Is the U.S. trade embargo risking lives in Cuba?

Is the U.S. trade embargo risking lives in Cuba?

A man carries a gas cylinder on the back of his bicycle as he passes a billboard that reads in Spanish "Blockade: The longest genocide in history" in Havana on Jan. 26, 2016. Desmond Boylan AP

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/nation-world/world/article110245497.html#story"For the 25th year in a row, Cuba has called for the United Nations to issue a resolution against the U.S. “blockade,” as the Cubans refer to the U.S. embargo against Cuba.

“WASHINGTON - Despite the improved ties between the United States and Cuba, the United Nations is expected to again condemn the American trade embargo against the communist island.
  
For the 25th year in a row, Cuba has called for the United Nations to issue a resolution against the U.S. “blockade,” as the Cubans refer to the U.S. embargo against Cuba.

We hope again – we cannot anticipate the vote, we will see on Oct. 26 – that the international community will be on Cuba’s side and call for an end to the blockade,” Josefina Vidal, who heads the U.S. Department at Cuba’s Foreign Ministry, told students last week during a conference at Havana University.

In what is expected to be a telling display of the international perspective on the United States’ continued application of the embargo, the U.N. General Assembly is expected to overwhelmingly pass a resolution Wednesday calling for end to the U.S. policy that restricts trade between the countries.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/nation-world/world/article110245497.html#storylink=cpy
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U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calls the embargo the “most unjust, severe and long-lived system” of sanctions ever applied against a country. 

The U.S. government has sought to end the embarrassing ritual against the United States, but the Cuban government has declined to stop or even tone down its scathing account of how the island has been affected.

The Cuban government estimates the U.S. embargo has cost the island more than $125 billion over the half-century that it’s been in place. Cuban leaders document the impacts in great detail, from the somewhat trivial to life-threatening, in a blistering 42-page report. 

They raise questions as to whether the U.S. government has put Cuban lives at risk because of sanctions that restrict access to diagnostic equipment for leukemia patients and devices crucial for pediatric heart surgery."

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/nation-world/world/article110245497.html


Cuba: Rejecting Sanctions, Sending a Message

"Sanctions continue to impede imports of critical goods and equipment from the US just as Cuba is prevented from exporting products and services to the US. Cuba has no direct banking relations with the US. US corporations cannot invest in the Cuban economy, except in the telecommunications industry.
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It has been estimated that the sanctions have cost Cuba billions of dollars just in the course of the first six months of 2016. The impact upon the public health sector — the comprehensiveness and affordability of public health care being one of the greatest achievements of the Cuban Revolution — has been dire. Between April 2015 and April 2016, the accumulated monetary repercussions of the sanctions policy amounted to some 82.7 million dollars. Cuba is compelled to purchase medicines, “spare parts for diagnostic and treatment equipment, medical instruments and other supplies necessary for (the health) sector to function” from distant markets when it would have been so much cheaper to obtain them from the US itself.

It is not just the health sector that has suffered from sanctions. The food sector, education, sports and culture have all had to pay the price. Even biotechnology, a field in which Cuba has registered excellent progress, has had to bear the adverse consequences of the unjust and vicious US policy.
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It is widely known that it is the US Congress more than the White House that is determined to perpetuate sanctions against Cuba. While some members of both the Senate and the House of Representatives feel that the sanctions should be lifted, the lobbies and special interests that want to continue to punish Cuba remain formidable. It is significant that Congress has received 51 legislative initiatives that seek to reinforce the sanctions. Obama cannot afford to ignore this. Nonetheless, he has executive powers that can circumvent some of the hurdles erected by the pro-sanctions groups.

This is why pro-justice citizens’ groups in the US and from around the world should intensify their efforts to persuade the powers-that-be in the US to eliminate the sanctions totally. Voices from within the US are critical; more human rights advocates, academics and representatives of the different religious communities should speak up. They should also counter the untruths, the half-truths and the outright lies about Cuba, the sanctions and the “security of the American people”.

People outside the US should also play their role. They should remind their governments to stick to their anti-sanctions position when the issue comes up again before the UN General Assembly on 26 October 2016. For the last 24 years, the vast majority of UN member states have voted to end the US sanctions regime. The last UN General Assembly vote on 27 October 2015 was the most convincing ever. 191 out of the 193 member states of the UN demanded that the sanctions be lifted. The only two states that voted against the resolution were the US and Israel."

Read more here http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/10/21/cuba-rejecting-sanctions-sending-a-message/

'Very aggressive' Vladimir Putin announces US Clinton WW3 fears in chilling video.

Putin Has Hot Words For Clinton’s Attempts At ‘Confrontation’. "Stung at the hostile tone of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s efforts to cast Russia as America’s greatest enemy, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he won’t let Clinton become a global bully. “Jeopardizing Russian-American relations in order to gain brownie points internally – I consider this to be harmful and counterproductive,” Putin recently told reporters in Russia in a video. “It’s not funny anymore. If somebody out there wants confrontation. This is not our choice but this means that there will be problems,” Putin warned." See http://www.westernjournalism.com/putin-has-hot-words-for-clintons-attempts-at-confrontation/ 'Very aggressive' Vladimir Putin announces US Clinton WW3 fears in chilling video. NEW video of Russian President Vladimir Putin discussing his concerns about the US election has shocked viewers. "In the clip – filmed in Russia – Putin, 64, tells a group of journalists that the US is creating a "distraction" aiming "to distract voters from the country's problems" by creating "an enemy and uniting the nation against them". He references both Iran and Russia as the potential enemies. But when asked whether he prefers Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton his response says a lot about ongoing World War 3 fears. The President responded: "Mrs Clinton has chosen to take up a very aggressive stance against our country, against Russia. "Mr Trump, on the other hand, calls for cooperation – at least when it comes to the international fight against terrorism." See http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/556336/Putin-Russia-America-US-Clinton-Trump-world-war-three-fears-video *** URA Observer on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/URA.Observer/

Who owns Ukraine's media?

Who owns Ukraine's media?

There is a war being waged in Ukraine and it is playing out on television sets and in the minds of viewers.

"There is a war being waged in Ukraine, but this one is not being fought from trenches in the east. It is being played out on television sets and in the minds of viewers on an informational frontline where oligarchs and politicians fight for influence.

On this battlefield, the media serves as a weapon with which owners can exert political leverage, attack opponents or foment specific public sentiments.

Oligarchs, through their control of and influence on the media, play a critical role in shaping the discourse around and public consciousness of unfolding events. And this, says former investigative journalist and current member of parliament Sergey Leshchenko, poses a danger to democracy.

"TV stations are used for achieving political goals," he says.

Some of Ukraine's wealthiest oligarchs, including the country's president, Petro Poroshenko, Igor Kolomoisky, Dmytro Firtash, Victor Pinchuk and Rinat Akhmetov, own media groups. While only Poroshenko is actually in government, Kolomoisky, Firtash, Pinchuk and Akhmetov are all involved in supporting and promoting political parties or policies.

Ukraine ranked 129th out of 180 countries in the 2015 World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders.
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Media is a threat to Ukraine's fledgling democracy. Because oligarchic media "deprived [the public] of the possibility to receive balanced and true information about what's going on," says Telekritika's Roman Shutov, "it changes their behaviour, the political behaviour and the electoral behaviour." The use of the media in the political and economic war in which the various factions of the Ukrainian establishment are engaged is disruptive for democracy.

"As oligarchs manipulate and divide the public," Shutov argues, they create "a threat to internal stability" and pose "a challenge to democracy".

Democracy and the freedom of the press have been appropriated by the elite to create a factionalised plutocracy in the guise of a democratic state. The media, Yuri Makarov argues, looks "like a reflection in a broken mirror"."

Greg Krasovsky: What makes matters worse is that most of these Oligarch-controlled media outlet are actively fomenting Russo-phobia with tacit approval by the U.S. Government.

Please read rest of the article at http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/04/owns-ukraine-media-160405130121777.html

Killed in Turkey: No investigation two years after suspicious death of American journalist Serena Shim.

Killed in Turkey: No investigation two years after suspicious death of American journalist Serena Shim.

"October 19 marks two years since the very sudden and suspicious death of American journalist Serena Shim near Suruç, Turkey, close to the Syrian border.

Although all signs point to foul play, indeed murder, by Turkish intelligence, until now the US government has neither conducted nor demanded an inquiry into the events of the alleged car accident which Turkish officials say was the cause of Shim’s death, let alone offer condolences to the family.

Serena Shim was at the time reporting on Ayn al-Arab (Kobani), from the Turkish side. She was, in her own words, one of the first, if not the first, on the ground to report on ,“Takfiri militants going in through the Turkish border”. These include not only ISIS but also terrorists from the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA).

As Shim’s sister Fatmeh Shim stated in 2015, “She caught them bringing in ISIS high-ranked members into Syria from Turkey into camps, which are supposed to be Syrian refugee camps.”

Serena Shim’s January 2013 expose, “Turkey’s Pivotal Role in Syria’s Insurgency: PressTV Report from Inside Turkey,” showed footage of what she estimated to be 300 semi-trucks “awaiting militants to empty them out”; included testimony explaining how Turkey enables the crossing of foreign terrorists “freely” into Syria; spoke of the funneling of arms via the Incirlik US Air Base in Turkey to terrorists in refugee camps or on through to Syria; and highlighted the issue of terrorist training camps portrayed as refugee camps, guarded by the Turkish military.

Shim named the World Food Organization as one of the NGOs whose trucks were being used to funnel terrorists’ arms into Syria, and stated this in her last interview, just one day before being killed. Notably, in that interview she also explicitly stated that she feared for her life because Turkish intelligence had accused her of being a spy."
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"...Russia Today (RT) spoke with Shim’s sister, who said:

“There’s so many different stories. The first was that Serena’s car was hit by a heavy vehicle, who proceeded to keep on driving. They could not find the vehicle nor could they find the driver. Two days later, surprisingly, they had found the vehicle and the driver, and had pictures of the heavy vehicle hitting my sister’s car. Every day coming out with new pictures of different degrees of damages that have happened to the car.”

“Serena and my cousin who was the driver of the car were taken to two different hospitals. She was reported first dead at the scene. Then coming out with later reports that she passed away at the hospital 30 minutes later from heart failure?! ” "

Greg Krasovsky: So where is the outrage and demand for answers from Western Mainstream Media?

What's the US State Department doing to investigate this suspicious death? How about the FBI?

Hmm, sounds like Serena Shim was reporting on an inconvenient truth - that Turkish Intelligence and other Western Intelligence Agencies were aiding Syria's "moderate opposition" (i.e. Pro-US and anti-Assad groups, including radical Islamic terrorists).

   
Please read rest of the article at: 
http://theduran.com/killed-in-turkey-no-investigation-two-years-after-suspicious-death-of-american-journalist/

The war against Columbus Day?

Commentary by Greg Krasovsky on "The war against Columbus Day" in The Washington Post.

  

You know the writing is on the wall when an establishment newspaper, such as the Washington Post, starts publicly questioning Columbus Day.

I hate to say it, but over the years I've come to realize that Christopher Columbus was no hero.

Yes, he may have a been a 15th century European pioneer explorer who discovered (for himself and his crown) the Caribbean, but any praise that the discovery should have merited was quickly obliterated by the brutal, sadistic and murderous exploitation of Native Americans by Columbus and his allies, including his brother.

Here's an appropriate quote from another WP article today "More cities celebrating ‘Indigenous Peoples Day’ amid effort to abolish Columbus Day"

"“This is something that I’ve struggled with for a long time,” Sarah Adams-Cornell told the station last month. “The fact that our country, our state and our city celebrate this holiday around this man who murdered and enslaved and raped indigenous people and decimated an entire population.”"

  

If we claim to be moral, tolerant and democratic, then we need to make this holiday into a tribute to all the indigenous Americans who wrongly and needlessly perished from European colonization of the Americas.

We also need to start setting this right with Native Americans in the United States, especially in light of all the treaties that were violated with Native American tribes and nations.

So when will the Washington Post demand that the Washington Redskins drop the team's racist name?

   

Hmmm...I guess that it's easier to criticize an abstract holiday that costs businesses and the government money than to go after one of America's most visible sport teams?

   

How about detouring or canceling that Dakota Access Pipeline which would desecrate Native American burial grounds and potentially pollute their lands?

    Please read "Tribe to Continue Fight After Court Refuses to Halt Dakota Access Pipeline" to get a sense at how fair the current American Court system is toward Indigenous Americans.

Or is Big Oil an exception as well when it comes to rehabilitating and compensating victims of genocide and other war crimes that were committed against Indigenous Americans?

How can we ask G-d to bless America and expect that his blessing (a divinely exact apportionment of G-d's supreme justice for observing AND violating His laws, including those that prohibit stealing from your fellow man as well as killing, raping, unjustly enslaving and exploiting him) will bring America prosperity and peace when we as a country not only continue to refuse to repent for what we've down to Indigenous Americans, make amends (reasonable reparations) but also continue to violate blatantly their rights and dignity? 

  

So what happens eventually to those people, societies, nations and empires who continue to tempt G-d's judgment and wrath by habitually violating his laws? 

I think that some call it Karma. What goes around comes around.

Does G-d and the Universe tolerate moral recidivism on such a mass scale as the genocide of Indigenous Americans more than American states that have "Three Strikes & You're Out" laws on their books against felon repeat offenders?

  

So let's stop tempting fate, repent about what our ancestors, country and government did to Native Americans and make amends.  

Otherwise, every time that we sing "God Bless America..." we'll be writing another letter in the Divine guilty verdict and sentence against us with all ensuing consequences for us and our progeny. 

Since the Lord works in mysterious ways, I don't think that we'll be able to avoid or commute that sentence no matter how much money we throw at avoiding divine wrath through defense or technology. 

Let's just remember how much money the Roman Empire spent on defense, civil works and entertainment after brutally colonizing, enslaving and killing millions within and around its Empire, including the Jews. 

But even adopting Christianity at the end couldn't help save Rome, which never recognized and repented for what it did to all those "savages" and peoples "lesser" than Roman nobility and citizens.

  

Those who do not properly learn history are bound to repeat it.

   

With all that in mind, do we continue to celebrate Columbus Day and discriminate against (oppress!) Indigenous Americans or do we begin to recognize and celebrate true heroes like Red Cloud who fought to protect his people and land?  See "Red Cloud’s War" 

  

So what's our choice, America?

  

Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples Day?

Above photo is from The Huffington Post's "Native American Activists Ramp Up Push To Rebrand Columbus Day" 

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Selected Excerpts:

  

"“It is important to acknowledge the original people of this land, and that is something that Columbus Day has completely contradicted,” Laura Medina, an Arizona State University student and activist

...

"Phoenix and Denver join at least 26 other cities across the country that will celebrate Native Americans on Monday, while federal and state governments observe Columbus Day.

...

The idea of celebrating Indigenous People’s Day was first proposed nearly 40 years ago, when a delegation of Native nations to a U.N. conference in Geneva passed a resolution. 

Thirteen years later, in 1990, the First Continental Conference on 500 Years of Indian Resistance in Ecuador passed a resolution changing Columbus Day into a celebration of Native Americans."

  

Also please read this WP blog "Answer Sheet" - "Columbus Day is still a U.S. federal holiday. But why?"

     "As for Columbus himself, he mapped the coasts of Central America and South America but never set foot on North America, and died thinking he had discovered Asia. 

     He ruled the Caribbean islands as viceroy and governor so brutally that, according to US-History.com: “Even his most ardent admirers acknowledge that Columbus was self-centered, ruthless, avaricious and a racist.”

...

    In 1937, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Congress, bowing to lobbying by the Knights of Columbus, an influential Catholic group that wanted a Catholic hero to be honored, proclaimed Oct. 12 to be Columbus Day, a national holiday. In 1971, the holiday date was changed to the second Monday in October."