19, 2002, under the title “A STATE OF PALESTINE NOW.†Ben wanted Arafat to declare a state and “friendly nations†to recognize it.
Yes, the title was all in caps. It was as if Benn, a principled British left-wing politician, had wanted to loudly accentuate his insistence that the Palestinian people deserved their rights, freedom and sovereignty. He was as bold and courageous as any man or woman of true values and principles should always be. He remained uncompromising in matters of human rights and justice. This international warrior left a challenging space to fill when he passed away at the age of 88 on March 13.
Following the news of his death, British media was awash with reports about Benn and his legacy of being a stubborn politician and uncompromising advocate for human rights. Frankly, there was less emphasis on the latter and much more on the former, despite the fact that Benn understood politics was a platform to quarrel with moral dilemmas. The Parliament was a platform to serve the people, not to conspire with other politicians for the sake of one’s party. For some politicians, it is all about winning elections, not using office to carry out a morally grounded mandate to serve the people. Benn was different, thus there was the love-hate relationship Britain had with him.
True to form, British media immediately conjured up a few buzzwords by which it attempted to define Benn’s legacy. He had “immatured with age,†was one of them. It was a remark made by Benn’s fiercest rival in the Labour Party, Harold Wilson (still alive at 96) in reference to Benn’s becoming more of a radical left-winger, as he grew older. Some in the media simply love axioms and catchphrases, for it spares journalists the pain of exhaustive research.
Wilson and his camp invested heavily in assigning Benn the responsibility of the successive defeats experienced by the Labor Party at the hands of the Conservatives. Indeed, Margaret Thatcher and then John Major had won four elections in a row and between them changed the face of British economy and quashed major labor unions. But blaming Benn for splitting the party is unfair to say the least.
Compare Tony Benn’s legacy with that of Tony Blair. The first was principled to the core, boldly challenged US hegemony in the world and fought hard for Britain’s poor, working class and against unhindered globalization that made states vulnerable to the inherent disparity of the global economic system. Blair stood for the exact opposite.
Benn, even from the point of view of those who disagreed with him, was always seen and shall always be remembered as a man of high values.
Although Benn seemed guided by the same high moral values that accompanied him throughout the over 50 years in which he served as an MP in the British Parliament, when he retired in 2001, he seemed ready to take on even bigger challenges. His task morphed from that of a fierce politician at home, fighting for the very definition of the Labour Party, to an internationalist, taking on the most difficult of subjects and never bowing down.
Following the US-British so-called “war on terror†— designed around economic and strategic interests — Benn rose to greater prominence, not as another TV celebrity “expert,†but as a fierce opponent to the US and his own government’s wholesale slaughter of hundreds of thousands of innocent people. Since then, the man never stayed away from the streets. He spoke with passion and mesmerized audiences in his beautiful, immaculate English. Most important about the timing of Benn’s courageous stances was the fact that back then, all public discourses related to the wars were saturated with fear. But, whenever Benn spoke, he pushed the narrative up to higher degrees of audacity.
I listened to him once speak at Trafalgar Square in London. He wore a Kuffiya, the traditional Palestinian headscarf. He spoke of Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine, as if their peoples were his own. Thousands of us applauded with so much enthusiasm. It was as if his words alone were the salvation that would free Arab nations from the bondage of military occupation and war. But at times, words live in a sphere of their own where they multiply, and when repeated often enough, can change the world.
“The main responsibility for the appalling crimes being perpetrated against the Palestinians must be equally shared between Jerusalem and Washington for successive US governments have funded Israel, armed Israel and used their veto at the Security Council to protect Israel from being forced to comply with what world opinion wanted,†he said in 2003, in an interview with Egypt-based Al-Ahram.
True, Benn was not the only British politician who spoke with such candor about the shared responsibility of crimes committed against Palestinians, but few went as far as he did. The next time there is a rally for Palestine, there ought to be an empty chair with a Palestinian Kuffiya, and the name of Tony Benn. It is a Palestinian tradition to honor its heroes, even those with a splendidly beautiful British accent.
16-14
Rugby Champion Williams: Islam Brings Me Happiness
CNN
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NEW YORK, Mar 19 — It was in the cave of Hira that the Prophet Muhammad (s) received the first revelation of the Holy Qur’ran. For rugby’s original wild child Sonny Bill Williams, meeting a Tunisian family who lived with their five children in a one-bedroom flat in the south of France proved pivotal to his conversion to Islam, according to a report carried by CNN news channel.
The New Zealander’s unshakeable belief in the Almighty has proved to be the making of one of the island nation’s most gifted — and controversial — sports stars. “I was real close with them, and I saw how happy and content they were. And to see how they lived their lives, it was just simple,†Sonny Bill Williams, a prodigious rugby talent, professional boxer and tattooed poster boy, told CNN’s Human to Hero series. “One thing I’ve learned over my career is that simplicity is the key. On the field, off as well.â€
“I’ve become a true Muslim,†added Williams. “It’s giving me happiness. It’s made me become content as a man, and helped me to grow. I’ve just got faith in it and it has definitely helped me become the man I am today.â€
The Williams of today does not visibly bear the scars of the 15-year-old who was thrust into the unrelenting drinking culture of one of Australia’s top rugby league clubs and shamed by national media after being caught in a compromising position with a model.
16-14
Death for Ikhwan’s Badie & 528 Supporters
Egypt expands deadly crack down on Islamists and supporters of deposed President Mursi
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| The incarcerated Muslim Brotherhood supreme guide Mohamed Badie. AFP |
CAIRO, March 24 — A court in Egypt on Monday sentenced 529 supporters of ousted president Muhammad Mursi to death after a mass trial, judicial sources said, reported AFP.
Islamist backers of Mursi are facing a deadly crackdown launched by the military-installed authorities since his ouster in July, with hundreds of people killed and thousands arrested.
The sentence was delivered in the second hearing of a trial which began on Saturday in Minya, south of the capital.
Of those sentenced, 153 are in detention and the rest are on the run, the sources said, adding that 17 others were acquitted. The verdict can be appealed.
Those sentenced are among more than 1,200 Mursi supporters on trial in Minya. A second group of about 700 defendants will be in the dock on Tuesday.
They are accused of attacking both people and public property in southern Egypt in August, after security forces broke up two Cairo protest camps set up by Mursi supporters on August 14.
They are also charged with committing acts of violence that led to the deaths of two policemen in Minya, judicial sources said.
The accused include several leaders of Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood, including its supreme guide Mohamed Badie.
Mursi, Egypt’s first elected and civilian president, was ousted by the army on July 3 in a move that triggered widespread unrest across the deeply polarized nation.
Hundreds of people died in the August assault on the two Cairo protest camps and in subsequent clashes that day.
Rights group Amnesty International says at least 1,400 people have been killed in violence across Egypt since then, and thousands more have been arrested.
Mursi is himself currently on trial in three different cases, including one for inciting the killing of protesters outside a presidential palace while he was in office.
Mursi was removed after just 12 months as president following mass street protests against his rule amid allegations of power grabbing and worsening an already weak economy.
Caravan Daily
16-14
Assad Cousin Killed in Syria’s Latakia
Al Jazeera
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Hilal al-Assad, the cousin of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad |
Cousin of President Bashar al-Assad was killed in battles with rebel fighters near the border with Turkey.
Hilal founded the National Defence Army, a pro-government group fighting alongside the Syrian army [SOHR]
Hilal al-Assad, the cousin of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has been killed along with seven of his fighters during fighting in the border town of Kasab in Latakia province, after shells from rebels targeted his vehicle.
The anti-Assad monitoring group, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, reported the death. It was confirmed by Syrian state television, which described Hilal as the head of the National Defence Force in the province of Latakia.
Hilal founded the National Defence Army, a group of pro-government civilians fighting alongside the Syrian army.
The Syrian opposition group Jaish Al Islam [Islam Army Front] claimed responsibility for the killing in a statement published on its website.
“The first rocket was fired around 7:15 pm, followed by another five minutes later. The rockets targeted a house where Hilal was holding a meeting with other members of the National Defence Army†the statement said.
On Sunday, activists and state media reported clashes near the town of Kasab and said both sides were dispatching reinforcements. Syrian officials said the opposition fighters were coming from inside Turkey.
The battle for Kasab broke out on Friday and at least 80 fighters on both sides have been killed.
Latakia province, which includes Assad’s family village, is considered a government stronghold and many of its residents are from his Alawite minority.
Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies
16-14
For Love or Money?
Canadian Charger
Fraud artists find the internet to be a highly useful tool. They use it in many creative ways to bilk people out of money. One approach that is extremely lucrative for them is the romance scam. Those stung suffer not only financial loss but heartbreak as well.
On March 6, Crime Prevention Ottawa held a public session on the topic of romance scams. The principal presenter was Barb Sluppick, who runs the website romancescams.org. She appeared by video from the States. Sluppick has had 60,000 people in on-line discussion groups and currently has 20,000, from all over the world. People have lost jobs and homes to these frauds. Yet, few report to police because they are ashamed. The fraudsters find victims in chat rooms, on dating sites, and on social media such as Facebook.
While people may think that those who fall for these schemes are middle aged and unable to get a date, in fact, aside from young people among whom not many are caught in these schemes, victims come of many ages and with many different backgrounds. There are doctors, lawyers, and CEO’s among them. Both men and women are victims, but it tends to be harder to convince men that they are being taken, Sluppick observed.
One technique they use is love bombing, at all hours of the day and night. Sometimes they work in teams. One of the aims may be to get the victim in a fog through sleep deprivation. Isolating the person is another technique. The victim says that her brother tells her that it is a scam, and the fraudster replies that he is just jealous of your happiness. Stay away from him and don’t talk about us. It is often difficult to convince a victim that she is being scammed. One way is to predict what will happen next. “Wait and see, he will find some reason that you need to send him some money. And then there will be a further reason to send him more.†Or he will need help cashing a check.
If the victim goes to the bank with a check he sends, ordinarily the bank will hold it for a few days to verify certain minimum matters, but it can take months for final clearance, and the check can finally end up bad. The victim is stuck for the amount to pay the bank. She has already sent him the same amount by Western Union. Incidentally, one wonders why, in this age of the internet, verification cannot be made rapidly.
Typically, the victim is out large sums of money before the penny drops. We are talking in the thousands.
According to RCMP Corporal Louis Robertson, a sure sign that a person is dealing with a scam is the demand for money. The fraudster may also be looking for personal information that can give him ways of getting access to your funds, of ways to blackmail you, or of ways to steal your identity.
Fraudsters give you false information as to where they are located. They ask for funds to be sent by Western Union to a particular address, but money sent by Western Union can be picked up any place in the world. According to Sluppick, the exception is in the case of money sent from Minnesota. Because of a state law, if a person attempts to retrieve the cash in a place other than where it is supposed to go, it is sent back.
If you are a victim of this kind of scheme, or if someone is trying to make you one, let the local police know. As well, notify the Consumer Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501. They may be able to take advantage of some clue that you can provide, though the chances are slim.
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Jews and Muslims Deserve Apology for Historical Wrongs
Spain takes first step to right historical wrong, but Jews not the only ones who suffered
By Faisal Kutty
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A statue of Maimonides at the synagogue in the Juderia in Córdoba, Spain. Photo: Irvina Lew. |
The Spanish government’s offer of the “right of return†to the descendants of Jews expelled in 1492 is a “bit late, but nevertheless worthy of praise†says Rabbi Pinchas Godlschmidt, the president of the Conference of European Rabbis. The Rabbi was responding to Spain’s new law – approved by the cabinet on Feb. 7th — granting citizenship to all those who can prove their Sephardic origin. The law amends a previous version announced in 2012, which granted citizenship only to qualified Sephardic Jews and did not allow them to retain other citizenships. The old law also did not extend to the descendants of those coerced to convert to Catholicism, known as Marranos (swine in Spanish).
The current version of the law – still to be ratified by the Parliament — is seen as a way to “correct a historical wrong†for the expulsion of Jews from Spain.
What of the unknown number of Muslims and their descendants expelled?
The Edict of Expulsion (also known as the Alhambra Decree) issued on March 31, 1492 by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain (Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon) ordered Jews to convert or to leave the Kingdoms of Castile and Aragon. This was just after the fall of Muslim Grenada in January 1492. A decade or so after the fall and the Alhambra Decree, Muslims were also forced to convert or leave. In fact, between 1609 (Valencia) and 1614 (Castile), even those Muslims who had converted to Christianity and their descendants (the Moriscos) were forcibly thrown out. Between 275,000 and 350,000 people left and mostly settled in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.
Spanish Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón said the law has a deep historic meaning but that it also “reflects the reality of Spain as an open and plural society.†An openness that apparently does not extend to Muslims. In 2006 a left-wing party in the Andalusian parliament sought to introduce a bill granting Spanish citizenship to the descendants of Moriscos. The bill failed. The double standard is not lost on many Muslims and descendants of Moriscos particularly those in Spain and North Africa.
Representatives of the Moriscos in Morocco and Algeria have already written to Spanish Authorities. Najib Loubaris, the president of L’Association pour la Mémoire des Andalous, a group representing Moroccan Moriscos strongly chastised the Spanish government. The government “should grant the same rights to all those who were expelledâ€, Loubaris is quoted in the Guardian. “Otherwise the decision is selective, not to mention racist.†The call is echoed by Spain’s leading Islamic group the Junta Islámica.
While many of the descendants of the Jews may return, consulates in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem have reportedly already been flooded with requests; the situation with Muslims may be different. It is not known exactly how many Muslims stayed underground and how many left. Moreover, it will be difficult for most Muslim descendants to trace their ancestry because they melted away in Spain or wherever they ended up unlike the Jews who kept to themselves out of fear of further persecution. Moreover, according to University of Cordoba law Professor, Antonio Manuel RodrÃguez Ramos, it is unlikely that the government will encourage the investigation into Muslim descendants. He argues though hundreds of thousands left, the majority did not leave but rather stayed back and “created a culture that can be described as most authentic and most Hispanic.†He suggests digging too deep into Muslim descendants would simply highlight a truth that most Spaniards would like to ignore. “The danger is that we will have to recognize that the majority of the Spanish population is of Muslim descent,†says the Professor. “It’s an effort to hide our history, to hide our memory.â€
With respect to the Jews expelled and their descendants, Rabbi Goldschmidt argued that in addition to this right of return, they need an official apology and that all Jewish monuments now being used as museums and churches be re-assigned again for Jewish use and control to “amend the historical mistakes.â€
Whatever the truth of the matter with respect to Muslims, echoing the Rabbi, Spain must apologize to Muslims and their descendants and restore their monuments.
Though merely symbolic, such a move would go a long way to close out a dark chapter in Spanish history and give due regard to peoples whose legacies contribute immensely to the cultural heritage and tourist coffers of the nation to this day.
Faisal Kutty is an assistant professor of law at Valparaiso University Law School and an adjunct professor of law Osgoode Hall Law of York University in Toronto. Follow him at Twitter@FaisalKutty.
Faisal Kutty, J.D., LL.M., Ph.D. (Cand.); Assistant Professor of Law; Valparaiso University School of Law
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Turkey Shoots Down Syrian Plane
By Daren Butler
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Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu addresses the media in Ankara in this June 13, 2013 file photo. REUTERS/Umit Bektas/Files |
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish armed forces shot down a Syrian plane on Sunday that Ankara said had crossed into its air space in an area where Syrian rebels have been battling President Bashar al-Assad’s forces for control of a border crossing.
“A Syrian plane violated our airspace,†Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told an election rally in northwest Turkey. “Our F-16s took off and hit this plane. Why? Because if you violate my airspace, our slap after this will be hard.â€
Syria condemned what it called a “blatant aggression†and said the jet was pursuing rebel fighters inside Syria. It said the pilot had managed to eject before the plane crashed.
The Turkish general staff said one of its control centers detected two Syrian MIG-23s around 1 pm (1100 GMT) and warned them four times after they came close to the Turkish border.
One plane entered Turkish airspace at Yayladagi, east of the Kasab border crossing, it said. A Turkish F-16 fired a rocket at the Syrian jet and it crashed around 1,200 meters (1,300 yards) inside Syrian territory.
Amateur video released by rebel fighters showed smoke rising from wooded hills in the border area where they said the plane had come down.
The rebels have been fighting since Friday for control of the Kasab crossing, one of several counter-offensives since they retreated this week from a crusader castle near the Lebanese frontier and town on a vital cross-border supply route.
State television said Hilal al-Assad, a cousin of the president and local leader of the National Defence Force militia which has been supporting the army’s efforts to crush the rebellion, was killed near Kasab on Sunday.
Assad’s soldiers, backed by Iran and Shi’ite forces from Iraq and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, have been pushing rebels back in the centre of the country around Damascus and Homs, but have only a minimal presence in most of north and eastern Syria.
“UNPRECEDENTED†TURKISH INTERVENTION
The incident occurred six months after Turkish warplanes shot down a Syrian helicopter which crossed into Turkish airspace in the same border area.
Once a close ally of Assad, Erdogan became a fierce critic of the president’s military response to Syria’s uprising and has sheltered and supported rebels battling to overthrow him.
Authorities in Damascus say this week’s Islamist rebel offensive around the Kasab border crossing marked a new escalation, accusing Turkey of firing tank and artillery shells into Syria to provide cover for the fighters.
A source at Syria’s foreign ministry called Turkey’s actions “unprecedented and unjustifiedâ€, state news agency SANA said.
More than 140,000 people have been killed in Syria’s conflict, while 2.5 million refugees have fled to neighboring countries and millions more need humanitarian aid.
Assad’s forces have already lost control of most border crossings with Turkey during the three-year civil war but had held on to Kasab, gateway to the coastal province of Latakia that has remained an Assad stronghold.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said heavy clashes continued for a third day around Kasab, where rebels have seized control of the border crossing but Assad’s forces, who still control the nearby Kasab village, have been fighting back, supported by air power.
The British-based anti-Assad Observatory said rebels also launched another attack in Latakia on Sunday in the village of Solas, about 25 km (15 miles) south of Kasab.
They also fired two rockets into the coastal city of Latakia, the main hub for operations to ship out Syria’s chemical weapons for destruction under a deal reached with the United States and Russia. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
In the northern city of Aleppo, rebels said they had captured a former police station on the edge of the city’s ancient citadel, as well as installations in the Layramoun district and a nearby hill overlooking the main road into Aleppo from the northwest.
(Additional reporting by Dominic Evans in Beirut; Editing by Tom Heneghan)
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