Image by DFID - UK Department for International Development via Flickrhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8560970.stm
Up to half the food aid in Somalia is diverted to corrupt contractors, local UN workers and Islamist militants, a leaked UN report says.It says WFP contracts are awarded to a few powerful individuals who operate cartels that sell the food illegally.
( Um. Interesting mischaracterization of 'Islamic militants'. Traditional law provided for cutting off thieves' hands...a death sentence for those denied feeding off the communal pot for sanitation reasons. )
Piracy symptom of bigger problem
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8001183.stm
The risks of piracy mean little to people accustomed to violence. What we are seeing in the Gulf of Aden and western Indian Ocean is just the visible tip of a complex web of challenges inside Somalia, a web that reaches across the country, the region and the world.
Somalia is one of the poorest, most violent, least stable countries anywhere on Earth.
It suffers from severe drought and its people face hunger and violence on a daily basis. This is not a new situation, Somalia, especially the south, has been in this state for many years.
The risks associated with piracy can be seen as little worse than those faced every day
What is new is that the world is now once again concerned with the goings on of this collapsed state.
Somalis have learnt to live in circumstances under which many might be expected to give up.
In the face of overwhelming adversity they have created thriving businesses, operating entirely in the informal sector, and hospitals built and maintained with money sent home by the diaspora.
However, people who have been forgotten by the world and who hear of toxic waste being dumped on their beaches and foreigners stealing their fish have difficulty being concerned when representatives of that world are held to ransom.
Somalia is one of the poorest, most violent, least stable countries anywhere on Earth.
It suffers from severe drought and its people face hunger and violence on a daily basis. This is not a new situation, Somalia, especially the south, has been in this state for many years.
The risks associated with piracy can be seen as little worse than those faced every day
What is new is that the world is now once again concerned with the goings on of this collapsed state.
Somalis have learnt to live in circumstances under which many might be expected to give up.
In the face of overwhelming adversity they have created thriving businesses, operating entirely in the informal sector, and hospitals built and maintained with money sent home by the diaspora.
However, people who have been forgotten by the world and who hear of toxic waste being dumped on their beaches and foreigners stealing their fish have difficulty being concerned when representatives of that world are held to ransom.
Mogadishu's lost innocents
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8091403.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8091403.stm
The UN refugee agency says more than 100,000 people have been forced out of their homes during the recent bout of bloodletting.
Orphans under trees
It leaves an estimated half a million internally displaced people languishing on the outskirts of the city.
The tiny body of 30-day-old Sahali Haji Abdi lies trembling, as a doctor looks for a bullet in his abdomen
'I may not see my family again'
Oxfam's co-ordinator for the failed Horn of Africa state warned last week that the crisis in Somalia was Africa's worst for many years.
According to figures gathered from the cemeteries, hospitals and residential areas by local human right groups, more than 200 people have died over the last month alone.
"Nearly 300 others were injured," said Ali Fadhaa, of the local Elmen rights organisation.
Orphans under trees
It leaves an estimated half a million internally displaced people languishing on the outskirts of the city.
The tiny body of 30-day-old Sahali Haji Abdi lies trembling, as a doctor looks for a bullet in his abdomen
'I may not see my family again'
Oxfam's co-ordinator for the failed Horn of Africa state warned last week that the crisis in Somalia was Africa's worst for many years.
According to figures gathered from the cemeteries, hospitals and residential areas by local human right groups, more than 200 people have died over the last month alone.
"Nearly 300 others were injured," said Ali Fadhaa, of the local Elmen rights organisation.
Somali journalist: 'I saw my boss shot dead'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8103703.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8103703.stm
Ex-rebels accused of extortion in DR Congo mines ( Thieves' World Resource Wars )
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8561330.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8561330.stm
Former rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo who now serve in the army are running mafia-style extortion rackets in the mines, campaigners say.
The country has some of the world's richest mines, which provide minerals to the global electronics industry.
Ex-rebels of the CNDP group are said to have gained far greater control of the mines than they did as insurgents.
Campaign group Global Witness says the government and international community have failed to demilitarise the mines.
The ongoing conflict in Eastern Congo, which has claimed some six million lives in a little more than a decade, has long revolved over access to its mineral wealth, not just by DR Congo but also its neighbour Rwanda through its proxy forces.
After last year's high profile government offensive against one rebel group which controlled many of the mines in Eastern Congo, the military has moved in and transferred power to a competing armed group.
The country has some of the world's richest mines, which provide minerals to the global electronics industry.
Ex-rebels of the CNDP group are said to have gained far greater control of the mines than they did as insurgents.
Campaign group Global Witness says the government and international community have failed to demilitarise the mines.
The ongoing conflict in Eastern Congo, which has claimed some six million lives in a little more than a decade, has long revolved over access to its mineral wealth, not just by DR Congo but also its neighbour Rwanda through its proxy forces.
After last year's high profile government offensive against one rebel group which controlled many of the mines in Eastern Congo, the military has moved in and transferred power to a competing armed group.
As well as alleged links to al-Qaeda it is said to have Arabs, Asians, other Africans and - America's FBI believes - Westerners among its ranks.
These foreigners are said to be involved in training al-Shabab recruits in various aspects of guerrilla warfare, including suicide bombings and booby traps.
These foreigners are said to be involved in training al-Shabab recruits in various aspects of guerrilla warfare, including suicide bombings and booby traps.
( See, they're not CIA-funded 'black' ops ! They wear green ! Aren't modern communications wonderful ? Should I apologize if it's the Mossad division ? )
Decade Of The Drone: America’s Aerial Assassins
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=ROZ20100309&articleId=18027
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=ROZ20100309&articleId=18027
This year is also the tenth year of the first ground and the first Asian war fought by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which wages wars from and not to protect the nations of the northern Atlantic Ocean.
2010 is the tenth and deadliest year in Washington’s use of unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) for targeted assassinations and untargeted “collateral damage.”
2010 is the tenth and deadliest year in Washington’s use of unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) for targeted assassinations and untargeted “collateral damage.”
UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions Philip Alston warned:
“My concern is that these drones, these Predators, are being operated in a framework which may well violate international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
“The onus is really on the government of the United States to reveal more about the ways in which it makes sure that arbitrary executions, extrajudicial executions, are not in fact being carried out through the use of these weapons.” [5]
“My concern is that these drones, these Predators, are being operated in a framework which may well violate international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
“The onus is really on the government of the United States to reveal more about the ways in which it makes sure that arbitrary executions, extrajudicial executions, are not in fact being carried out through the use of these weapons.” [5]
Undaunted, the U.S. substantially intensified the attacks.
This January China’s Xinhua News Agency interviewed Pakistani political analyst Farrukh Saleem, who said that American drone missile attacks in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas had increased from 17 in 2008 to 43 in 2009 with more than 70 expected to be delivered this year.
Predator and Reaper drones return after missions and their supply of Hellfire missiles is replenished for further deadly attacks.
They have become Washington’s preferred 21st century weapons for perpetrating international assassinations.
They have become Washington’s preferred 21st century weapons for perpetrating international assassinations.
The Obama Killing Machine in Afghanistan
The "under-reporting" of civilians killed by foreign forces
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=HER20100308&articleId=18001
( Context from Opit's LinkFest at My Opera:
Deaths from military actions
The Unpersuadables
http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2010/03/08/the-unpersuadables
http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2010/03/08/the-unpersuadables
( Where George cites a crank cousin of Rush Limbaugh calling brickbats as an assault on science rather than disbelief in media advertising : also belief in the imperviousness of scientists to blandishments of funding and largesse : Payola $. This while ignoring the scientific definition of theory that it be the best working hypothesis consistent with observed phenomena ! )
Hit and myth: curse of the ghostwriters
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/aug/08/ben-goldacre-bad-science-research
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/aug/08/ben-goldacre-bad-science-research
All of the 10 most influential papers expressed the view that beta amyloid is produced in the muscle of patients with IBM. In reality, this is not supported by the evidence. So how did this situation arise?
Four lab papers did find beta amyloid in IBM patients' muscle tissue, and these were among the top 10 most influential papers. But there were also six papers which contradicted the hypothesis. Crucially, they were ignored.
Using the interlocking web of citations you can see how this happened. A small number of review papers funnelled large amounts of traffic through the network. These acted like a lens, collecting and focusing citations on the papers supporting the hypothesis.
But Greenberg goes beyond documenting bias. By studying the network he showed how these reviews exerted influence beyond their own readerships. He also showed that some papers did cite contradictory research but distorted it.
One paper reported no beta amyloid in three of five patients with IBM, and its presence in only a "few fibres" in the remaining two patients; but three subsequent papers cited this data, saying that it "confirmed" the hypothesis.
This is an exaggeration at best, but the power of the social network theory approach is to show what happened next: over the following 10 years these three supportive citations were the root of 7,848 supportive citation paths, producing chains of false claim in the network, amplifying the distortion. This is the story of how myths and misapprehensions arise. It also shows why systematic reviews are important, and that's why ghostwriting should be stopped.
Four lab papers did find beta amyloid in IBM patients' muscle tissue, and these were among the top 10 most influential papers. But there were also six papers which contradicted the hypothesis. Crucially, they were ignored.
Using the interlocking web of citations you can see how this happened. A small number of review papers funnelled large amounts of traffic through the network. These acted like a lens, collecting and focusing citations on the papers supporting the hypothesis.
But Greenberg goes beyond documenting bias. By studying the network he showed how these reviews exerted influence beyond their own readerships. He also showed that some papers did cite contradictory research but distorted it.
One paper reported no beta amyloid in three of five patients with IBM, and its presence in only a "few fibres" in the remaining two patients; but three subsequent papers cited this data, saying that it "confirmed" the hypothesis.
This is an exaggeration at best, but the power of the social network theory approach is to show what happened next: over the following 10 years these three supportive citations were the root of 7,848 supportive citation paths, producing chains of false claim in the network, amplifying the distortion. This is the story of how myths and misapprehensions arise. It also shows why systematic reviews are important, and that's why ghostwriting should be stopped.
Over 130,000 cases of diabetes now linked to soda consumption, HFCS
http://www.naturalnews.com/028340_diabetes_sodas.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/028340_diabetes_sodas.html
Congo's silent harvest of death
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7554195.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7554195.stm
The crumbling Lolanga Hospital - which was little more than a collection of huts really - had no running water, holes in the roofs and filthy, broken furniture.
The operating table was a wooden bench with a black rubbish sack pinned over it.
The nurse in charge seemed well-intentioned but totally overwhelmed by the scale of the needs in the area.
I recently spent 10 days in DR Congo and every single woman I interviewed had lost at least one baby in childbirth. Most had had more than one die.
Dr Ngoy is one of the authors of a countrywide study by the medical aid agency, The International Rescue Committee (IRC) which estimates that over the past decade an astonishing total of 5.4 million Congolese have died from easily preventable causes.
That is 5.4 million deaths over and above the "normal" mortality figure that would be expected in a poor African nation.
It is a largely silent, unreported harvest of death.
 |   These are innocent people, and the government is there with its big villas and cars. I cannot accept that  Dr Mbwembwe Kabamba |
The nurse in charge seemed well-intentioned but totally overwhelmed by the scale of the needs in the area.
I recently spent 10 days in DR Congo and every single woman I interviewed had lost at least one baby in childbirth. Most had had more than one die.
Dr Ngoy is one of the authors of a countrywide study by the medical aid agency, The International Rescue Committee (IRC) which estimates that over the past decade an astonishing total of 5.4 million Congolese have died from easily preventable causes.
That is 5.4 million deaths over and above the "normal" mortality figure that would be expected in a poor African nation.
It is a largely silent, unreported harvest of death.
Greece set for second general strike in a month
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8561311.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8561311.stm
The stoppage is in protest at the country's austerity measures.
More groups of workers are staging industrial action and officers from the police, fire and customs services are planning to join the street protests.
Greece's links to the outside world have been severed.
Air traffic controllers have closed the country's airspace for 24 hours and ferries are stuck in harbours as maritime unions join the strike.
Greece's links to the outside world have been severed.
Air traffic controllers have closed the country's airspace for 24 hours and ferries are stuck in harbours as maritime unions join the strike.
Scientists to review climate body
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8561004.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8561004.stm
The IPCC has been under pressure over errors in its last major assessment of climate science in 2007.
Mr Ban said the overall concept of man-made climate change was robust, and action to curb emissions badly needed.
The Inter-Academy Council will convene a panel of experts to conduct the review, and will be run independently of UN agencies.
Mr Ban said the overall concept of man-made climate change was robust, and action to curb emissions badly needed.
The Inter-Academy Council will convene a panel of experts to conduct the review, and will be run independently of UN agencies.
Roger Pielke Jr, a professor of environmental studies at the University of Colorado who has recently criticised the IPCC over its assessment of the costs of climate-related disasters, said the terms of reference appeared to have some significant omissions.
"How will it deal with allegations of breakdowns in procedures in the AR4?", he asked.
"The terms of reference say nothing about looking at the AR4 procedures, but it would be difficult to do a serious evaluation without actually evaluating experience," he told BBC News.
"Should it ignore the AR4 issues, then it will risk being called a whitewash."
Prof Pielke also suggested the panel might look at apparent conflicts of interest within the IPCC's staff.
"How will it deal with allegations of breakdowns in procedures in the AR4?", he asked.
"The terms of reference say nothing about looking at the AR4 procedures, but it would be difficult to do a serious evaluation without actually evaluating experience," he told BBC News.
"Should it ignore the AR4 issues, then it will risk being called a whitewash."
Prof Pielke also suggested the panel might look at apparent conflicts of interest within the IPCC's staff.
The review was demanded by world governments at last month's meeting of the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) Governing Council.
Climate review seeks detatchment
There's little doubt, I think, that the forthcoming review of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) can make quite a lot of difference to the organisation itself.(This is the review that was demanded last month by ministers, and whose terms of reference and operating agency the UN has just announced, entrusting the running of it to the Inter-Academy Council, an umbrella body for science academies independent of the UN.)
Many scientists who have served in the IPCC believe its 22-year-old shape is no longer fit for purpose, and have said so publically.
Its chief, Rajendra Pachauri, was talking about the need for an internal review before the UN announced this external one; and it is surely impossible that there is nothing that can be improved in the working practices of an organisation that was conceived before instantaneous electronic distribution of information became the norm and before climate science became the political battleground it is now.
A bigger question is whether the review can have much impact outside the organisation. Will governments be any keener to act on the recommendations of a reformed IPCC? Will the public find its currently rather impenetrable phraseology easier to decipher? Will it be more widely trusted?
It's possible to divide published opinions on the issue into three broad categories: those who are only concerned with getting the message across that man-made climate change is an over-riding threat requiring urgent action, those who are concerned about the issue but are more concerned by what they see as lack of rigour and transparency within the IPCC, and those who are convinced that global warming is a fraud anyway and the IPCC one of the lead swindlers.
Those in the first group are unlikely to be influenced by the review, even if it eventually contains damning passages.Those in the third group are unlikely to be swayed by anything praiseworthy; in fact I have e-mails coming in right now that are already assuring me that the review will be a whitewash, which is I suppose a logical conclusion if your frame of reference is that everything about climate change is just a conspiracy.
It's the second group that intrigues me, including as it does some pretty smart and independent-minded people.
Most are yet to comment. One who has, Roger Pielke Jr, describes what we know about the review so far as a "good start", but has some words of caution as well. I'll be watching the blogosphere and the op-ed-o-sphere with interest over the next couple of days to see what other thoughts come up.
One issue that was raised at the UN news conference - who raised it I cannot tell, as I listened to the conference remotely in London - was how independent the scientists on the Inter-Academy Council's review panel will be from the scientists who contributed work to the IPCC in the first place.
It's a natural question to ask. There's clearly a chance that the first people you would think of to take part in such a panel would be the most eminent climate scientists of the day, and they're wholly likely to have been intimately involved with the IPCC at some juncture.
There's also the wider point that some of the institutions involved with the Inter-Academy Council, such as the UK's Royal Society, have taken a very public stance on climate change.
But to assume this will automatically cause problems for the review is, I think, to misunderstand its nature and purpose.
It is not a review of climate science - some would say it ought to be, but it isn't, it's a review of IPCC practice - and it will surely draw more interesting and meaningful conclusions through involving scientists working in completely different fields, with experiences of completely different collating organisations.
They do exist; medicine alone has many. One that provides an interesting comparison is the Cochrane Review process, which aims to provide something analogous to IPCC reports - regular assessments of the evidence base on its chosen subject - but works very differently.
Will the Inter-Academy Council choose to make use of expertise from fields apparently unrelated to climate science? We shall see - and that, perhaps, will be one of the factors that determines how meaningful and visionary the review turns out to be, and how it is eventually perceived.
The Counter-Terrorism White Paper, Securing Australia – Protecting our Community.
http://thegallopingbeaver.blogspot.com/2010/02/securing-oz.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheGallopingBeaver+%28The+Galloping+Beaver%29
http://thegallopingbeaver.blogspot.com/2010/02/securing-oz.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheGallopingBeaver+%28The+Galloping+Beaver%29
Mexico's Carlos Slim overtakes Gates in world rich list
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8560731.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8560731.stm
Food Security Threat: Goverment Set to Ban Public Fishing, Individual Food Production
http://deadlinelive.info/2010/03/10/food-security-threat-goverment-set-to-ban-public-fishing-individual-food-production
http://deadlinelive.info/2010/03/10/food-security-threat-goverment-set-to-ban-public-fishing-individual-food-production
The current U.S. direction with fishing is a direct parallel to what happened in Canada with hunting: The negative economic impacts on hard working American families and small businesses are being ignored. Slowly but surely, the federal government is moving towards eliminating the ability of individual Americans to produce their own food – a direct attack on our lives, liberty and pursuit of happiness.For an administration with so much focus on “sustainability” it is ironic that they are attacking the very core of the sustainability movement – the individual. As more restrictions on the public are cemented through use of Congressional mandates and Presidential Executive Orders, the rights of individuals to take their well being into their own hands is further impeded.
( 'Anti-Stimulation' : i.e. quashing small business and independence )
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