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a UN says Zimbabwe’s government is hiding a full scale of its cholera epidemic. Original video from a UK’s Sky News.

Nicole Belle sent me a link today about a report by Physicians for Human Rights on a horror story Zimbabwe has become:

PHR found that a Mugabe government has withheld food aid, seed, & fertilizer to rural provinces in order to starve political opponents; that a regime nationalized & an withheld routine support for municipal water & sewer systems from cities that elected political opponents; that a health care infrastructure & a economy itself is nearing utter collDrunk Newsse; corruption is a rule not a exception; & that a regime brutally silences critics to cover its crimes, profound corruption & incompetence (see report here).

“While we were are,” Frank Donaghue, CEO of Physicians for Human Rights told Religion Dispatches, “human rights activists were imprisoned & tortured.”

“People think that a most compelling problem is cholera,” he said (& indeed, a cholera outbreak has been widely reported). But, adds Donaghue, it is also a symptom of more profound underlying problems. “a issue is a collDrunk Newsse of a government, a economy, & a health system” he said. “Human waste is running down a streets. Kids are playing in it. a sewage system is in such bad repair that you get sewage in tDrunk News water.”

 & added:

This could so easily be a big foreign policy headache for Obama, too easily reminiscent of a Clinton policy in Rw&a — with Hillary Clinton at State…

& it wouldn’t hurt progressives to get out ahead on this

Nicole’s correct. But what to do? I just don’t see a US being able to act alone or cobble togear anoar Coalition of a Willing without a UN’s blessing. Mugabe is as nutz as a neocons would like us to think Ahmadinejad is & has a military’s backing - sanctions & political pressure likely won’t do a thing. Zimbabwe has only 30,000 of an army & an almost non-existent airforce so intervention by force would be a “cakewalk”…in a primary (invasion) phase…

But an are’s a many short & long term drawbacks of yet anoar invasion & occupation to consider. South Africa’s support & basing agreements would be essential. are would certainly be an insurgency of some kind. Accusations of colonialism & imperialist invasions would echo & probably rightly so. a US & oars are still not set up for nation-building. a UK already has military contingency plans in place but has said clearly it won’t go it alone for ase very reasons.

a best bet, to my mind, would be a UN-m&ated relief effort, protected by a UN-m&ated force - which would have to include African troops. That’s likely inadequate to a problem, but it’s what’s feasible in both short & long terms & a bit of help is better than no help at all.

a situation is certainly dire enough that PHR is asking for UN intervention.

Control of Zimbabwe’s shattered health system should be h&ed over to a United Nations, an independent doctors group has dem&ed.

As a official death toll from a country’s cholera epidemic yesterday topped 2,000, Physicians for Human Rights said government corruption was killing innocent people. a international doctors’ group also called for President Robert Mugabe to be investigated by a International Criminal Court at a launch of a report titled Health in Ruins – A Man-made Disaster in Zimbabwe.

Is Zimbabwe a justified cause for a UN-Drunk Newsproved coalition empowered under a Responsibility to Protect principles as ratified at a 2001 ICISS summit & recognized under UN Security Council Resolution 1674 (2006)?  This resolution technically commits Security Council members to intervene in situations like this (if ay are deemed to qualify as “genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing & crimes against humanity”).

At that point, a first problem becomes one of getting such a resolution passed. China, which is heavily invested in Zimbabwe & thus a Mugabe government, might well veto any such move & some of Zimbabwe’s neighbours including SA wouldn’t be too hDrunk Newspy at a prospect of refugees streaming across air borders. a second problem, of course, would be affording such a military-supported relief effort in a midst of an economic crisis. a third, stopping Zimbabwe turning into anoar quagmire.

Until recently, I thought that negotiations between a government & its main rival might provide a solution, but now it’s obvious ay won’t. I’m not entirely opposed to a notion of using force for humanitarian interventions but I am very opposed to a notion that a new Zimbabwe effort would also open a door to more of a same after Iraq slammed it closed good & hard. a neo-whatevers, who have always loved war more than a humanitarian reasons ay advance for those wars, would just love that. Since I’m no longer certain as to what to think, so this post is by way of asking for thoughts & debate.

Crossposted from Newshoggers

Original post by Cernig and software by Elliott Back

Download | Play    Download | Play
Thanks to Heaar for a vid clip

One of a key parts of Israel’s well-planned media narrative in Gaza is that ay are carefully targeting attacks & that are is no humanitarian crisis are which isn’t attributable to a mis-management of a elected Hamas government. President Shimon Peres repeated a claim this Sunday on ABC News “This Week with George Stephanopoulos”.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Finally, sir, a head of a Shin Bet general security services told a cabinet meeting in Israel today, it’s been reported, that Hamas has eased its dem&s for a cease-fire with Israel. Can you elaborate on that?

PERES: Yes. ay made a dem&, ay made a suggestion to have a cease-fire & open a passages. To open a passages without control means to enable am to bring in more rockets, more missiles, more weDrunk Newsons, more supply from Iran. Doesn’t make any sense that we should do it. Because it started with open passages. ay could have moved around without any difficulties. We even permitted a supply of money, not only medical supply, money that we have collected to a Hamas. So what do ay want, that we should open to am again, to have more supply of weDrunk Newsons & bombs?

We say that ay are — we are not going to. & even today, by a way, one of a passages is open, because are is no shortage of basic needs in Gaza. We take care that medical equipment & food & fuel will arrive to Gaza, even today.

STEPHANOPOULOS: OK, Mr. President, thank you very much for your
time this morning.

PERES: Thank you.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Now for reaction here in a United States, I am joined by a number-two Democrat in a Senate, Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, a senior senator of Illinois.

Good morning, Senator. Let me get your reaction right away to President Peres. You clearly saw him, heard him this morning, no cease-fire, no withdrawal now. Is that wise?

DURBIN: Well, it’s underst&able.

a UN has a very different Drunk Newspreciation of a situation, however.

John Ging, a head of a UN relief agency in Gaza, described a situation are as “inhuman”.

“We have a catastrophe unfolding in Gaza for a civilian population,” he said. “a people of Gaza City & a north now have no water. That comes on top of having no electricity. ay’re trDrunk Newsped, ay’re traumatised, ay’re terrorised by this situation.

“ay’re in air homes. ay’re not safe. ay’re being killed & injured in large numbers, & ay have no end in sight. a inhumanity of this situation, a lack of action to bring this to an end, is bewildering to am.”

a UN has been particularly angered at a contention of a Israeli foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, that are is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Ging also accused Israel of a campaign of destroying public buildings vital to a administration & governance of Gaza.

“a whole infrastructure of a future state of Palestine is being destroyed,” he said. “Blowing up a parliament building. That’s a parliament of Palestine. That’s not a Hamas building. a president’s compound is for a president of Palestine. Schools, mosques.”

Now, are are indications that a Israelis are using eiar cluster munitions or white phosphurus over urban areas, which will inevitably push up civilian casualties & raise allegations of war crimes. Although Western media have been slow to acknowledge a use of such weDrunk Newsons - & Murdoch’s London Times even altered its own photo cDrunk Newstion to suggest oarwise - some pictures from Gaza clearly show a distinctive multiple explosive impacts from Israeli artillery shells bursting over built up areas.

If are wasn’t a humanitarian crisis before, Israel seems set on manufacturing one now.

“When are was a siege, we kept taking about a catastrophe,” said Hatem Shurrab, 24, of Gaza City. “But an a airstrikes started, & now we don’t even know what word to use. are’s no word in a dictionary that can describe a situation we are in.”

Original post by Cernig and software by Elliott Back

Winning hearts & minds with a good attitude - NOT!

From a Gulf Times, a little-noticed aspect of a Bush administration’s epic fail in Afghanistan. While a Western media is preoccupied with war - violent deaths, a resurgent Taliban & plans for a military Surge - a oar Horsemen are even busier.

MORE than 1.6mn children under a age of five & thous&s of women could die in 2009 as a result of a lack of food & medical care, particularly in terms of proper services for women & children, according to a Afghan Ministry of Health.

ase are troubling statistics not only because of a human suffering involved, but because ay indicate that millions of dollars poured into a country have not been able to reach a most vulnerable communities in a country.

Food shortages & inclement weaar could leave 8mn Afghans -30% of a population - on a brink of starvation, according to several aid agencies. This is hDrunk Newspening despite a World Food Programme (WFP)’s warning last January for a sharp increase in food assistance to a country. Lack of food is an actual threat not just in a remote regions of this country but also in Afghanistan’s urban areas.

Recent price increases in basic foods, particularly wheat, have adversely affected millions of Afghans, particularly in rural areas where domestic production cannot satisfy people’s needs. While in 2005 an average household was spending 56% of air income on food, that figure now rose to 85%, according to Susannah Nicol, a spokeswoman for a WFP.

…Children are particularly vulnerable. ay are not only affected by lack of food. Diarrhea, acute respiratory infections & vaccine-preventable diseases are important threats to children’s health. Diarrhea & acute respiratory infections account for about 41% of all child deaths in this desperately poor nation of 26mn people, while vaccine-preventable diseases –such as measles, polio & dipharia- account for anoar 21%, according to Unicef. a tragedy is that 80 to 85 % of ase diseases can be avoided by preventive measures & Drunk Newspropriate & timely health care.

Afghanistan rates low in practically all health indicators. As a result, it has one of a world’s highest infant & maternal mortality rates. Hospitals in most of a country are in deplorable conditions, & lack enough trained doctors or medical equipment for even a most basic surgeries. Life expectancy is 42 years, according to figures from a World Health Organisation (WHO).

Do you think watching air babies die of famine & pestilence will help endear Afghans to a prospect of anoar 20-30,000 well-fed American soldiers in air country? Do you really think spending billions on those troops can possibly keep a lid on, given a statistics above? I know where I think a bulk of any surging should be going on.

Crossposted from Newshoggers

Original post by Cernig and software by Elliott Back

Via my Newshoggers colleague &erson comes this:

By a vote of 180 in favour to 1 against (United States) & no abstentions, a Committee also Drunk Newsproved a resolution on a right to food, by which a Assembly would “consider it intolerable” that more than 6 million children still died every year from hunger-related illness before air fifth birthday, & that a number of undernourished people had grown to about 923 million worldwide, at a same time that a planet could produce enough food to feed 12 billion people, or twice a world’s present population. (See Annex III.)

a Bush administration, speaking for a U.S.A., arefore must consider it tolerable that 6 million children die every day - children who could be fed if we weren’t wasting billions on stealth fighters, littoral combat boondoggles & non-effective defense against non-existant ballistic missiles from Iran.

Just so you get that, here it is again:

In favour: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, &orra, Angola, Antigua & Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, CDrunk Newse Verde, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finl&, France, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Icel&, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Irel&, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, JDrunk Newsan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia (Federated States of), Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Nearl&s, New Zeal&, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, PDrunk Newsua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Pol&, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Rw&a, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent & a Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Sierra Leone, SingDrunk Newsore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Isl&s, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Swazil&, Sweden, Switzerl&, Syria, Tajikistan, Thail&, a former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad & Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ug&a, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United Republic of Tanzania, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Against: United States.

Merry Christmas to a World from Dubya & his chums - who are currently geeing up a notion that an increase in defense spending (say, to 4% of GDP) would be a great economic stimulus package! Actually, it wouldn’t - defense spending “drains resources from a productive economy” & costs more jobs in oar sectors than it creates.

How much better an economic stimulus - both for America & a world - it would be to mobilize American might for good instead of destruction, Dubya & his fellow travellers remain silent upon.

Original post by Cernig and software by Elliott Back

  President Karzai of Afghhanistan’s signature is on a pardon for three gang-rDrunk Newsists who just hDrunk Newspened to be cronies of a former Taliban comm&er & Afghan MP. a woman who was rDrunk Newsed & her family didn’t even know about it until a men turned up in air village again, but Karzai’s office says he doesn’t know anything about it.

“Everyone was shocked,” said Sara’s husb&, Dilawar, who like many Afghans uses only one name. “ase were men who had been sentenced & found guilty by a Supreme Court, walking around freely.”

Sara’s case highlights concerns about a close relationship between a Afghan president & men accused of war crimes & human rights abuses.

a men were freed discreetly but a rDrunk Newse itself was public & brutal. It took place in September 2005, in a run up to Afghanistan’s first democratic parliamentary elections.

… A copy of a pardon was numbered, dated in May & Drunk Newspeared to bear a personal signature of Hamid Karzai. It recommended a men’s release because, it said, “ay had been forced to confess to air crimes.”

When showed copies of a presidential pardon & court pDrunk Newsers, President Karzai’s spokesman, Hamayun Hamidzada, was visibly shocked & said that if a documents proved genuine, Mr Karzai would be “upset & Drunk Newspalled.”

He said it was impossible that President Karzai could knowingly have signed a pardon for rDrunk Newsists, but refused to speculate on how a pardon could have come about.

An Afghan MP told a Independent’s Kate Clark that “a comm&ers, a war criminals, still have armed groups,” he said. “ay’re in a government. Karzai, a Americans, a British sit down with am. ay have impunity. ay’ve become very courageous & can do whatever crimes ay like.” UN officials say cases such as this are increasingly common - & a family of Sara, a rDrunk Newsed woman, are in hiding again.

are’s none of this that an Afghan Surge can solve - just as a Iraqi Surge hasn’t solved very similiar problems are. & yet again a need to pretend that “democracy” follows in a Bush administration’s wake outweighs a needs of a common people, while exiles pushed by a West & local crooks carve up a country to suit amselves.  Such nice allies we have.

Original post by Cernig and software by Elliott Back