I. Deaths in Selective Wars
Algerian War - 300,000 killed.
Biafran War - 500,000-2 million killed.
Angolan Civil War - 500,000 killed to 1991.
Mozambican Civil War - 500,000-1 million killed.
Ethiopian Civil War (and famine) - 1-2 million killed.
Lebanese Civil War - 150,000 killed.
Iran-Iraq War - 680,000 killed.
USSR-Afghan War - 1 million killed.
Bangladesh Liberation War - 300,000-1 million killed.
Cambodian Genocide - 1.67 million killed.
Indonesian Massacres - 500,000 killed.
Korean War - 3 million killed.
Chinese Civil War - 2-2.5 million killed.
French Indochina War - 290,000 killed.
US-Vietnam War - 3-4 million killed. (Source: The Nation, January 14/21, 2019.)
#In regard to the Iran-Iraq War, Physicians for Social Responsibility has put the total killed at over 1 million based on a lengthy study.
II. Facebook as Social Menace
According to a devastating investigation by the The New York Times this past December, Facebook is running "a defacto spy agency" -- not for the U.S. government,but for anyone willing to purchase its data. "Facebook spies on people who don't use Facebook." "The mere suspicion of anti-right-wing bias is used to ensure more right-wing programming, and each new win by the right ensures its increasingly ambitious demands. It's hard to imagine an easier ref for conservatives to work than Zuckerberg and Facebook." (Source: Eric Alterman, "The Social Menace," The Nation, January 28/February 4, 2019.)
III. The NAFTA Substitute: NAFTA 2.0
"The NAFTA 2.0 framework, like previous agreements, sets limits on domestic safeguards and grants protectionist monopoly rights to Big Pharma. However, unless the final deal includes strong labor and environmental standards that are subject to swift and certain enforcement -- which is not the case with the NAFTA 2.0 text -- US firms will continue to outsource jobs, pay Mexican workers poverty wages, and dump toxins in Mexico. Absent a remedy to this fundamental failing, NAFTA 2.0 will face broad opposition."
"The new labor chapter has one standout feature, [which is] clear: Specific rules that would eradicate the wage-suppressing 'protection contracts' that current Mexican law allows employers to impose on workers ostensibly represented by a union." "One way in which NAFTA 2.0 is dramatically worse than the original is the addition of new monopoly rights for pharmaceutical corporations that would help them avoid competition from generic products and keep medicine prices high." (Source: Lori Wallach, "The Battle Over NAFTA," The Nation, January 14/21, 2019.)
Thursday, February 14, 2019
Sunday, February 10, 2019
Iraq's Fractured Systems Ill-Equipped to Deal With ISIS Resurgence
In 2018, Iraqi courts issued arrest warrants for at least fifteen defense lawyers, and charged them with ISIS affiliation. Pretrial detention can last for years, and trials can take less than five minutes. Suspects are tried under a law that makes no distinction between a person who "assists terrorists," and one who commits violent crimes on behalf of an extremist group. The conviction rate for Iraqi courts is around ninety-eight percent. "Throughout the ISIS period, in the aftermath of terrorist attacks, the Iraqi government has carried out mass executions in order to mollify an outraged public." "The Iraqi government refuses to recognize or replace birth certificates issued by the Islamic State, so tens of thousands of children have been rendered effectively stateless." "Thousands of men and boys have been convicted of ISIS affiliation, and hundreds have been hanged." In Baghdad, the relentless pace of trials struck [Ben Taub] as so incongruous with the lack of evidence, the certainty of convictions, and the severity of sentences that he began to wonder whether judges had access to secret intelligence that they were sharing in court. [1]
"By the end of the battle for East Mosul, as much as seventy-five per cent of the counterterrorism forces had been injured or killed." "ISIS fighters who surrendered were executed on the spot. Iraqi security forces filmed themselves hurling captives off a cliff, then shooting them as they lay dying on the rocks below." "As late as March [2018], journalists were still finding the bodies of women and children on the river banks, with their hands tied behind their backs and bullet holes in their skulls." "But the West Mosul civil defense has retrieved thousands of corpses from the Old City." "The war against the Islamic State displaced a million people in Nineveh Province."
"Elsewhere in Iraq, security forces filmed themselves punching, kicking, and whipping men in ad-hoc detention sites, including school classrooms." "Although there were only around eight thousand ISIS fighters living in Mosul, and far fewer in the surrounding villages, the lists of wanted people grew to some hundred thousand names." "Pretrial detention can last years,and even if detainees don't die from the conditions, they may never see the insides of a courtroom."
One of Ben Taub's visits coincided with that of the country head of a major N.G.O. " 'This is set up like a concentration camp,' he said, gesturing at the fence. 'All the barbed wire, the division of sectors. There are no social spaces. There are no places for the children to play. There are no places for people to gather. There's one entrance in and out. And you have seen the guys at the entrance? Most of them are from militias.' "
"Air strikes cannot kill an idea, and so it has fallen to Iraq's fractured security, intelligence, and justice systems to try to finish the task. But ISIS has always derived much of its dangerous appeal from the corruption of the Iraqi state." "What is at stake in this post-conflict period, is whether the Iraqi government can win over the segment of the population for whom ISIS seemed a viable alternative."
Footnotes:
[1] Ben Taub, "Shallow Graves," The New Yorker, December 24/31, 2019.
"By the end of the battle for East Mosul, as much as seventy-five per cent of the counterterrorism forces had been injured or killed." "ISIS fighters who surrendered were executed on the spot. Iraqi security forces filmed themselves hurling captives off a cliff, then shooting them as they lay dying on the rocks below." "As late as March [2018], journalists were still finding the bodies of women and children on the river banks, with their hands tied behind their backs and bullet holes in their skulls." "But the West Mosul civil defense has retrieved thousands of corpses from the Old City." "The war against the Islamic State displaced a million people in Nineveh Province."
"Elsewhere in Iraq, security forces filmed themselves punching, kicking, and whipping men in ad-hoc detention sites, including school classrooms." "Although there were only around eight thousand ISIS fighters living in Mosul, and far fewer in the surrounding villages, the lists of wanted people grew to some hundred thousand names." "Pretrial detention can last years,and even if detainees don't die from the conditions, they may never see the insides of a courtroom."
One of Ben Taub's visits coincided with that of the country head of a major N.G.O. " 'This is set up like a concentration camp,' he said, gesturing at the fence. 'All the barbed wire, the division of sectors. There are no social spaces. There are no places for the children to play. There are no places for people to gather. There's one entrance in and out. And you have seen the guys at the entrance? Most of them are from militias.' "
"Air strikes cannot kill an idea, and so it has fallen to Iraq's fractured security, intelligence, and justice systems to try to finish the task. But ISIS has always derived much of its dangerous appeal from the corruption of the Iraqi state." "What is at stake in this post-conflict period, is whether the Iraqi government can win over the segment of the population for whom ISIS seemed a viable alternative."
Footnotes:
[1] Ben Taub, "Shallow Graves," The New Yorker, December 24/31, 2019.
Tuesday, February 5, 2019
Newsrooms' Diversity; Makeup of Congress; and the Green New Deal
I. Newsrooms' Diversity
293 - Number of newsrooms, out of 1,700 queried, that participated in the American Society of News Editors' employment-diversity survey.
22.6% - Percentage of the workforce in newsrooms made up by people of color, compared with 16.5% in 2017.
41% - Percentage of the workforce in newsrooms made up by women.
19% - Percentage of newsroom managers who are minorities, compared with only 13.4 % in 2017.
41.8% - Percentage of newsroom managers who are women, compared with 38.9% in 2017. (Source: The Nation, January 14/21, 2019.)
II. Makeup of Congress
47 - Average age of a new member of Congress.
90% - Percentage of Republican House members who are white men.
102 - Number of House members who are women (89 of them Democrats.)
21% - Percentage of seats (House and Senate) held by persons of color.
96 - Number of seats (House and Senate) held by military veterans. (Source: The Nation, January 28/February 4, 2019.)
III. Green New Deal
"Whereas Republicans have continually pointed to 'small government' as their ideal (even as they've built up a massive carceral, military, and surveillance state). Democrats often have trouble communicating what they stand for." "With the Green New Deal, Democrats can honestly say they are the party ready to take bold action to save the planet."
"The next recession will see a shortfall in investment as well as millions of unemployed people badly in need of jobs --both of which a Green New Deal can address in a generationally transformative way."
What Is the Green New Deal? - A 45% cut in carbon emissions by 2030 could keep global warming to 2.7 F.
What Works for the Environment? - 100% of the nation's power demand met with renewables by 2030, also works for the economy by creating 10 million new jobs in the first 10 years. (Sources: Quotations by Mike Konczal, "Earth to Democrats," The Nation, January 14/21, 2019. Percentages by Data for Progress; IPCC, and 2018 Infographic: Tracy Matsue Loeffelholz.)
IV. Phoenix by the Numbers
2017 - Hottest year in Maricopa County in recorded history.
172 - Number of people who died from heat-related causes in the county in 2017.
600 - Estimated number of annual heat-related deaths in the United States.
25 to 35 - Percent of residents who say they've experienced negative health effects from Phoenix's heat.
Phoenix represents what other U.S. cities will experience in the next few decades. Phoenix's temperatures will be even higher -- 130 F is possible. (Source: Sierra, January/February 2019.)
293 - Number of newsrooms, out of 1,700 queried, that participated in the American Society of News Editors' employment-diversity survey.
22.6% - Percentage of the workforce in newsrooms made up by people of color, compared with 16.5% in 2017.
41% - Percentage of the workforce in newsrooms made up by women.
19% - Percentage of newsroom managers who are minorities, compared with only 13.4 % in 2017.
41.8% - Percentage of newsroom managers who are women, compared with 38.9% in 2017. (Source: The Nation, January 14/21, 2019.)
II. Makeup of Congress
47 - Average age of a new member of Congress.
90% - Percentage of Republican House members who are white men.
102 - Number of House members who are women (89 of them Democrats.)
21% - Percentage of seats (House and Senate) held by persons of color.
96 - Number of seats (House and Senate) held by military veterans. (Source: The Nation, January 28/February 4, 2019.)
III. Green New Deal
"Whereas Republicans have continually pointed to 'small government' as their ideal (even as they've built up a massive carceral, military, and surveillance state). Democrats often have trouble communicating what they stand for." "With the Green New Deal, Democrats can honestly say they are the party ready to take bold action to save the planet."
"The next recession will see a shortfall in investment as well as millions of unemployed people badly in need of jobs --both of which a Green New Deal can address in a generationally transformative way."
What Is the Green New Deal? - A 45% cut in carbon emissions by 2030 could keep global warming to 2.7 F.
What Works for the Environment? - 100% of the nation's power demand met with renewables by 2030, also works for the economy by creating 10 million new jobs in the first 10 years. (Sources: Quotations by Mike Konczal, "Earth to Democrats," The Nation, January 14/21, 2019. Percentages by Data for Progress; IPCC, and 2018 Infographic: Tracy Matsue Loeffelholz.)
IV. Phoenix by the Numbers
2017 - Hottest year in Maricopa County in recorded history.
172 - Number of people who died from heat-related causes in the county in 2017.
600 - Estimated number of annual heat-related deaths in the United States.
25 to 35 - Percent of residents who say they've experienced negative health effects from Phoenix's heat.
Phoenix represents what other U.S. cities will experience in the next few decades. Phoenix's temperatures will be even higher -- 130 F is possible. (Source: Sierra, January/February 2019.)
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