February 1,
2015, Issue 213
ACTIVIST NEWSLETTER
Contact us or
Subscribe to Newsletter at jacdon@earthlink.net.
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CONTENTS:
1. Photo of The Month
1. Photo of The Month
2. Have Obama
and the Democratic Party Become
Liberals?
3. The 1% Own
Half of Global Wealth
4. Obama Mourns
Death of Saudi Tyrant King
5. Castro:
End Embargo, Return Guantánamo
6. AFL-CIO
Steps Up Effort to Boost Low Wages
7. Greece:
The Shift Left, Class Struggle
And Communist Tactics
8. Islamic
State: Weakened, But Not Defeated
9. Myths
About Keystone Pipeline
10. Enslaved by
Technology
11. Albany Rally
Defends Public Education
12. Cold Winter Misery in Devastated Gaza
13. Help Wanted:
Fast Food Worker $15 an Hour
14. Obama Seeks to
Protect Alaska Wilderness
15. Your License
Plate Tells All To Uncle Sam
16. China Aids
Venezuela and Ecuador
17. Is This Country
Crazy?
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EDITOR’S NOTE:
• An extraordinary major speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. — that you never heard or read — was broadcast by Democracy Now on King Day, Jan. 19. The topics of this 1964 talk to an audience in London included segregation, the U.S. civil rights movement, nonviolence as a tactic and apartheid in South Africa. The tape of the speech was newly discovered in the archives of Pacifica Radio. Find it at
• Here’s an interesting fact released late last
year that you may have missed: Research carried out for CNBC and
Burson-Marsteller (a
leading global public relations and communications firm) has determined that
“An overwhelming 70%-plus of Americans said they feel that the government
prefers large businesses over average citizens, while 80% of Chinese citizens said they believe that their
government favors them over corporations.”
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1. PHOTO OF THE MONTH
'Who built Thebes of the seven gates?
In the books you will read the names of kings.
Did the kings haul up the lumps of rock?'
— Bertolt Brecht
 |
|
Workers carry bricks Jan. 12 by
balancing them on their heads
at a brick factory in Lalitpur, Nepal. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar
|
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2. HAVE OBAMA AND THE DEMOCRATIC
PARTY ACTUALLY BECOME LIBERALS?
 |
| Happy Days Are Here Again! |
By Jack A. Smith
Has the 2015
center-right Democratic Party transmuted literally overnight into its old
center-left visage of the mid-1960s — the party of Medicare, Medicaid, food
stamps, poverty programs, voting rights, desegregation and more?
As he begins his
seventh year in office, with negligible accomplishments behind him, President
Barack Obama suddenly appears to have transformed into the candidate liberal
voters thought they had elected in November 2008 — the candidate of “Yes we
can!” and “Change we can believe in.” The liberal Nation weekly even headlined
its editorial in the Feb. 6 edition: “Obama Gets His Mojo Back.”
We are referring
of course to President Obama’s State of the Union speech Jan. 20 wherein he
went far beyond the 12-step Economic Agenda put forward a month earlier by the
independent self-described socialist senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders, a
genuine friend of working people. Too bad Bernie, but you have just been
out-mojoed by the new liberal superstar.
 |
| Time magazine, Sept. 24, 2008. |
The White House
compiled a token list of unfulfilled progressive demands and beginning with
“improving the fortunes of the middle class” included them in his annual State
of the Union message. His new program incorporates free community college, tax
credits for child care, new taxes and fees on high-income earners and large
financial institutions, paid sick leave for all workers, paid maternity leave,
retirement advantages, higher wages, pay equality for women, overtime pay, and
more.
Wow, this is
like Christmas every day for the next two years! Unfortunately, none of these
proposals will pass a Republican House and Senate — except perhaps the
corporate-friendly Trans Pacific Partnership free trade policy — as Obama well
knows. But it makes him and his party look good to alienated Democrats and
independents during the lead up to elections, and it won’t cost a dime.
The speech was
an astonishing salvage job in terms of public relations, but from a left point
of view such a miraculous metamorphosis is much too good to be true. We stand
behind what we wrote in the Activist Newsletter a week before the 2008
election: “The center-right is completely inadequate to the task of resolving
the multitude of complex economic, political and social problems confronting
our people and our country.”
Had the
president actually desired to embrace a liberal agenda he may have succeeded in
passing significant legislation when the GOP was weak in 2009-10, but he would not try. He has ignored and distrusted the minority liberal sector in Congress for
years has publicly disparaged liberalism several times in recent years.
He has also made
it abundantly clear that his priority is to govern “as an American,” not a
liberal or conservative — hence his continuing propensity for deep compromise
with the right wing Republican opposition. Even his most liberal triumph,
Obamacare, was not only a boon for the insurance companies but was directly
based on the then center-right former Republican Gov. Mitt Romney’s
Massachusetts healthcare plan. Since Romney’s conversion to the hard right,
Obama was the only moderate Republican left standing until his sudden dalliance with liberalism.
So what was the
motivation behind the president’s uncharacteristically liberal State of the
Union speech wherein he told the American people “The shadow of [economic]
crisis has passed” and “tonight, we turn the page”?
But first we
must question the assertion that the crisis has passed. Yes, there has been a
temporary uptick in American capitalism’s long-term economic stagnation that
has benefitted the corporations, banks, Wall St. and the 1%. It is not true in
any significant sense for the majority of the people — the poor, working class,
lower middle class and sectors of the middle class.
A page has been
turned but all it reveals is that Obama’s promises can’t materialize in the
remainder of his term and who knows where the 2016 Democratic candidate will
stand on social priorities? The whole project may swiftly run out of steam —
one more State of the Union speech full of false promises.
Obama has at
least three purposes for such an uncharacteristic speech:
1. Legacy: Obama obviously intends to spend his
remaining two years in office reconstructing his ne'er-do-well record and
deflated image. He will appear to fight for the people by proposing liberal
programs that most working people have wanted all along but haven’t obtained
since the early 1970s, including from four years of Democrat Carter, eight
years of Democrat Clinton, and six years of Obama.
Instead of
spending the next two “lame duck” years brooding about his setbacks and ongoing
humiliations from Republican congressional leaders, he has taken an unexpected
initiative with a spanking new program for the occasion. When he loses in
Congress he will be hailed by history as having put up a good fight for a
popular cause. It’s an admirable ploy. In addition he has undercut Republican
plans to appear less obstructive and more willing to compromise in the next two
years. Let’s see them compromise on mandatory sick leave or free community
college tuition.
2. Election 2016: A show of concern for the economic and social difficulties plaguing
a majority of Americans during 2015-16 will help the Democratic Party win the
2016 election. Its clear lack of concern in recent decades is one reason why
the majority of the white working class has voted Republican.
The Economist of
Jan. 24 put it this way: “This State of the Union message is best seen not so
much as a statement of Mr. Obama’s intentions for the last two years of his
presidency but as an attempt to influence the election campaign of 2016. He
seems to be gambling that while Republicans in Congress will obstruct him, he
can talk over them — and perhaps force them to adopt some of his ideas or else
be seen fighting to protect the perks of the wealthy.‘Will we
accept an economy where only a few of us do spectacularly well?’asked Mr. Obama, daring the Republicans to say yes.”
3. “Inclusive Capitalism”: The malignant growth
of economic inequality in America, the shrinking of the middle class, wage
stagnation or low wages for the multitudes while the 1% and its minions prosper
is now viewed by key exponents of global capitalism as a potential danger to
the “free market” system. In effect, “How long will the masses of people put up
with this?” In addition, widespread low wages reduce consumption, thus cutting
profits.
Leading
capitalists have promoted the concept of “inclusive capitalism” to avoid
eventual mass resistance — that is,
taking relatively small steps to make it seem that capitalism actually cares
about the human beings it exploits. Supporters of this concept in the U.S.
include leading economists (such as former Democratic Treasury Secretary
Lawrence Summers), politicians (including Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY), business
leaders, bankers, and financiers, among others.
Obama’s
suggestions fall within this capitalist gambit to safeguard the system by
offering small “concessions” to working people to deflect social anger away
from the 1% and the elite power structure. Some of his State of the Union
proposals are good. They will not be approved, but it will appear to many
Americans that “at least someone cares about our troubles.” Obama’s legacy is
already bubbling over in anticipation of the result.
In time, if
there is sufficient organized agitation and serious protests against mounting
economic inequality, it may be possible to obtain some legislation that will
benefit the people. But of course it is going to take a great deal more than
that for American workers to bring about the construction of a society truly
open to the concept of approximate economic and social equality, a goal that
humanity deserves, even though it must leave the 1% and its hangers-on behind.
—————————
3. THE 1% OWN HALF OF GLOBAL WEALTH
Excerpted from The Guardian, Jan. 19, 2015
The anti-poverty
global organization Oxfam reported Jan. 19 that current trends indicate that in
just one more year 1% of the world’s population will own more wealth than the
other 99%.
Oxfam’s research shows that the share of the world’s wealth owned
by the rich 1% has increased from 44% in 2009 to 48% in 2014, while the least
well-off 80% currently own just 5.5%. The group added that on current trends
the richest 1% would own more than 50% of the world’s wealth by 2016.
Winnie Byanyima,
executive director of Oxfam International and one of the six co-chairs at this
year’s January World Economic Forum in Davos, said the increased concentration
of wealth seen since the deep recession of 2008-09 was dangerous and needs to be
reversed.
In an interview
with the Guardian, Byanyima said: “We want to bring a message from the people
in the poorest countries in the world to the forum of the most powerful
business and political leaders.
“The message is
that rising inequality is dangerous. It’s bad for growth and it’s bad for
governance. We see a concentration of wealth capturing power and leaving
ordinary people voiceless and their interests uncared for.”
Oxfam made
headlines at Davos last year with a study showing that the 85 richest people on the planet have the
same wealth as the poorest 50%
(3.5 billion people). The charity said this year that the comparison was now
even more stark, with just 80 people owning the same amount of wealth as more
than 3.5 billion people, down from 388 in 2010.
Oxfam said it
was calling on governments to adopt a seven-point plan:
1. Clamp down on
tax dodging by corporations and rich individuals. 2. Invest in universal, free
public services such as health and education. 3. Share the tax burden fairly,
shifting taxation from labor and consumption towards capital and wealth. 4.
Introduce minimum wages and move towards a living wage for all workers. 5.
Introduce equal pay legislation and promote economic policies to give women a
fair deal. 6. Ensure adequate safety-nets for the poorest, including a
minimum-income guarantee. 7. Agree to a global goal to tackle inequality.
— From the Activist Newsletter: The idea
that 80 people own as much wealth as 3.5 billion who live in poverty, or that a
relative handful own as much as 7 billion would be unacceptable in a rational
society. We have to come to our senses and transform the capitalist
socio-economic system into a socialist system of basic equality. Feeling the
heat these days the 1% and the politicians that serve their interests will be
making speeches about reducing inequality, but who’s kidding whom? The only way
things will change is when the people take power.
—————————
4. OBAMA MOURNS DEATH
OF SAUDI TYRANT KING
OF SAUDI TYRANT KING
 |
| President Obama landed in Saudi Arabia Jan. 27 to meet with King Salman bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud and express condolences on the death of King Abdullah bin Abd al-Aziz. He was accompanied by high-ranking government officials from past administrations. |
[Washington’s
support for the reactionary Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one of the most acute of
many contradictions between the U.S. government’s rhetoric about democracy and
its intimate relations with dictators. The Saudi king just died and the White
House eulogy included a remembrance of “The closeness and strength of the
partnership between our two countries.”]
By Murtaza Hussain
After nearly 20
years as de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah died Jan.
22 at the age of 90. Abdullah, who took power after his predecessor King Fahd
suffered a stroke in 1995, ruled as absolute monarch of a country which
protected American interests but also sowed strife and extremism throughout the
Middle East and the world.
In an official
statement, President Obama declared: “It is with deep respect that I express my
personal condolences and the sympathies of the American people to the family of
King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz and to the people of Saudi Arabia.... I always
valued King Abdullah’s perspective and appreciated our genuine and warm
friendship.”
Secretary of
State John Kerry opined: “King Abdullah was a man of wisdom and vision. The
U.S. has lost a friend... and world has lost a revered leader.” Sen. John
McCain eulogized Abdullah as “a vocal advocate for peace, speaking out against
violence in the Middle East.” Not to be outdone, Vice President Joe Biden
released a statement mourning Abdullah and announced that he would be
personally leading a presidential delegation to offer condolences on his
passing.
It’s not often
that the unelected leader of a country that publicly flogs dissidents and beheads people for sorcery wins such glowing praise from American
officials. Even more perplexing, perhaps, have been the fawning obituaries in the mainstream press that have
faithfully echoed this characterization of Abdullah as a benign and
well-intentioned man of peace.
Tiptoeing around
his brutal dictatorship, The Washington Post characterized Abdullah as a “wily
king” while The New York Times inexplicably referred to him as “a force of moderation,”
also suggesting that evidence of his moderation included having
had: “hundreds of militants arrested and some beheaded.”
While granting
that Abdullah might be considered a relative moderate within the brazenly
anachronistic House of Saud, the fact remains that he presided for two decades
over a regime which engaged in wanton human rights abuses, instrumentalized
religious chauvinism, and played a hugely counterrevolutionary role in
regional politics.
 |
| Public beheadings are not uncommon. |
In a quote
recorded in a 2008 diplomatic cable, Abdullah exhorted American officials
to “cut the head off the snake” by launching fresh military action against
Iran. Notably, this war advocacy came in the midst of the still-ongoing
bloodshed of the Iraq War, which had apparently left him unfazed about the
prospect of a further escalation in regional warfare.
Abdullah’s
government also waged hugely destructive proxy conflicts wherever direct
American intervention on its behalf was not forthcoming. Indeed, in the case of
almost every Arab Spring uprising, Saudi Arabia attempted to intervene
forcefully in order to either shore up existing regimes or shape revolutions to
conform with their own interests.
In Bahrain,
Saudi forces intervened to crush a Shi’ite popular uprising which had threatened the rule of the
ruling Sunni al-Khalifa monarchy, while in Syria Saudi-backed factions have helped turn what was once a popular
democratic uprising into a bloody, intractable proxy war between regional
rivals which is now a main driver of extremism in the Middle East.
Saudi efforts at
counterrevolution and co-optation under Abdullah took
more obliquely brutal forms as well. In the midst of the 2011
revolution in Egypt, when seemingly the entire world was rallying in support of
the protestors in Tahrir Square, King Abdullah stood resolutely and
unapologetically on the side of Hosni Mubarak’s regime. A few years later when
the pendulum swung back towards dictatorship after Gen. Abdel Fattah al Sisi’s
bloody 2013 coup against an elected government, Abdullah and his fellow
monarchs were there to lavish much needed financial assistance upon the new regime.
With
increasingly disastrous consequences, Abdullah’s government also employed sectarianism as a force to help divide-and-conquer
regional populations and insulate his own government from the threat of uprising.
It also cynically utilized its official religious authorities to try and equate political
dissent with sinfulness.
This
ostentatiously reckless behavior nevertheless seemed to win
Abdullah’s regime the tacit approval of the American government,
which steadfastly continued to treat him as a partner in fighting terrorism and
maintaining regional stability.
 |
| Demonstration in front of White House demanding Saudi rights. |
Perhaps most
importantly however, King Abdullah upheld the economic cornerstones
of America’s long and fateful alliance with Saudi Arabia: arms purchases and
the maintenance of a reliable flow of oil from the country to global
markets.
Given the
foundations upon which American-Saudi ties rest, it’s unlikely that the
relationship will be drastically altered by the passing of King Abdullah and
the succession of his brother Prince Salman. Regardless of how venal, reckless,
or brutal his government may choose to be, as long as it protects American
interests in the Middle East it will inevitably be showered with plaudits and
support, just as its predecessor was.
— From The
Intercept, https://firstlook.org/theintercept/
—————————
5. CASTRO: END EMBARGO, RETURN GUANTÁNAMO
By the Activist Newsletter
Cuban President
Raul Castro announced Jan. 28 that the Havana government had two specific
conditions that must be met by Washington before normalized relations between
Cuba and the U.S. would be possible.
They are ending
the decades-long economic sanctions against the small communist country and
returning the 45-square-mile Guantánamo Naval Base to its rightful owner, Cuba.
For the last 13 years the U.S. has devoted the base to torturing and incarcerating
suspected Muslim “terrorists.”
In agreeing to a
rapprochement between the two neighboring countries in December President Obama
indicated that ending the embargo was a matter that only Congress could decide.
Obviously, as
long as Congress is in the hands of right wing and far fight representatives,
the embargo will continue. Cuba’s development has been stunted by these
sanctions since soon after the successful popular revolution of Jan 1, 1959,
liberated Cuba from 467 years of foreign domination.
Addressing the
summit meeting of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States in Costa Rica, Castro declared:
"President Barack Obama could use his wide-ranging executive authority to
modify substantially the application of the blockade. It’s in his hands to do
this without a decision from Congress."
Members of the 33-nation organization, which does not
include the U.S., voted to back Castro’s demand.
While it is true
that Congress exercises authority over most of the sanctions, President Obama
is not powerless to end some or perhaps all of them by executive action. In
this connection, the Trading With the Enemy Act — under which sanctions are
enforced — defines “enemy” as a country with which the U.S. is at war.
Technically, since no war was declared and a state of war does not exist, this
law may not legally apply.
The U.S.
obtained the use of Guantánamo in return for a modest annual sum as part of an
unequal treaty known as the Platt Amendment of 1903 that essentially made Cuba
a protectorate of the United States. Cuba has demanded the return of Guantánamo
for decades and since the revolution has made a practice of returning the
yearly rent, envelope unopened, in protest.
The Obama
Administration has not addressed President Castro’s demand to end the embargo
but declared Jan. 30 that it did not intend to return Guantánamo.
 |
| Fidel Castro, leader of the Cuban revolution. |
Fidel, an
invalid at 88, declared Jan. 26: “Defending peace is the duty of everyone. Any
peaceful or negotiated solution to the problems between the United States and
the peoples or any people of Latin America that doesn’t imply force or the use
of force should be treated in accordance with international norms and
principles. We will always defend cooperation and friendship with all the
peoples of the world, among them our political adversaries.”
However, the man
who led the Cuban revolution also declared: “I don't trust the policy
of the United States, nor have I exchanged a word with them,
but this does not mean I reject a pacific solution to the conflicts.”
—————————
6. AFL-CIO STEPS UP EFFORT TO BOOST LOW
WAGES
By Melanie Trottman
The AFL-CIO is
ratcheting up its battle to raise pay for America’s low-wage workers, in
part by conducting a series of state-based summits about low wages and holding
politicians accountable who fail to make the topic a central focus.
 |
| Low wage strikers in Detroit last September. |
Sen. Warren (D-Mass.), an outspoken ally of labor’s in Congress, was the keynote speaker
and made remarks that drew a standing ovation
from the crowd.
“America’s middle class is in deep trouble,” she said, emphasizing a need
to address income inequalities in part by raising low wages and
protecting retirement benefits, such as Social Security, Medicare and
pensions.
“No one should
work full time and still live in poverty and that means raising the minimum
wage,” said Warren, who shared a personal childhood story — her
mother having to get a minimum-wage job at retailer Sears to help support the
family after her father had a heart attack. “Unlike today, a minimum wage job
back then paid enough to support a family,” she said.
Trumka said summit in Washington is about Americans sharing the wealth that
they’ve collectively created, and will be followed by similar events in the
first four presidential primary states of Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South
Carolina. The summit in Iowa will be up first this spring, he said.
In addition, the
group will expand its “Raising Wages” campaign beyond the five Southern
cities it has focused on to date, spreading it to Atlanta, Washington, St.
Louis, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, San Diego and Columbus,Ohio. The organization
will work with its community partners and affiliates.
“We are
beginning to rise up, to come together,” Trumka said in the closing speech
at the summit. “We are tired of people talking about inequality as if nothing
can be done.”
Labor Secretary
Tom Perez said in his remarks that, “there are too many people working hard who
haven’t seen a raise in years.” The federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour
hasn’t changed since mid-2009.
Labor officials
and others who support a bill to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an
hour and tie it to inflation have had no success advancing it in Congress.
They’ve turned to states and cities instead, where they’ve managed to make some
progress boosting wage floors beyond the federal proposal, such as in Seattle
where the minimum will rise to $15 an hour over several years. Part of the
strategy has involved union-backed strikes and protests of businesses by low-wage
workers from increasingly varied workplaces.
— From
Washington Wire
—————————
7. GREECE – THE SHIFT LEFT, CLASS
STRUGGLE AND COMMUNIST TACTICS
STRUGGLE AND COMMUNIST TACTICS
 |
| Supporters of leftist Syriza party cheer the results in Athens, Greece. |
By the Party
for Socialism and Liberation
The situation in
Greece and Europe as a whole has taken a dramatic turn with the electoral
victory Jan. 25 of the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) and its leader, Alexis
Tsipras, as prime minister.
Poor and working
people in Greece, who have suffered tremendously under austerity measures that
have stripped away the gains won over decades of struggle, expect the new
government to deliver on its promise to end this offensive against social
rights and reduce the country’s debt burden.
SYRIZA’s
40-point program calls for a complete break with austerity: reversing wage
cuts, guaranteed health care for the poor, strong labor regulations and
unemployment insurance, housing for the homeless, among others. At the same
time, it calls for increasing taxes on the rich and their luxury items,
prohibiting speculative financial derivatives, eliminating the financial
privileges of the shipping industry and Church, and nationalizing private banks
and hospitals. In foreign policy, it calls for closing all foreign bases,
getting out of NATO and ending military cooperation with Israel.
It is
unprecedented in recent history for a self-described radical leftist party to
lead a government in Europe, and because of this progressives and
revolutionaries around the world are closely following the situation.
The victory for
SYRIZA was even bigger than opinion polls suggested. The formerly ruling,
right-wing New Democracy party won just under 28% of the vote, compared to
slightly over 36% for SYRIZA. The neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn came in third with
6.3%. PASOK, a social democratic party that used to dominate Greek politics
alongside ND, was crushed, receiving less than 5%. Of the parties that
participated in the last general election, the Communist Party of Greece (KKE)
was the only one other than SYRIZA to increase their share of the vote, albeit
modestly, from 4.5 to 5.5%. Combined, 42% of the population voted for a radical
left or communist party.
 |
|
The new Greek Prime
Minister Alexis Tsipras.
|
Following the murder of anti-fascist rapper Pavlos Fyssas by a Golden Dawn member, almost the entire leadership of the neo-Nazi movement was imprisoned on charges of leading a criminal organization. Despite what would normally be a crippling setback, the fascists only received one less seat than they did in the last parliamentary election. Golden Dawn has been able to build an especially deep base of support within the security apparatus of the state, including the police, and remains a serious threat to all progressive forces — particularly as the class struggle intensifies.
SYRIZA Reassures
European Bankers
The fundamental
contradiction of the moment is between the people’s desire for radical change
and the institutions of capitalist rule, in Greece and the Eurozone, that are
determined to prevent such change. EU leaders imposed austerity on Greece
through punishing debt obligations, which SYRIZA now inherits as the head of
government. All eyes are now on the country’s new leadership: will it do
whatever is necessary to carry out its own program, which the people voted for
and which would greatly improve the lives of millions, or will it yield to the
power of the banks?
This is not the
orientation of Tsipras and the top SYRIZA leadership, which has repeatedly
assured the ruling classes of Europe that they seek only to reform, not to
overthrow, the capitalist system....
— Continued at http://www.liberationnews.org/greece-shift-left-class-struggle-communist-tactics-statement-psl/
—————————
8. ISLAMIC
STATE: WEAKENED, BUT NOT DEFEATED
 |
Kurdish Peshmerga
fighters in December after stopping Islamic State's second attempt to capture Iraq's Mount Singar. Kurd and Iraqi troops recently gained victory in Kobani. (Safin Hamed, AFP via Getty.)
|
Multiple actors,
backed by considerable coalition air power, have effectively halted the massive
gains made by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The group is increasingly
being forced onto the strategic defensive, but it is far from defeat and is
still able to launch attacks and offensives across the region on the tactical
and operational level. Following is an analysis of IS’s various fronts of
struggle in both countries.
Syria: Kobani
Faced with a
spirited defense by Kurdish People's Protection units and Free Syrian Army
fighters, both backed by persistent airstrikes, the Islamic State has proved
unable to seize Kobani, which is more important symbolically than
strategically. In fact, the Islamic State has lost more than a thousand
fighters while trying to seize the town and now finds itself on the verge of
defeat as Kobani's defenders counterattack and reclaim territory in and around
it.
Kobani is a
severe drain on the Islamic State, depriving it of large numbers of fighters
and many of its core-combat hardened veterans, who have proved effective in
company sized maneuver warfare. Indeed, by the time the Islamic State was being
pushed out of Kobani, it was dispatching fresh recruits with very little
training; some less than 18 years of age. The Islamic State would have been
better served to concentrate on an objective that was not as heavily backed by
deadly coalition air power. That Kobani is of such minimal strategic importance
reinforces the folly of the Islamic State's repeated and costly attempts to
seize the town.
With the battle
for Kobani all but lost in the north, the Islamic State finds itself forced
onto the defensive, north and northeast of Raqqa. The IS may still launch
offensives in the Aleppo governorate, but the chances for success in the area
are slight, given the losses sustained and continuing coalition air cover.
Syria: Deir
el-Zour
The continued
government presence in Deir el-Zour is a thorn in the side of the Islamic
State. Events in Iraq and Kobani had distracted the group in Deir el-Zour,
allowing Syrian government forces to widen their perimeter and attempt to seize
the city. Last December, however, the Islamic State finally turned its
attention back on Deir el-Zour and, with thousands of reinforcements from Anbar
and areas of Syria, launched a surprise counterattack.
Though they
initially pushed loyalist forces back in a number of areas and reached the
perimeter of a critical airfield, the Islamic State failed to marshal the
forces necessary to press its offensive. The loyalists, including a large
number of the elite Republican Guard in well-defended positions, complicated
the Islamic State's efforts. Government forces remained firm in their
determination to maintain a presence in Deir el-Zour and have dispatched
significant reinforcements to their positions around the area.
Over the past
two weeks, the loyalists, backed by air power and fresh reinforcements, have
gone on the offensive once more. IS has been unable to adequately defend
against these attacks and has lost previously captured territory on Saqer
Island and in the strategically located village of Al-Mari'iyyah near the
military airport.
Overall
Syrian Situation
The Islamic
State's reversals in Kobani and Deir el-Zour have been some of the harshest in
Syria since the group declared itself the head of a caliphate. However, the
militant group is hardly less dangerous, as its continued presence in vast
areas of Syria attests. IS is particularly dangerous in eastern Homs province
and may seek to capitalize on recent infighting between the Syrian government
and the Kurds in al-Hasaka.
Still, the
extremist group is increasingly beleaguered as it faces multiple difficult
fronts against rebels, Kurdish fighters and loyalists. The evolving situation
in Iraq is also increasing the demand on the Islamic State's limited fighters
and resources, further spreading the group thin. Moreover, coalition air power
has repeatedly struck the oil infrastructure controlled by the group, impacting
its ability to finance their efforts. Ultimately, however, the greatest threat
to the Islamic State is internal: A considerable number of reports point to
dissent within the ranks and from the citizenry forced to live under the
group's harsh rule.
 |
| IS soldier fires back during attack by Iraqi forces. (AFP, Getty Images) |
In Iraq, the
struggle to dislodge the Islamic State from its territorial holdings continues
at a slow pace. The rapid advances made by the group last summer have been
checked by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes coupled with various Iraqi ground
forces. The coalition has also provided combat guidance, intelligence, training
and logistics. Weapons such as MILAN anti-tank missile systems have been
widely employed by the peshmerga to great effect because of the training
provided. Iran has also been supportive of some Iraqi forces outside the
structure of the U.S.-led coalition. Shiite militias ranging from professional and
experienced units to newly minted volunteer battalions have added their weight
to the forces cobbled together to resist the Islamic State. This weight, much
like in Syria, has weakened the Islamic State, allowing the group's opponents
various gains in the effort to displace militants from major population areas.
Near Baghdad
In Anbar
province, along the Euphrates River Valley west of Baghdad, success has been
mixed at best for Iraqi security forces. All of the major urban areas are
contested or occupied by the Islamic State. Furthermore, for every village
security forces retake, another is lost to an Islamic State counterattack. In
many places, security forces are surrounded in pockets, stuck protecting key
infrastructure such as Haditha Dam.
Diyala province,
northeast of Baghdad, has been the biggest success story for Iraqi security
forces so far. A combination of Iraqi army, police, peshmerga, Shiite militias
and Iranian advisers with additional artillery support has successfully removed
the Islamic State. However, this has come at a cost, as allegations of
atrocities against Sunni civilians provide fuel for further sectarian strife.
Northern Iraq
The most recent
operational success has been in the far north in areas around Mosul, the second
largest city in Iraq and currently the uncontested seat of the Islamic State in
northern Iraq. The peshmerga, bolstered by coalition air power and select Iraqi
army forces such as the elite Golden Brigades, have retaken territory around
Mosul Dam, Rabi'ah border crossing, and much of the area around Sinjar. Last
week, around 5,000 peshmerga drove to a critical intersection east by northeast
of Tal Afar, severing an important supply line into Mosul. While this action
will not sever logistical flows, it will extend the supply line and increase
the friction of transit into the city. The ring around Mosul on the western,
northern and eastern sides is being constricted by peshmerga, who have used
artillery rockets on the city itself to interdict a reported gathering of fighters.
Firing rockets is a dangerous tactic, however, because Sunni Arab civilian
casualties could bolster support for the Islamic State.
Taking Mosul
All of these
northern operations are just preparation for an offensive on Mosul itself, but
the Islamic State is doing more than just hunkering down. Throughout the north
they have unleashed assaults on various points along the line against peshmerga
positions. While they have failed to capture territory, many of the offensives
have caused relatively heavy casualties in the peshmerga ranks. These
offensives are likely being done to spread peshmerga forces as thinly as
possible, blunting their ability to concentrate on Islamic State positions. As
of now, the Islamic State has spent a lot of resources but has been
unsuccessful in breaking through the peshmerga constriction around Mosul.
 |
| Syrian President Assad visiting troops. |
Ultimately, much
has to happen for Iraqi security forces to seriously invest in Mosul. Even
then, the military approach is only a partial solution to the larger problem of
Sunni support for militants. Some elements of the Sunni tribal structure are
supportive of Baghdad, and there are plans to create a national guard for each
province to galvanize and organize Sunni support against the Islamic State. But
these plans are in their nascent stages and have not been executed in a way
that would affect northern disposition. Plans to liberate Mosul will begin in a
few months, at the earliest, and the ensuing fight will last months more.
Meanwhile, the fight against the Islamic State in the Sunni-dominated areas of
Iraq will be a years-long fight. However, it will be hard for the various
forces arrayed against the group to sustain their focus, as they will also deal
with internal disputes over their own self-interests, sectarianism and resource
control.
— Stratfor is a
commercial intelligence organization. The link to this article is at:
The Islamic State Is Weakened, But Not
Defeated | Stratfor
— —————————
By Suzanne Goldenberg, The Guarsdian
Myth #1:
Keystone XL won’t contribute to climate change
—————————
Google's Brain.
[In addition to
government surveillance of your mail, telephone, Email, Internet connections,
medical records, income and other means of destroying your privacy rights and
civil liberties, the ACLU has just discovered Washington has now greatly
expanded its ability to track your every move by automobile.
In 2012, the
ACLU filed public records requests in 38 states and Washington, D.C. seeking
information about the use of automatic license plate readers. Our July 2013
report, You Are Being Tracked,
summarized our findings with regard to state and local law enforcement
agencies, finding that the technology was being rapidly adopted, all too often
with little attention paid to the privacy risks of this powerful technology.
But in addition to filing public records requests with state agencies, the ACLU
also filed FOIA requests with federal agencies, including the DEA.
These records
do, however, offer documentation that this program is a major DEA initiative
that has the potential to track our movements around the country. With its
jurisdiction and its finances, the federal government is uniquely positioned to
create a centralized repository of all drivers’ movements across the country —
and the DEA seems to be moving toward doing just that. If license plate readers
continue to proliferate without restriction and the DEA holds license plate
reader data for extended periods of time, the agency will soon possess a
detailed and invasive depiction of our lives (particularly if combined with
other data about individuals collected by the government, such as the DEA’s
recently revealed
bulk phone records program, or cell phone information gleaned from U.S.
Marshals Service’s cell
site simulator-equipped aircraft ). Data-mining the information, an
unproven law enforcement technique that the DEA has begun to use here, only
exacerbates these concerns, potentially tagging people as criminals without due
process.
Earlier this
month Venezuela and Ecuador received major boosts from China, which has
redoubled its stake in the two Latin American economies most vulnerable to
plunging oil prices.
By Ann Jones
Then recently, I
traveled back to the “homeland.” It struck me there that most Americans
have no idea just how strange we now seem to much of the world. In my
experience, foreign observers are far better informed about us than the average
American is about them. This is partly because the “news” in the American media
is so parochial and so limited in its views both of how we act and how other
countries think — even countries with which we were recently, are currently, or
threaten soon to be at war. America’s belligerence alone, not to mention its
financial acrobatics, compels the rest of the world to keep close track of
us. Who knows, after all, what conflict the Americans may drag you into
next, as target or reluctant ally?
These benefits
are not merely an emergency “safety net”; that is, charitable payments
grudgingly bestowed upon the needy. They are universal: equally available
to all citizens as human rights encouraging social harmony — or as our own U.S.
constitution would put it, “domestic tranquility.” It’s no wonder that,
for many years, international evaluators have ranked Norway as the best place
to grow old,
to be
a woman, and to raise
a child. The title of “best” or “happiest” place to live on Earth comes
down to a neighborly contest among Norway and the other Nordic social
democracies, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland.
9. MYTHS ABOUT KEYSTONE PIPELINE
America has 2.5
million miles of oil and gas pipelines. But none of those pipelines are
anywhere near as contentious as the Keystone XL, which would transport tar
sands crude oil from Canada
to refineries on the U.S. gulf coast. Over the past six-plus years, Keystone
has become a stand-in for a broader debate about climate change. It’s also the
subject of much myth-making about climate change and the economy. Here are some
of the most prominent of those myths, and the truth behind them.
 |
| Obama inspecting the pipes in the southern section. |
The State Department
said
the pipeline would not have a significant impact on development of the tar
sands or crude oil demand – and so would not have much impact on climate
change. But even the State Department’s own analysis found the pipeline, once
operational, would cause the equivalent emissions of 300,000 cars a year, and
it noted that tar sands were 17% more carbon intensive than the average barrel
of U.S. crude oil. Subsequent analyses
by the Congressional Research Service have found tar sands up to 20% more
carbon intensive than the average barrel of crude.
Myth #2:
Keystone will create thousands of jobs
The American Petroleum
Institute lobby group claimed in 2009 that Keystone would create up to 343,000
new U.S. jobs over a four-year period, based on demand for new goods and
services, and add up to $34bn to the U.S. economy in 2015. However, the
non-partisan Congressional Research Service found those estimates were based on
an internal study that had not been subject to review. The State Department in
its analysis found Keystone would create about 42,000 direct and indirect
temporary construction jobs, and about 50 permanent jobs once construction is
finished.
Myth #3:
Keystone will free the U.S. from undemocratic oil regimes
Canada already
supplies up to 33% of US oil imports – more than Mexico and Saudi Arabia
combined. “The energy security implications of increased Canadian crude
supplies in a global market are, therefore, somewhat unpredictable,” the Congressional Research
Service found. Most of the 830,000 barrels of oil a day transported by
Keystone will be exported. There is a plan for a lateral spur, which will take
up to 12% of Keystone XL capacity, for oil from the Bakken shale that covers
North Dakota and Montana.
Myth #4:
Keystone will lower gasoline prices
Gasoline prices
are already at their lowest levels in decades, as any driver knows. Keystone
will have no effect on local prices at the pump because there is no direct link
between gas prices and local oil production or availability. Gas prices are determined
by the international prices for a barrel of oil.
10. ENSLAVED BY TECHNOLOGY
[Predictions
about the future are always provisional, but the scenario depicted in this
article contains a disturbing element of possibility. The author is an attorney
and founder-president of Rutherford Institute, a libertarian organization that
fights to defend civil liberties.]
By John Whitehead
If ever Americans
sell their birthright, it will be for the promise of expediency and comfort
delivered by way of blazingly fast Internet, cell phone signals that never drop
a call, thermostats that keep us at the perfect temperature without our having
to raise a finger, and entertainment that can be simultaneously streamed to our
TVs, tablets and cell phones.
Likewise, if
ever we find ourselves in bondage, we will have only ourselves to blame for
having forged the chains through our own lassitude, laziness and abject
reliance on internet-connected gadgets and gizmos that render us wholly
irrelevant.
Indeed, while
most of us are consumed with our selfies and trying to keep up with what our
friends are posting on Facebook, the megacorporation Google has been busily partnering
with the National
Security Agency, the Pentagon,
and other governmental agencies to develop a new “human” species.
In other words,
Google—a neural network that approximates a global brain—is fusing with the
human mind in a phenomenon that is called “singularity,” and they’ve hired
transhumanist scientist Ray Kurzweil to do just that. Google will know the
answer to your question before you have asked it, Kurzweil said.
“It will have
read every email you will ever have written, every document, every idle thought
you’ve ever tapped into a search-engine box. It will know you better than your
intimate partner does. Better, perhaps, than even yourself.”
But here’s the
catch: the NSA and other government agencies will also know you better than
yourself. As William Binney, one of the highest-level whistleblowers to ever
emerge from the NSA said, “The ultimate
goal of the NSA is total population control.” Science fiction, thus,
has become fact.
We’re fast
approaching Philip K. Dick’s vision of the future as depicted in the film “Minority
Report.” There, police agencies apprehend criminals before they can
commit a crime, driverless cars populate the highways, and a person’s
biometrics are constantly scanned and used to track their movements, target
them for advertising, and keep them under perpetual surveillance.
Cue the dawning
of the Age of the Internet of Things, in which internet-connected “things” will
monitor your home, your health and your habits in order to keep your pantry
stocked, your utilities regulated and your life under control and relatively
worry-free.
The key word
here, however, is control.
In the
not-too-distant future, “just about
every device you have — and even products like chairs, that you don’t normally
expect to see technology in — will be connected and talking to each other.”
This “connected”
industry—estimated to add more than $14 trillion
to the economy by 2020—is about to be the next big thing in terms of societal
transformations, right up
there with the Industrial Revolution, a watershed moment in
technology and culture.
Between
driverless cars that completely lacking a steering wheel, accelerator, or brake
pedal, and smart pills embedded with computer chips, sensors, cameras and
robots, we are poised to outpace the imaginations of science fiction writers
such as Philip K. Dick and Isaac Asimov.
The 2015 Consumer
Electronics Show in Las Vegas is a glittering showcase for such
Internet-connected techno gadgets as smart light
bulbs that discourage burglars by making your house look occupied, smart
thermostats that regulate the temperature of your home based on your
activities, and smart
doorbells that let you see who is at your front door without leaving
the comfort of your couch.
 |
| Smart Thermostat. |
Nest, Google’s
$3 billion acquisition, has been at the forefront of the “connected” industry,
with such technologically
savvy conveniences as a smart lock that tells your thermostat who is
home, what temperatures they like, and when your home is unoccupied; a home
phone service system that interacts with your connected devices to “learn when
you come and go” and alert you if your kids don’t come home; and a sleep system
that will monitor when you fall asleep, when you wake up, and keep the house
noises and temperature in a sleep-conducive state.
It’s not just
our homes that are being reordered and reimagined in this connected age: it’s
our workplaces, our health systems, our government and our very bodies that are
being plugged into a matrix over which we have no real control.
Unfortunately,
in our race to the future, we have failed to consider what such dependence on
technology might mean for our humanity, not to mention our freedoms.
For instance, if
you were shocked by Edward
Snowden’s revelations about how NSA agents have used surveillance to
spy on Americans’ phone calls, emails and text messages, can you imagine what
unscrupulous government agents could do with access to your internet-connected
car, home and medications? Imagine what a SWAT team could do with the ability
to access, monitor and control your internet-connected home—locking you in,
turning off the lights, activating alarms, etc.
To those still
reeling from a year of police shootings of unarmed citizens, SWAT team raids,
and community uprisings, the menace of government surveillance can’t begin to
compare to bullet-riddled bodies, devastated survivors and traumatized
children. However, both approaches are just as lethal to our freedoms if left
unchecked.
Control is the
key here. As I make clear in my book “A Government
of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State,” total control over
every aspect of our lives, right down to our inner thoughts, is the objective
of any totalitarian regime.
George Orwell
understood this. His masterpiece, “1984,” portrays a global society of
total control in which people are not allowed to have thoughts that in any way
disagree with the corporate state. There is no personal freedom, and advanced
technology has become the driving force behind a surveillance-driven society.
Snitches and cameras are everywhere. And people are subject to the Thought
Police, who deal with anyone guilty of thought crimes. The government, or
“Party,” is headed by Big Brother, who appears on posters everywhere with the
words: “Big Brother is watching you.”
Make no mistake:
the Internet of Things is just Big Brother in a more appealing disguise.
— From the Blaze
Jan. 8, 2015.
—————————
11. ALBANY RALLY DEFENDS PUBLIC EDUCATION
 |
| New Yorkers protest in state capitol against Gov. Cuomo's education plans. |
By Lauren McCauley
Parents,
students, educators and civil rights leaders packed the Capitol building
rotunda in Albany Jan. 12 to call criticize New York Governor Andrew Cuomo for
perpetuating inequality through what they say are "immoral" education
policies.
Holding signs
that read "School Teachers over Hedge Funders" and "Gov. Cuomo,
you say that you care, so why don't you share," demonstrators heard
addresses from public education leaders before taking part in a read-in, during
which people read excerpts from documents ranging from the New York State
Constitution to Dr. Seuss.
Convened by a
coalition of education advocates, the protest called
on the governor to "fund education fairly and equitably," back
policies that protect public schools and respect parents, students and
teachers, as well as "stop hedge fund billionaires from taking over public
education."
The New York
action was organized under the banner of Moral Monday, a
grassroots movement spearheaded by the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP and
its leader Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II, who was honored as the rally
keynote speake. Also in attendance were leaders from a number of national
teachers unions as well as Dr. Hazel Dukes, president of the New York State
NAACP.
The rally comes
a day after the New York Daily News published
the results of a report by state education advocates which found that funding
inequity between poor and rich school districts across New York has reached
"record levels under Gov. Cuomo—and has soared 43% in New York
City." The Daily News continued:
“Overall,
schools in poorer districts spent $8,733 per pupil less in 2012 than those from
wealthier ones, an inequity that grew by nearly 9% from before Cuomo took
office in 2011, according to the study by a coalition of education advocacy
groups opposing many of the reforms pushed by Cuomo.
“While the 100
wealthiest districts spent on average more than $28,000 in state and local
funding per kid in 2012, the 100 poorest districts in the state spent closer to
$20,000 per student, the report found.”
The report was
written by a coalition that includes local teachers unions, the Public Policy
and Education Fund of New York, Opportunity Action, and National Opportunity to
Learn.
The demonstration
comes a week after community, faith, and labor groups held
a vigil at the Capitol calling on state lawmakers to focus on passing
"morally sound" legislation, which includes raising the minimum wage,
upping public school funding and assisting low income New Yorkers.
— From Common
Dreams, Jan. 12, 2014, http://www.commondreams.org.
—————————
12. COLD WINTER
MISERY IN DEVASTATED GAZA
Gaza in Winter, mid-January, 2015.
The Economist, Jan. 17, 2015
The winter
storms that whip in from the Mediterranean bring new misery to Gaza. In
districts flattened during last summer’s war with Israel, families huddle
beneath plastic tarpaulins amid the rubble. When aid agencies arrive with
supplies they scuffle for blankets. Those still with homes stay in bed to keep
warm because there is little electricity.
At the border
passage to Israel, the sick and dying lie on stretchers for hours before the
metal gates, seeking admission for treatment that their hospitals cannot
provide for lack of medicines or equipment. The businesses that survived the
bombardment are mostly idle because of Israel’s export restrictions, and
Egypt’s closure of smuggling tunnels.
Gaza has been
broken by three Israeli offensives in five years; eight years of economic
blockade; one-party rule by Hamas, an armed Islamist group; and a distant
Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, who has largely forsaken the territory
that he lost to Hamas in 2007. The rickety social system that somehow held Gaza
together is falling apart.
A host of
initiatives to release the chokehold have come to nothing. Last summer Ismail
Haniyeh, the then Hamas prime minister, formally surrendered his bankrupt
enclave to a “unity government” under Abbas’s Palestinian Authority. But the
power-sharing agreement left Hamas’s forces in charge of security, so Abbas was
always distrustful. He dithered over forwarding funds from Qatar to pay the
salaries of Gaza’s civil servants. Those appointed by Hamas were told to step
down and reapply for their jobs, subject to Fatah’s vetting.
Hamas’s
employees show up for work even though they have received only three partial
salary payments in 18 months. “We won’t let Gaza collapse,” insists an officer
manning Hamas’s passport-control office. But protests, often by unpaid workers,
have increased threefold since September. On Jan.13 policemen stepped aside to
let protesters burst into a cabinet meeting. “We spent our last shekels two
months ago,” apologized one of Abbas’s officials in Gaza, fending off
protesters. Bombs explode next to cash machines.
Efforts to
persuade Egypt’s strongman, Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, to relax the border
restrictions have also failed. A proposal to open the Rafah crossing for three
days collapsed after militants in neighboring Sinai killed an Egyptian border
guard, in a campaign of jihadist violence that, Egyptian officials claim, is
being fuelled in part by radicals in Gaza.
Israel’s prime
minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has proven similarly resistant to pressure. Last
summer’s ceasefire has not lived up to the promise that the blockade would be
lifted and billions of dollars provided for reconstruction. Israel broke off
negotiations on re-opening the borders; Hamas has nothing to show but
destruction and 2,100 dead for its recourse to guns and rockets. Last month
Israel let in a tenth of the amount of cement the UN says Gaza needs daily to
rebuild; even so, the Palestinians lack the money to buy it....
—————————
13. HELP WANTED: FAST FOOD WORKER $15 AN HOUR
By Science Daily, 1-20-15
Researchers from
the University of Massachusetts Political Economy Research Institute (PERI)
have released a working paper verifying the ability of American fast food
restaurants to more than double the minimum wage of their lowest paid workers
to $15 an hour over a four-year period without causing the widespread
employment losses and decline in profits often cited by critics of such
increases.
Using data
gathered from previous studies and U.S. Economic Census reports, economists
Robert Pollin and Jeannette Wicks-Lim have found that at the standard rate of
industry sales growth the savings from a decrease in workforce turnover added
to revenue generated from moderate annual 3% price increases could support a
two-stage increase in the minimum wage from its current level of $7.25, first
to $10.50 and then to $15 three years later.
Published on the
PERI website, the working paper, "A $15 U.S. Minimum Wage: How the
Fast-Food Industry Could Adjust Without Shedding Jobs," describes how this
increase in wages can be accomplished without generating employment losses
within the industry and without these businesses facing a decline in
profitability.
"We conclude
that the fast-food industry could indeed absorb the increase in its overall
wage bill without resorting to cuts in their employment levels at any point
over the four-year adjustment period," explain Pollin, Distinguished
Professor of Economics at UMass Amherst and Co-director of PERI, and Wicks-Lim,
a PERI research assistant professor. "The fast-food industry could fully
absorb these wage bill increases through a combination of turnover reductions,
trend increases in sales growth and modest annual price increases over the
four-year period. We also show that fast-food firms would not need to lower
their average profit rate during this adjustment period. Nor would the fast
food firms need to reallocate funds generated by revenues away from any other
area of their overall operations, such as marketing."
"In terms
of policy implications, our results offer a straightforward conclusion,"
they write. "Achieving a $15 federal minimum wage within the U.S., phased
in over four years, should be seen as a realistic prospect. This specifically
means that the intended consequence of the $15 minimum wage — to improve the
living standards of low-wage workers in the U.S. and their families — can
certainly prevail over the unintended consequence that low-wage workers and their
families would suffer from widespread employment losses.
—————————
14. OBAMA SEEKS TO PROTECT ALASKA WILDERNESS
 |
| A herd of porcupine caribou trek across Alaska's North Slope. (Credit: Paul Nicklen, National Geographic Creative) |
[President Obama
has encouraged widespread domestic and offshore commercial drilling for energy
resources to the point that “America is number one in oil and gas,” as he
boasted in the State of the Union address. Last year, for example, he opened
the Eastern Seaboard to offshore oil and gas exploration and leases just went
on sale Jan. 27. To reduce criticism from environmentalists about this enormous
expansion of fossil fuel production he significantly enlarged the already
protected Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument in October, and now
seeks to preserve pristine land in Alaska. These are two very positive aspects
of a negative policy of resource exploitation.]
By Craig Welch, National
Geographic
No president in
35 years has made as sweeping a conservation proposal as President Barack Obama
did Jan. 25 by urging
Congress to transform the oil-laden coastal plain of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
into what would be the largest wilderness area in the nation's history. The
proposal faces difficulties in Congress.
 |
|
Musk-oxen
form a defensive ring around their young in
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (Credit:Peter Mather, National Geographic)
|
The president's
move to designate 12.3
million acres of new wilderness would block decades of efforts to drill for
oil on a 1.5-million-acre portion of the refuge. That coastal region is thought
to contain up to 10.3
billion barrels of petroleum — roughly as much as the nation's largest oil
field, nearby Prudhoe Bay, has produced since 1968.
It would also
protect a stunning, diverse ecosystem that includes 36 types of fish, calving
grounds and a migration corridor for a troubled caribou herd, and nesting
grounds for bird species that travel to the Arctic from all 50 states. It is
the only refuge in the United States that is home to grizzly bears, black
bears, and denning sites for polar bears, and it provides a wildlife corridor
that stretches from the Canadian border across Alaska to the Chukchi Sea.
The refuge —
often referred to simply by its acronym, ANWR — has long been a powerful symbol
and a litmus test about how Americans view the nation's vast expanse of
untracked wild country. The White House called it “one of the few remaining
places in the country as pristine today as it was when the oldest Alaska Native
communities first set eyes on it, is too precious to put at risk."
It is all but
certain Congress will not take the Obama Administration's advice. Just last
week, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) moved to propose yet again that the ANWR
be open to drilling. On Twitter, Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) compared Obama's
proposal to "spitting in our faces and telling us it's raining."
—————————
15. YOUR LICENSE PLATE TELLS ALL TO UNCLE SAM
By Bennett Stein and Jay Stanley
American Civil Liberties Union, Jan. 26,
2015
The Drug
Enforcement Administration has initiated a massive national license plate
reader program with major civil liberties concerns but disclosed very few
details, according to new DEA documents obtained by the ACLU through the
Freedom of Information Act.
The DEA is
currently operating a National License Plate Recognition initiative that
connects DEA (Credit:
Peter Mather, National Geographic)
In fact, a
government-run national license plate tracking program already exists, housed
within the DEA. (That’s in addition to the corporate license plate tracking
database run by Vigilant
Solutions, holding billions of records about our movements.) Since its
inception in 2008, the
DEA has provided limited information to the public on the program’s goals,
capabilities and policies. Information has trickled
out over the years in testimony, but far too little is still known about this program.
The new DEA
records that we received are heavily redacted and incomplete, but they provide
the most complete documentation of the DEA’s database to date. For example, the
DEA has previously testified that its license plate reader program began at the
southwest border crossings, and that the agency planned to gradually increase
its reach; we now know more about to where it has grown. The DEA had previously
suggested that “other sources” would be able to feed data into the database; we
now know about some of the types of agencies collaborating with the DEA.
The documents
uncovered by our FOIA request provide additional details, but their usefulness
is limited by the DEA’s decision to provide only documents that are undated or
years old. If the DEA’s collection of location information is as extensive as
the agency has suggested in its limited comments to legislatures, the public
deserves a more complete and comprehensive explanation than the smattering of
records we have obtained can provide.
These records
do, however, offer documentation that this program is a major DEA initiative
that has the potential to track our movements around the country. With its
jurisdiction and its finances, the federal government is uniquely positioned to
create a centralized repository of all drivers’ movements across the country —
and the DEA seems to be moving toward doing just that. If license plate readers
continue to proliferate without restriction and the DEA holds license plate
reader data for extended periods of time, the agency will soon possess a
detailed and invasive depiction of our lives (particularly if combined with
other data about individuals collected by the government, such as the DEA’s
recently revealed
bulk phone records program, or cell phone information gleaned from U.S.
Marshals Service’s cell
site simulator-equipped aircraft ). Data-mining the information, an
unproven law enforcement technique that the DEA has begun to use here, only
exacerbates these concerns, potentially tagging people as criminals without due
process.
As is the case
with most police and federal law enforcement spy technologies, license plate
tracking programs have flown under the radar of courts and legislators for far
too long, silently collecting records about ordinary Americans in the cover of
secrecy. When programs are secret, we have no way of challenging them or
ensuring they conform with our values and the law. Before accountability comes
transparency. Over the coming weeks, we will continue to release records
documenting the federal government’s significant investment in automatic
license plate readers and its unregulated and largely unseen location tracking
programs.
— Continued at
https://www.aclu.org/blog/technology-and-liberty-criminal-law-reform/foia-documents-reveal-massive-dea-program-record-ame
—————————
16. CHINA AIDS VENEZUELA AND ECUADOR
By Paul Shortell
 |
| Venezuela's President Maduro in China. |
Following recent
visits to China by financial chiefs from both countries, Venezuelan President
Nicolas Maduro and his Ecuadorian counterpart, Rafael Correa, each traveled to
Beijing in early January, where China held its first annual ministerial meeting
with the Community of Latin America and Caribbean States (CELAC).
Correa returned
from the visit with approximately $5.3 billion in new financing from the
Export-Import Bank of China; Maduro announced that Venezuela would receive an
additional $20 billion in Chinese investments.
Beijing has
rapidly established itself as an indispensable economic partner for Caracas and
Quito. Chinese banks have pledged more than $50 billion in financing for
Venezuela and nearly $10 billion to Ecuador since 2005, as China’s trade with
Latin America has swelled. Maduro and Correa’s visits to Beijing are the latest
in a string of high-level exchanges between their administrations and Chinese
officials over the past decade.
Chinese support
comes at a particularly critical time for both governments, which face mounting
economic and political challenges in 2015. Oil revenues have fueled politically
popular social programs since the 2000s in Ecuador and Venezuela, where the
energy sector is estimated to account for roughly 35% and 45% of government
revenues, respectively. But tumbling oil prices have sent both regimes
scrambling for cash....
Correa’s administration has already sought to
trim its 2015 budget $1-1.5 billion and $1.5 billion. Poor economic management
in Venezuela has generated growing deficits, spiraling inflation and shortages
of basic goods. Neither government has easy access to financing from global
markets.
At a time when
such risks have many international investors shying away, China’s injection of
much-needed capital into both economies signals Beijing’s commitment to
solidifying and safeguarding its foothold for South America’s energy resources.
China surpassed the United States to become the world’s largest net importer of
oil in 2014, and Beijing has encouraged Chinese firms to expand engagement in
energy ventures worldwide. In Ecuador, such activities include developing
multiple oil fields and financing a $12 billion refinery project. Correa’s
government has committed to selling thousands of barrels of oil to China under
existing loan agreements.
Similarly, much
of Venezuela’s anticipated $20 billion in new Chinese investment—a figure
heralded by Maduro in a public address but that nevertheless remains
unconfirmed by Beijing—is likely to be destined for the energy industry. Venezuela
possesses the world’s largest proven oil reserves and was China’s
seventh-greatest supplier of crude petroleum in 2013. Chinese state-owned
energy firms have acquired multiple stakes in Venezuela’s oil resources through
direct negotiations with Caracas, including multibillion-dollar plans to
develop blocks in the country’s Orinoco belt....
Whether directly
or indirectly, China’s growing role as a creditor, investor and political
partner to Venezuela and Ecuador has altered the political landscape in Latin
America....
— Excerpted from
World Politics Review Paul Jan. 13 (http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com).
Shortell is an independent analyst of Latin American energy, environmental and
economic affairs based in Washington, D.C.
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17. IS THIS COUNTRY CRAZY?
By Ann Jones
Americans who
live abroad — more than six
million of us worldwide (not counting those who work for the U.S.
government) — often face hard questions about our country from people we live
among. Europeans, Asians, and Africans ask us to explain everything that baffles
them about the increasingly odd and troubling conduct of the United
States.
Polite people,
normally reluctant to risk offending a guest, complain that America’s
trigger-happiness, cutthroat free-marketeering, and “exceptionality” have gone
on for too long to be considered just an adolescent phase. Which means that we
Americans abroad are regularly asked to account for the behavior of our
rebranded “homeland,” now conspicuously in decline
and increasingly out
of step with the rest of the world.
In my long
nomadic life, I’ve had the good fortune to live, work, or travel in all but a
handful of countries on this planet. I’ve been to both poles and a great
many places in between, and nosy as I am, I’ve talked with people all along the
way. I still remember a time when to be an American was to be envied. The
country where I grew up after World War II seemed to be respected and admired
around the world for way too many reasons to go into here.
That’s changed,
of course. Even after the invasion of Iraq in 2003, I still met people — in the
Middle East, no less — willing to withhold judgment on the U.S. Many
thought that the Supreme Court’s installation
of George W. Bush as president was a blunder American voters would correct in
the election of 2004. His return
to office truly spelled the end of America as the world had known it.
Bush had started a war, opposed by the entire world, because he wanted to and
he could. A majority of Americans supported him. And that was when all
the uncomfortable questions really began.
In the early
fall of 2014, I traveled from my home in Oslo, Norway, through much of Eastern and
Central Europe. Everywhere I went in those two months, moments after locals
realized I was an American the questions started and, polite as they usually
were, most of them had a single underlying theme: Have Americans gone over the
edge? Are you crazy? Please explain.
So wherever we
expatriates settle on the planet, we find someone who wants to talk about the
latest American events, large and small: another country bombed
in the name of our “national security,” another peaceful protest march attacked
by our increasingly militarized
police, another diatribe
against “big government” by yet another wannabe candidate who hopes to head
that very government in Washington. Such news leaves foreign audiences
puzzled and full of trepidation.
Take the
questions stumping Europeans in the Obama years (which 1.6 million
Americans residing in Europe regularly find thrown our way). At the
absolute top of the list: “Why would anyone oppose national health care?”
European and other industrialized countries have had some form of national
health care since the 1930s or 1940s, Germany since 1880. Some
versions, as in France and Great Britain, have devolved into two-tier public
and private systems. Yet even the privileged who pay for a faster track
would not begrudge their fellow citizens government-funded comprehensive health
care. That so many Americans do strikes Europeans as baffling,
if not frankly brutal.
In the
Scandinavian countries, long considered to be the most socially advanced in the
world, a national
(physical and mental) health program, funded by the state, is a big part — but
only a part — of a more general social welfare system. In Norway, where I
live, all citizens also have an equal right to education
(state subsidized preschool
from age one, and free schools from age six through specialty training or university
education and beyond), unemployment
benefits, job-placement and paid retraining services, paid parental leave, old
age pensions, and more.
 |
| Kinda makes ya proud to be an American, doesn't it? |
In Norway, all
benefits are paid for mainly by high
taxation. Compared to the mind-numbing enigma of the U.S. tax code,
Norway’s is remarkably straightforward, taxing income from labor and pensions
progressively, so that those with higher incomes pay more. The tax department
does the calculations, sends an annual bill, and taxpayers, though free to
dispute the sum, willingly pay up, knowing what they and their children get in
return. And because government policies effectively redistribute wealth and
tend to narrow the country’s slim income gap, most Norwegians sail pretty
comfortably in the same boat. (Think about that!)
This system
didn’t just happen. It was planned. Sweden led the way in the 1930s, and all
five Nordic countries pitched in during the postwar period to develop their own
variations of what came to be called the Nordic Model: a balance of regulated
capitalism, universal social welfare, political democracy, and the highest
levels of gender and
economic equality on the planet. It’s their system. They invented it. They like
it. Despite the efforts of an occasional conservative government to muck it up,
they maintain it. Why?
In all the
Nordic countries, there is broad general agreement across the political
spectrum that only when people’s basic needs are met — when they can cease to
worry about their jobs, their incomes, their housing, their transportation,
their health care, their kids’ education, and their aging parents — only then
can they be free to do as they like. While the U.S. settles for the fantasy
that, from birth, every kid has an equal shot at the American dream, Nordic
social welfare systems lay the foundations for a more authentic equality and
individualism.
These ideas are
not novel. They are implied in the preamble to our own Constitution. You know,
the part about “we the People” forming “a more perfect Union” to “promote
the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our
Posterity.” Even as he prepared the nation for war, President Franklin D.
Roosevelt memorably specified components of what that general welfare should be
in his State of the Union address in 1941. Among the “simple basic things that
must never be lost sight of,” he listed “equality
of opportunity for youth and others, jobs for those who can work, security for
those who need it, the ending of special privileges for the few, the
preservation of civil liberties for all,” and oh yes, higher taxes to pay for
those things and for the cost of defensive armaments.
— Continued at
— This article
is from TomDispatch, Jan 11, 2015. Ann Jones is the author of “Kabul in Winter:
Life Without Peace in Afghanistan,” among other books, and most recently “They
Were Soldiers: How the Wounded Return From America’s Wars — The Untold Story,”
a Dispatch Books project.
—————————
