To know and to care are the only
antidotes for ignorance and apathy. – Paul Balles
Intro: Well, this month was different. Big stories took up most of the media space,
and that included Hurricane Sandy, the US
election, the Petreaus affair (nice touch that the FBI spied on the director of
the CIA) and its many complications, then the Gaza assault, followed by the truce. [While
the world focused on Gaza, many more people were
killed in Syria.
Syria
is a huge, huge mess. Iraq
is not doing well either. DR Congo is becoming more of a mess every day. – all of
that missed in the corporate media.] At the end of the month, there was a
seemingly endless discussion about the “fiscal cliff” in our corporate media.
But here are some stories you might have missed:
USA
– The US Navy is now arming drone boats.
USA
– Homeland Security now has underwater drones.
USA
– Record number of people on food stamps in August 2012. PBS has made a
documentary about poor kids in the USA.
USA
–
US
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack strikes again. Food pantries are hurting
while farmers are “selling their crops overseas” at record high prices due to
the drought and higher demand. Of the corn crop, 40% goes to ethanol, 40% to
feed animals and 20% for consumers to eat. In August the UN asked the US to stop
using so much corn for biofuels given world-wide hunger. Vilsack rejected the
notion.
USA – The
US Senate passed a non-binding resolution that backs a quicker withdrawal from Afghanistan.
[Some good news!]
Environment – For the first time ever, a large tanker has
sailed north through the Arctic on its way from Norway
to Japan,
cutting the travel time by 20 days. Global warming has made this possible.
Jordan
– Protesters called for the downfall of the regime on 11-16-12.
Gaza – Massive Israeli
bombing of Gaza
started on 11-14-12. Hamas fired rockets
into Israel,
killing three. Israeli bombing killed 27
by the evening of 11-16-12, and seven of them were children. Israel calls up 75,000 Reservists. The
US Senate votes unanimously to support the Israeli attack on Gaza. Also supported by Obama and the US
House of Representatives. As of the morning of 11-19-12, over 100 Palestinians
and 3 Israelis were killed. Twenty four
of the killed Palestinians were children.
Gaza
– Ceasefire is place on 11-21-12. After eight days of attacks, the death toll
is 170 Palestinians and 5 Israelis. 50 of the dead were children.
Gaza – In spite of Hamas’s
support for the Free Syrian Army, Iran
and Hezbollah still express their support during the attack by Israel.
Palestine
– UN General Assembly recognizes the Palestinian state. [More good news!]
Israel – Israel is
attacked by Anonymous.
More than 44
million
hacking attempts have been made
on Israeli government websites since Wednesday when
Israel began its Gaza offensive, according
to Israeli officials.
[Israel claims most of these attacks came from
around the world, but the majority were from inside Israel
and occupied Palestine.]
Anonymous said on 11-17-12 that it had taken down or erased the databases of
nearly 700 Israeli private and public websites, including that of the Bank of
Jerusalem finance house.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/19/hackers-target-israeli-websites
World – Protests around the world against the Israeli
bombing of Gaza.
Anonymous – They stand with Gaza.
They have attacked Israeli websites in response to an Israeli threat to
turn off telecommunication links in Gaza.
Nigeria
– Massive oil spill by Exxon spreads over 20 miles.
Libya –
Dozens of
gunmen have
occupied Libya’s parliament to register their anger over the formation of
the new government. They want some ministers removed who are suspected of
“links to the late Muammar Gaddafi’s regime”. Trucks carrying anti-aircraft
guns are outside Parliament. 11-1-12
Libya –
The man who led Libya’s
rebel movement at the height of U.S.
and NATO involvement in last year’s uprising has been ordered to face questions
over the assassination of the top rebel army general whose troops helped end
Gadhafi’s regime.
Syria – A top U.S. diplomat met into the wee hours Wednesday
with leaders of the Syrian National Council to discuss future coordination with
them, just a week after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had chastised them
as being out of touch with the uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad
and said the United State no longer would recognize the council as a key player
in the rebellion.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/11/07/174041/us-diplomat-meets-with-syrian.html
Syria
– GCC recognizes new Syrian opposition forces.
[What could go wrong?]
Syria – Israel shells Syria
after Golan Heights mortar blast for second
day. [Nov 12, 2012]
Syria –
Fresh fighting between Kurdish militiamen and Syrian rebels erupted on Tuesday
[November 20] in the northern Syria
town of Ras al-Ain, where dozens have died since
the new front in Syria's
complex civil war opened last week.
The
casualties included four Kurdish fighters, a local Kurdish official, and 24
members of the Islamist Al-Nusra Front and Gharba al-Sham rebel
battalions.
The Kurdish fighters are
members of the People's Defence Units, the armed wing of the Democratic Union
Party (PYD) which is linked to Turkey's
rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/58675/World/Region/Dozens-die-as-Kurds,-rebels-clash-in-northern-Syri.aspx
Syria – Turkey made it clear on Thursday [November 15] that
it officially recognized a newly formed rebel coalition as the legitimate
leader of the Syrian people, an important step in the group’s effort to attract
legitimacy and, it hopes, more weapons to bring about the end of President
Assad’s rule.
On Monday, members of the
Gulf Cooperation Council — Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates,
Oman, Qatar and Kuwait — recognized the group, known as the National Coalition
of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces. On Tuesday,
France became the first Western country to do so, and
it said it was considering providing arms to the insurgent groups within Syria
that have been engaged in a 20-month-long war with the government that has
claimed nearly 40,000 lives.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/16/world/middleeast/turkey-recognizes-new-syrian-rebel-group-as-legitimate-leader-of-syria.html?_r=0
Syria
– Islamist groups reject opposition coalition. A group of extremist Islamist
factions in Syria has
rejected the country's new opposition coalition, saying in a video statement
they have formed an "Islamic state" in the embattled city of Aleppo to underline that
they want nothing to do with the Western-backed bloc.
http://ap.augustachronicle.com/pstories/20121119/1067666484.shtml
Syria
– More than 40,000 people have been killed in 20 months of conflict between
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces and those fighting for his overthrow,
a violence monitoring group said on Friday. [November 23] Rami Abdelrahman,
head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said about half the fatalities
were civilians and the other half split about evenly between rebels and
government soldiers. "The figure is likely much higher as the rebels and
the government lie about how many of their forces have died to make it look
like they are winning," Abdelrahman told Reuters.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/23/us-syria-crisis-toll-idUSBRE8AM0AN20121123
Syria
– Two car bombs killed at least 34 people in a district of Damascus loyal to
President Bashar Assad on Wednesday [November 28] in the deadliest attack on
the Syrian capital in months.
Mali –
European armies are expected to send up to 400 special forces troops to Mali to join an
African-led mission against Islamists allied to al-Qaeda occupying the
country’s desert north, diplomats said. [Because, of course, the white men are
only going to Africa to help, just like they do
everywhere else in the world. War is coming to Mali, mainly thanks to the Obama
administration.]
http://www.punchng.com/business/europe-to-send-400-special-forces-to-mali/
Iraq – At
least 17 people have been killed and dozens wounded in bombings across Iraq,
on the eve of the Islamic new year and the holy month of Muharram. [Another
source says 19 were killed and over 150 wounded.]
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20322400
Iraq –
5.3 million children in Iraq
still deprived of many rights.
Child
rights violations across Iraq that need to be addressed include: inadequate
access to and promotion of health services; lack of access to quality
education; violence against children in schools and families; psychological
trauma from years of extreme violence; discrimination; prolonged detention in
juvenile facilities; insufficient attention to the special needs of children
with disabilities and who are not in their family environment; and lack of
access to information and participation in cultural life.
While the majority of children in Iraq experience
at least one violation of their fundamental rights, around 1.7 million
children, or 10 per cent of all Iraqi children, have most of their rights
fulfilled.
http://www.unicef.org/media/media_66414.html
Iraq –
Two people were killed and 10 others wounded in clashes Friday between Iraqi
soldiers and Kurdish forces in Tuz Khurmato, a town in a disputed area of
northern Iraq, police
officials in Kirkuk and Baghdad told CNN. [There have been several
incidents like this in Iraq
this month, particularly around Kirkuk.]
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/11/16/world/meast/iraq-violence/index.html
Pakistan
– Obama victory infuriates Pakistani drone victims.
Congo – Congo
once again descends into chaos. Such is the cycle of despair in the
Democratic
Republic of the Congo – scene of massacres, of mass rape, of children
forced to fight, of families fleeing in fear again and again, so many sordid
events that rarely make the headlines. It can seem a conflict of crushing
complexity rooted in thorny issues of identity and race, involving murderous
militias with an alphabet of acronyms and savagely exploited by grasping
outsiders. But consider one simple fact: right now, there is the risk of another
round breaking out in the deadliest conflict since the Second World War.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/nov/25/ian-birrell-congo-rwanda-civil-war
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