THE FLASHLIGHT, May 17-23, 2008
THE FLASHLIGHT
May 17-23, 2008
No Peace without Justice, no Justice without the Facts
Mary K. Matossian
The World Balance of Power
NYT 5-21. Tom Friedman sees many shifts in the balance of power this year, none of them in favor of the US. (1) The Bush Administration failed, after the 9/11 Attack, to adopt an effective energy policy. Such a policy would have been to establish a 55 mph national speed limit; to require more fuel efficient cars to be produced; and to institute a gas tax or carbon tax. As a result of this failure we see the rise of petrol-authoritarian states: Russia, Iran, Venezuela. These, and China, India, and Brazil, are establishing major news channels and spreading their own narratives.
(2) The US has a low savings rate, no national health care system, and no strategic plan to improve its competitiveness.
(3) The system of addressing global issues by nation states and the UN remains ineffective. So a new multinational superrich class of individuals and networks has arisen from the world of business and finance. It may become more influential.
World Food and Health
The New Yorker, 5-19. Bee Wilson, “The Last Bite: Is the World’s Food System Collapsing?” pp. 76-81. In 2006 there were 800 million people who were hungry. There were one billion people who were overweight or obese. The market system of pricing does not allow the raising of food prices for the rich, without squeezing the underfed poor. (note: Sardines provide Omega 3 fat, are cheaper than salmon, and a lot healthier than farm grown salmon).
Los Angeles Times 5-18. In an article in Lancet Phil Edwards and Ian Roberts argued that obesity contributes to global warming. The obese consume 18% more food than people of normal weight. This raises food prices and increases demand for fuel to transport food.
Disasters (1) Recent
China’s 7.9 earthquake.
PBS 5-16. Over 50,000 dead. Hundreds of thousand homeless. Aftershocks cause mass exodus from the quake area. PBS 5-19. 14.8 million homeless. $10 billion business loss.
Burma’s hurricane (typhoon)
The Nation 6-2. According to the UN, there are 102,000 dead, 220,000 missing, and 2.5 million in dire need.
The Guardian 5-23. Three weeks after cyclone Nargis, the Burmese military junta, after conferring with Ban Ki-moon, Sec. Gen. of the UN, agreed to open Burma to aid workers of all nationalities.
Disasters (2) Historic
PBS 5-21. Documentary on eruption of Krakatoa, Indonesia, in 1883, the first great eruption to be observed by scientists with instruments and studied for its global effects. Explosivity Index 6 (next to the maximum of 7), production of ash and lava 10 (11 maximum). (Volcanoes of the World, ed. 2, Simkin and Siebert)
Peak period August 26-27. Three linked craters erupted together. Ash, steam, and gas, acrid and sulfurous. It became pitch dark in the vicinity. Hot and sticky ash falls, pumice rains, humid air. Sea agitated by pyroclastic flows. Tsunamis, seven shocks waves sent round the earth. Maximum wave reached 40 meters (c. 120 feet). A ship threatened by it was saved by the captain, who ordered the bow pointed at the oncoming wave at a 90 degree angle. The wave lifted the ship and passed it backward. On land, seeing the eruption, a Dutch observer on the coast knew a tsunami was coming in 20 minutes, and hiked with his family and neighbors to the top of a 400 foot hill in time to escape. However, 34,000 people died. The sulfur dioxide gas thrust into the upper atmosphere blocked the sun’s rays for months, lowering the temperatures around the earth, and ash up high turned the sky blood red. Krakatoa destroyed itself, but is re-emerging as a new island nearby with a peak 2,600 feet high so far.
Other super-eruptions: Thera (Santorini) in the Aegean, c.1600 BC. Explosivity 7, lava and ash, 10. Destroyed Minoan Civilization.
Vesuvius, 79 AD, near Naples, Italy. Explosivity 6, lava and ash 11. Tambora, Indonesia, 1815, explosivity 7, lava and ash 11. Caused global cooling: 1816 was the “year without a summer” in the US and much of Europe.
Lebanon
NYT 5-18. The Sunnis of Lebanon, led by Saab Hariri, were humiliated by Hezbollah, who showed their militia to be weak, pushed their TV programs off the air, and burned two of their buildings. Lebanese Christians remained neutral. Fighting followed in which c. 60 died. The Lebanese Army did nothing.
W Post 5-21. The various Lebanese sectarian factions met in Doha, Qatar, and reached an agreement. After 18 months of sit-ins in Beirut, Hezbollah got what it wanted: ll out of 60 seats in the cabinet, giving it veto power. Gen. Michael Suleiman, a Maronite Christian, was accepted as President by all factions.
Israel/Syria
BBC 5-21. Israel and Syria are now in direct peace talks, mediated by Premier Erdogan of Turkey.
The US; Presidential Primaries
NYTimes 5-21. Obama wins Oregon 58-42. Clinton wins Kentucky 2 to 1. Obama now has a majority of delegates to the Democratic Convention.
Since 1972, when exit polls began, no Democratic candidate has won a majority of white voters. Last April Obama had raised $31.3 million, Clinton, 22 million, and McCain 18.5 million.
L.A. Times 5-21. The Clinton campaign debt is now $31 million.
Ted Kennedy Illness
CNN 5-20. Senator Ted Kennedy, 76, has brain cancer, probably inoperable. He probably has no more than a year to live.
The Israel/Palestine Conflict
AP 5-17 [appeared in Haaretz, Tel Aviv and International Herald Tribune]
The Egyptian state-owned press blasted Pres. Bush for his speech to the Knesset on 60th anniversary of Israel. Said Mursi Atallah, publisher of Al-Ahram, “Bush aims to do nothing but appease Israel.
Meanwhile, on May 16 about a thousand Palestinians and Americans of Palestinian descent rallied near the UN, at Dag Hammerskjold Place, to mark the 60th anniversary of the Nakba (Catastrophe) of 1948. They blamed the current impasse on extremists in both sides.
NYTimes Editorial 5-20. It said that the next US President will need more skilled and creative advisers and be a more honest broker. The Israelis must halt all settlement building. The President must press both sides to compromise. [There is no suggestion that the next President put pressure on Israel to stop settlement building.]
CNN 5-22. 61% of Jews support Obama, but he will need more of their support to win the swing state of Florida. Polls show McCain ahead of Obama there. Obama makes a speech in a Boca Raton Synagogue, trying to win over Jews with promise not to negotiate with Hamas or Hezbollah and that he will not take military options off the table. But he says that diplomacy must come before military force, and that the Iraq War was a strategic blunder.
The Nation 5-26: two article on the 60th anniversary. 1) By Avi Shlaim, Professor of International Relations at Oxford University.
Speaking of Israel, he said, “Nations, like individuals, are capable of acting rationally – after they have exhausted all the alternatives.”
2) Rashid Khalidi, Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University.
He condemned both the leaders of Hamas and Fatah as “clueless” and pointed out that only 18% of Palestinians support Hamas, and 32% support Fatah.
The population of Israel today is 7.2 million, of which 1.4 are Palestinians. There are at least 8 million Palestinians in the world.
May 17-23, 2008
No Peace without Justice, no Justice without the Facts
Mary K. Matossian
The World Balance of Power
NYT 5-21. Tom Friedman sees many shifts in the balance of power this year, none of them in favor of the US. (1) The Bush Administration failed, after the 9/11 Attack, to adopt an effective energy policy. Such a policy would have been to establish a 55 mph national speed limit; to require more fuel efficient cars to be produced; and to institute a gas tax or carbon tax. As a result of this failure we see the rise of petrol-authoritarian states: Russia, Iran, Venezuela. These, and China, India, and Brazil, are establishing major news channels and spreading their own narratives.
(2) The US has a low savings rate, no national health care system, and no strategic plan to improve its competitiveness.
(3) The system of addressing global issues by nation states and the UN remains ineffective. So a new multinational superrich class of individuals and networks has arisen from the world of business and finance. It may become more influential.
World Food and Health
The New Yorker, 5-19. Bee Wilson, “The Last Bite: Is the World’s Food System Collapsing?” pp. 76-81. In 2006 there were 800 million people who were hungry. There were one billion people who were overweight or obese. The market system of pricing does not allow the raising of food prices for the rich, without squeezing the underfed poor. (note: Sardines provide Omega 3 fat, are cheaper than salmon, and a lot healthier than farm grown salmon).
Los Angeles Times 5-18. In an article in Lancet Phil Edwards and Ian Roberts argued that obesity contributes to global warming. The obese consume 18% more food than people of normal weight. This raises food prices and increases demand for fuel to transport food.
Disasters (1) Recent
China’s 7.9 earthquake.
PBS 5-16. Over 50,000 dead. Hundreds of thousand homeless. Aftershocks cause mass exodus from the quake area. PBS 5-19. 14.8 million homeless. $10 billion business loss.
Burma’s hurricane (typhoon)
The Nation 6-2. According to the UN, there are 102,000 dead, 220,000 missing, and 2.5 million in dire need.
The Guardian 5-23. Three weeks after cyclone Nargis, the Burmese military junta, after conferring with Ban Ki-moon, Sec. Gen. of the UN, agreed to open Burma to aid workers of all nationalities.
Disasters (2) Historic
PBS 5-21. Documentary on eruption of Krakatoa, Indonesia, in 1883, the first great eruption to be observed by scientists with instruments and studied for its global effects. Explosivity Index 6 (next to the maximum of 7), production of ash and lava 10 (11 maximum). (Volcanoes of the World, ed. 2, Simkin and Siebert)
Peak period August 26-27. Three linked craters erupted together. Ash, steam, and gas, acrid and sulfurous. It became pitch dark in the vicinity. Hot and sticky ash falls, pumice rains, humid air. Sea agitated by pyroclastic flows. Tsunamis, seven shocks waves sent round the earth. Maximum wave reached 40 meters (c. 120 feet). A ship threatened by it was saved by the captain, who ordered the bow pointed at the oncoming wave at a 90 degree angle. The wave lifted the ship and passed it backward. On land, seeing the eruption, a Dutch observer on the coast knew a tsunami was coming in 20 minutes, and hiked with his family and neighbors to the top of a 400 foot hill in time to escape. However, 34,000 people died. The sulfur dioxide gas thrust into the upper atmosphere blocked the sun’s rays for months, lowering the temperatures around the earth, and ash up high turned the sky blood red. Krakatoa destroyed itself, but is re-emerging as a new island nearby with a peak 2,600 feet high so far.
Other super-eruptions: Thera (Santorini) in the Aegean, c.1600 BC. Explosivity 7, lava and ash, 10. Destroyed Minoan Civilization.
Vesuvius, 79 AD, near Naples, Italy. Explosivity 6, lava and ash 11. Tambora, Indonesia, 1815, explosivity 7, lava and ash 11. Caused global cooling: 1816 was the “year without a summer” in the US and much of Europe.
Lebanon
NYT 5-18. The Sunnis of Lebanon, led by Saab Hariri, were humiliated by Hezbollah, who showed their militia to be weak, pushed their TV programs off the air, and burned two of their buildings. Lebanese Christians remained neutral. Fighting followed in which c. 60 died. The Lebanese Army did nothing.
W Post 5-21. The various Lebanese sectarian factions met in Doha, Qatar, and reached an agreement. After 18 months of sit-ins in Beirut, Hezbollah got what it wanted: ll out of 60 seats in the cabinet, giving it veto power. Gen. Michael Suleiman, a Maronite Christian, was accepted as President by all factions.
Israel/Syria
BBC 5-21. Israel and Syria are now in direct peace talks, mediated by Premier Erdogan of Turkey.
The US; Presidential Primaries
NYTimes 5-21. Obama wins Oregon 58-42. Clinton wins Kentucky 2 to 1. Obama now has a majority of delegates to the Democratic Convention.
Since 1972, when exit polls began, no Democratic candidate has won a majority of white voters. Last April Obama had raised $31.3 million, Clinton, 22 million, and McCain 18.5 million.
L.A. Times 5-21. The Clinton campaign debt is now $31 million.
Ted Kennedy Illness
CNN 5-20. Senator Ted Kennedy, 76, has brain cancer, probably inoperable. He probably has no more than a year to live.
The Israel/Palestine Conflict
AP 5-17 [appeared in Haaretz, Tel Aviv and International Herald Tribune]
The Egyptian state-owned press blasted Pres. Bush for his speech to the Knesset on 60th anniversary of Israel. Said Mursi Atallah, publisher of Al-Ahram, “Bush aims to do nothing but appease Israel.
Meanwhile, on May 16 about a thousand Palestinians and Americans of Palestinian descent rallied near the UN, at Dag Hammerskjold Place, to mark the 60th anniversary of the Nakba (Catastrophe) of 1948. They blamed the current impasse on extremists in both sides.
NYTimes Editorial 5-20. It said that the next US President will need more skilled and creative advisers and be a more honest broker. The Israelis must halt all settlement building. The President must press both sides to compromise. [There is no suggestion that the next President put pressure on Israel to stop settlement building.]
CNN 5-22. 61% of Jews support Obama, but he will need more of their support to win the swing state of Florida. Polls show McCain ahead of Obama there. Obama makes a speech in a Boca Raton Synagogue, trying to win over Jews with promise not to negotiate with Hamas or Hezbollah and that he will not take military options off the table. But he says that diplomacy must come before military force, and that the Iraq War was a strategic blunder.
The Nation 5-26: two article on the 60th anniversary. 1) By Avi Shlaim, Professor of International Relations at Oxford University.
Speaking of Israel, he said, “Nations, like individuals, are capable of acting rationally – after they have exhausted all the alternatives.”
2) Rashid Khalidi, Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University.
He condemned both the leaders of Hamas and Fatah as “clueless” and pointed out that only 18% of Palestinians support Hamas, and 32% support Fatah.
The population of Israel today is 7.2 million, of which 1.4 are Palestinians. There are at least 8 million Palestinians in the world.
posted by THE FLASHLIGHT at 9:59 AM
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