Everything at the Membrane Domain
A couple of interesting facts:
1) On March 29, 1867, Stoeckl informed Secretary of State William Henry Seward that the Czar had agreed to sell Russian interests in Alaska to the United States.
2) In 1954, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev gave Ukraine a gift: Crimea.
SOUTH SUDAN, AFRICA — A group of armed militants is marching to fight in the growing crisis in South Sudan. The White Army is named from the white ash used to cover their bodies. They are a group of disgruntled young and under-employed men.
The Washington Post reports, “Twenty-five thousand young men who make up a tribal militia known as the “White Army” are marching toward a contested state capital in South Sudan, an official said Saturday, dimming hopes for a cease-fire.”
However, the BBC reports that the group is not made up of a tribe or ethnic group.
Wikipedia defines the White Army as follows: The Nuer White Army, sometimes decapitalised as the “white army”, is a semi-official name for a militant organisation formed by the Nuer people of central and eastern Greater Upper Nile in modern-day South Sudan as early as 1991. According to the Small Arms Survey, it arose from the 1991 schism within the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) for the dual purpose of defending Nuer cattle herds from neighbouring groups and fighting in the Second Sudanese Civil War between the SPLM/A and the Sudanese government.
The White Army was so named due to the Nuer practice of smearing one’s skin with a light-coloured ash as a protection against biting insects, according to a Small Arms Survey report published in June 2007, though other sources contend the name was merely intended to draw a distinction between the Nuer militia and the Sudan Armed Forces.
The BBC reports they don’t know exactly why the White Army is on the move at this time. They report, “Thousands of youths loyal to South Sudanese rebel leader Riek Machar are marching on the strategic town of Bor, according to government sources.
Government troops are currently in control of Bor, the capital of Jonglei state they had taken from the rebels.
The government has offered to cease hostilities, but an army spokesman told the BBC that its forces were still battling over oilfields in the north.
At least 1,000 people have died since fighting broke out earlier this month.
More than 121,600 are believed to have fled their homes.
What began as a power struggle between Mr Machar and President Salva Kiir has taken on overtones of a tribal conflict. The Dinka, to which Mr Kiir belongs, are pitted against the Nuer, from which Mr Machar hails.
The White Army is a name that inspires fear in South Sudan.
This loose grouping of armed youth from the Nuer ethnic group was at least partly responsible for the 1991 Bor massacre, in which at least 2,000 people were killed. Then, the White Army fought alongside Riek Machar, who had split away from the main southern Sudanese rebel group fighting Khartoum.
In 2011 and 2012 a new incarnation of the White Army went on the rampage, killing hundreds of civilians from the Murle ethnic group. At the time, Mr Machar was vice president – and although he travelled to meet them, he was unable to stop their advance.
Now the South Sudanese government says thousands of White Army members are marching on Bor – under Mr Machar’s command. This is an explosive claim – particularly as Mr Machar is under international pressure to stop fighting and begin negotiations by the end of the year.
Tens of thousands of civilians have sought refuge in UN camps and reinforcements have been arriving to give them extra protection.
Joe Contreras, a spokesman for the UN Mission in South Sudan, told the BBC World Service Newshour programme that the reported advance of the armed youths was a dangerous development.”
Amnesty International has released a statement:
New evidence indicates that the USA has carried out unlawful killings in Pakistan through drone attacks, some of which could even amount to war crimes, Amnesty International said in a major new report released today.
The report, “’Will I be next?’ US drone strikes in Pakistan”, is one of the most comprehensive studies to date of the US drone program from a human rights perspective.
It documents recent killings in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal areas and the almost complete absence of transparency around the US drone program.
“Secrecy surrounding the drones program gives the US administration a license to kill beyond the reach of the courts or basic standards of international law. It’s time for the USA to come clean about the drones program and hold those responsible for these violations to account,” said Mustafa Qadri, Amnesty International’s Pakistan Researcher.
“What hope for redress can there be for victims of drone attacks and their families when the USA won’t even acknowledge its responsibility for particular strikes?”
The report was released in a joint news conference with Human Rights Watch, which issued its own report on drone and other air strikes in Yemen.
Amnesty International reviewed all 45 known drone strikes that took place in North Waziristan in northwestern Pakistan between January 2012 and August 2013. The region that has seen more strikes than any other part of the country.
The organization conducted detailed field research into nine of these strikes, with the report documenting killings, which raise serious questions about violations of international law that could amount to war crimes or extrajudicial executions.
In October 2012, 68-year-old grandmother Mamana Bibi was killed in a double strike, apparently by a Hellfire missile, as she picked vegetables in the family’s fields while surrounded by a handful of her grandchildren.
In July 2012, 18 laborers, including a 14-year-old boy, were killed in multiple strikes on a impoverished village close to the border with Afghanistan as they were about to enjoy an evening meal at the end of a long day of work.
Contrary to official claims that those killed were “terrorists”, Amnesty International’s research indicates that the victims of these attacks were not involved in fighting and posed no threat to life.
“We cannot find any justification for these killings. There are genuine threats to the USA and its allies in the region, and drone strikes may be lawful in some circumstances. But it is hard to believe that a group of labourers, or an elderly woman surrounded by her grandchildren, were endangering anyone at all, let alone posing an imminent threat to the United States,” said Qadri.
International law prohibits arbitrary killing and limits the lawful use of intentional lethal force to exceptional situations. In armed conflict, only combatants and people directly participating in hostilities may be directly targeted. Outside armed conflict, intentional lethal force is lawful only when strictly unavoidable to protect against an imminent threat to life . In some circumstances arbitrary killing can amount to a war crime or extrajudicial execution, which are crimes under international law.
Amnesty International also documented cases of so-called “rescuer attacks” in which those who ran to the aid of the victims of an initial drone strike were themselves targeted in a rapid follow-on attack. While there may have been a presumption that the rescuers were members of the group being targeted, it is difficult to see how such distinctions could be made in the immediate and chaotic aftermath of a missile strike.
The USA continues to rely on a “global war” doctrine to attempt to justify a borderless war with al-Qa’ida, the Taliban and those perceived to be their allies.
The USA’s promise to increase transparency around drone strikes, underscored by a major policy speech by President Barack Obama in May 2013, has yet to become a reality, and the USA still refuses to divulge even basic factual and legal information.
This secrecy has enabled the USA to act with impunity and block victims from receiving justice or compensation. As far as Amnesty International is aware, no US official has ever been held to account for unlawful killings by drones in Pakistan.
In addition to the threat of US drone strikes, people in North Waziristan are frequently caught between attacks by armed groups and Pakistan’s armed forces. The local population lives under constant fear of inescapable violence by all sides.
The US drone program has added to local suffering, with people in the region now also living in terror of death from US drones hovering in the skies day and night.
“The tragedy is that drone aircraft deployed by the USA over Pakistan now instill the same kind of fear in the people of the tribal areas that was once associated only with al-Qa’ida and the Taliban,” said Qadri.
As the report documents, local men and women have little control over the presence of groups like the Taliban and al-Qa’ida in their villages and districts.
Al-Qa’ida-linked groups have killed dozens of local villagers they accused of being spies for US drone strikes. Residents of Mir Ali told Amnesty International that bodies are routinely seen dumped by the side of streets with written messages warning that anyone accused of spying for the USA will meet the same fate.
Residents also told Amnesty International they could not report abuses by armed groups to local authorities for fear of retaliation. Many residents were also fearful of talking about drones strikes to Amnesty International. Some of those who did speak openly received threats afterwards.
While the Pakistan government maintains it opposes the US drone program, Amnesty International is concerned that some officials and institutions in Pakistan and in other countries including Australia, Germany and the UK may be assisting the USA to carry out drone strikes that constitute human rights violations.
“Pakistan must provide access to justice and other remedies for victims of drone strikes. The authorities of Pakistan, Australia, Germany and the UK must also investigate all officials and institutions suspected of involvement in US drone strikes or other abuses in the tribal areas that may constitute human rights violations,” said Qadri.
“The Pakistani authorities must disclose information on all US drone strikes they have documented and what measures they have taken or will take to assist victims of these strikes.”
The report also documents the failure of the Pakistan state to protect the human rights of people in North Waziristan. This ranges from deaths, injuries and displacement of residents due to bombardment by the military, to the absence of justice mechanisms and lack of adequate medical assistance.
The Pakistani authorities have a very poor record in bringing al-Qa’ida, Taliban and other perpetrators of human rights abuses from the region to justice in fair trials without recourse to the death penalty.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are jointly calling on the US Congress to fully investigate the cases the two organizations have documented and other potentially unlawful deaths, and to disclose any evidence of human rights violations to the public.
Amnesty International is calling on:
The US authorities to:
Publicly disclose the facts and legal basis for drone strikes carried out in Pakistan and information about any investigation into killings by US drones.
Ensure prompt, thorough, independent and impartial investigations into all cases where there are reasonable grounds to believe that drone strikes resulted in unlawful killings.
Bring those responsible for unlawful drone strikes to justice in public and fair trials without recourse to the death penalty.
Ensure that victims of unlawful drone strikes, including family members of victims of unlawful killings, have effective access to justice, compensation and other remedies.
The Pakistani authorities to:
Provide adequate access to justice and reparations for victims of US drone strikes and attacks by Pakistan forces, and seek reparations and other remedies for drone strikes from the US authorities.
Bring to justice, in fair trials without recourse to the death penalty, individuals responsible for unlawful killings and other human rights abuses in North Waziristan. This should include US drone strikes, attacks by the Pakistan armed forces, or groups like the Taliban and al-Qa’ida.
Publicly disclose information on all US drone strikes that the Pakistani authorities are aware of, including casualties and all assistance provided to victims.
The international community to:
Oppose US drone strikes and other killings that violate international law and urge the USA and Pakistan to take the measures outlined above. States should officially protest and pursue remedies under international law when lethal force is unlawfully used by the USA or other states.
Refrain from participating in any way in US drone strikes that violate international law, including by sharing intelligence or facilities.
Does the impending war with Syria leave you with a feeling of deja vu? Perhaps it is because we are about to repeat our mistake.
In the 1980’s, Russia was fighting Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. The CIA aided Al-Qaeda:
“During the anti-Soviet jihad Bin Laden and his fighters received American and Saudi funding. Some analysts believe Bin Laden himself had security training from the CIA.” — Wikipedia
Now, the U.S. wants to assist Al-Qaeda rebels in Syria despite opposition from Russia.
RELATED ARTICLE:
Is Saudi Arabia linked to al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden?
INDIA – Nine bombs exploded near the site where Buddha is believed to have obtained enlightenment while sitting under a fig tree. An offspring of the tree still grows at the site. Nobody has claimed responsibility for the bombings; however, “intelligence alerts had been issued to Bihar authorities in the recent months, warning that Islamist militants could attack the temple in revenge for the killings of Muslim Rohingyas in Buddhist-dominated Myanmar.”
The senior police officer said, “We are looking at the possible involvement of Indian Mujahideen, as today’s attacks bear their signature of serial low-intensity bombings. We are scrutinizing the information Delhi Police relayed to us.”
“The holy bodhi tree is safe and there is no damage to it,” Bihar police chief Abhayanand said.
There are protests going on around the world in Brazil, Turkey and Egypt. Many thousands of people are rising up against their governments.
In Brazil, it started as a protest against a 10% rise in the bus fare. Then, it turned into hundreds of thousands of people protesting the World Cup, Olympics and political corruption.
On the anniversary of the Arab Spring revolution in Egypt, protestors are protesting the new government and are calling for new elections. The current politicians are thought to be too extreme in their religious views.
Similarly in Turkey, the population is upset over the religious extremism of the government.
Now Brazil has hit turbulence. Since the middle of June, its biggest cities have been convulsed by rolling street protests. The initial spark was a 9¢ rise in bus fares, but the protests have since become wider, more clamorous expressions of anti-establishment anger. The day after the government backed down on the bus fare hike, 1 million demonstrators turned out in more than 100 cities to voice frustration with corruption, the inefficiency of the health-care and public transport systems, and runaway costs of hosting the World Cup. Some protests have turned violent, with mobs vandalizing banks and attempting to break into the Ministry of Foreign Relations. Police responded with pepper spray and rubber bullets. The uprising is Brazil’s biggest since 1992, when a student revolt against then-President Fernando Collor de Mello led to his resignation. — Business Week
Tens of thousands of opponents of Egypt’s Islamist president massed in Cairo’s Tahrir Square and in cities around the country Sunday, launching an all-out push to force Mohammed Morsi from office on the one-year anniversary of his inauguration. Fears of violence were high, with Morsi’s Islamist supporters vowing to defend him. — CBS News
Protests started in Turkey on 28 May 2013. The protests were sparked by outrage at a brutal eviction of a sit-in at Istanbul’s Taksim Gezi Park protesting the park’s demolition. Subsequently, supporting protests and strikes took place across Turkey protesting a wide range of concerns, at the core of which were issues of freedom of the press, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, and the government’s encroachment on Turkey’s secularism. — Wikipedia
The body of King Richard III was found in a parking lot. The physical appearance, including a curved spine, an arrowhead and other battle wounds, led scientists to believe it is King Richard III. DNA tests have since confirmed it is Richard.
Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485) was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat at the Battle of Bosworth Field was the decisive battle of the Wars of the Roses and is sometimes regarded as the end of the Middle Ages in England. He is the subject of an eponymous play by William Shakespeare.
Richard’s death at Bosworth resulted in the end of the Plantagenet dynasty, which had ruled England since the succession of Henry II in 1154. The last male Plantagenet, Edward, Earl of Warwick (son of Richard III’s brother Clarence), was executed by Henry VII in 1499.
Richard’s Council of the North, derived from his ducal council, greatly improved conditions for Northern England, as commoners of that region were formerly without any substantial economic activity independent of London. Its descendant position was Secretary of State for the Northern Department.
In December 1483 Richard instituted what later became known as the Court of Requests, a court to which poor people who could not afford legal representation could apply for their grievances to be heard.[49] He also introduced bail in January 1484 to protect suspected felons from imprisonment before trial and to protect their property from seizure during that time.[50] He founded the College of Arms in 1484,[51] he banned restrictions on the printing and sale of books,[52] and he ordered the translation of the written Laws and Statutes from the traditional French into English.
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In the last two days, six Tibetans set themselves on fire (self-immolate) in protest to Chinese rule. “These protests are aimed at sending the next generation of China’s unelected regime a clear signal that Tibetans will continue to fight for their freedom despite China’s efforts to suppress and intimidate them,” Free Tibet director Stephanie Brigden said in a statement.
Since 2011, over 60 Tibetans have self-immolated. Here is a sample of a few:
Dorjee Kyab, Dorjee and Samdup,Dorjee died. 7 November 2012 — In the first documented case of a triple self-immolation, three Tibetan monks in their early teens, aged 15 to 16, set fire to themselves calling for freedom.
Tamdin Tso, 7 November 2012 died
23-year-old mother, Tamdin Tso, set fire to herself in Rebkong County, Eastern Tibet. She was mother to a 5-year-old boy. She died at the scene.
Lhamo Kyab, Bhora, 20 October 2012, died
According to an eyewitness, Lhamo Kyab called out slogans for the return of the Dalai Lama while running towards Bhora Monastery. Security forces tried to extinguish the flames but were unsuccessful. Lhamo Kyab died at the scene.
Sangye Gyatso, Kanlho Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, 6 October 2012, died
The father of two set himself on fire near the Dokar Monastery, which is 10km from Tso City. He died at the scene. Sangye Gyatso called for the return of the Dalai Lama and for cultural and religious freedom in Tibet.
Dolkar Kyi, Tso City, Kanlho, 7 August 2012, died
Set herself on fire in front of Tso Monastery in Kanlho, Eastern Tibet. She died at the scene. After her protest, 15 military trucks were deployed to Tso Monastery, scene of the self-immolation.
Lobsang Tsultrim, Ngaba Town, 6 August 2012, died
The 21-year-old monk set fire to himself on the main road in Ngaba. He was reported to be still alive, his upper body badly injured, when security personnel drove him away in a vehicle. He died soon after.
According to Free Tibet:
Tibetans’ civil and political rights are under constant attack by the Chinese authorities who will stop at nothing to suppress dissent.
Every aspect of Tibetan life is under siege from a Chinese leadership determined to gradually eradicate a whole culture. The Tibetan flag and national anthem are banned. Possession of a picture of the Dalai Lama can result in torture and imprisonment.
Tibetans are not free to protest or openly speak about their situation. Even peaceful demonstrations are met with heavy handed, military crackdowns.
In 2008, thousands of Tibetans staged the largest protests in Tibet for over 50 years. Demonstrations swept across the entire Tibetan plateau. Chinese authorities arrested an estimated 6,000 protestors, of which the fate of about 1,000 still remains unknown. The upsurge in protests and self-immolations in 2011 and 2012 has led the Chinese authorities to step up security even further and tighten its stranglehold on Tibet.
Prisons in Tibet are full of people detained for simply expressing their desire for freedom. People have been arrested and sentenced to prison for peaceful acts, such as:
The Chinese deem these acts as ‘splittist’ or ‘subversive’. Many Tibetans are imprisoned on unclear or unspecified charges, their families not informed of their whereabouts. Released prisoners report of having been subjected to beatings, electric shocks, and being deprived of food and drink. A 2008 UN report found that the use of torture in Tibet was ‘widespread’ and ‘routine’.
China attempts to control all information in and out of Tibet. TV, radio, printed media and the internet are subjected to strict monitoring and censorship. Access is blocked to TV and radio broadcasters based outside China, which provide news services in Tibetan languages. Foreign journalists are rarely allowed entry into Tibet, and when they are, they are closely chaperoned by Chinese officials.
Reporters Without Borders ranked China 174 out of the 179 countries on its Press Freedom Index 2011/12.
Buddhism is central to Tibetan life and monasteries and nunneries are kept under tight surveillance. Police stations are often situated nearby (or inside). Monks and nuns are regularly subjected to ‘patriotic re-education programmes’, for weeks at a time. During these programs, they are forced to read ‘patriotic’ literature denouncing the Dalai Lama. Those who refuse to take part, or fail the programme, often have their rights to practice as monks and nuns taken away.
A US State Department human rights report published in May 2012 said that “ethnic Han Chinese Communist Party members hold almost all top government, police, and military positions in the Tibet Autonomous Region and other areas of Tibet.”
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Philadelphia, PA
by Daniel Brouse
Are there any parallels between the creation of Pennsylvania, the American Revolutionary War and the Occupy Wall Street Movement? Yes. It is quite interesting how the Quakers have been involved in all three movements.
As a Quaker in England, William Penn had been arrested six times for speaking out. In 1681, William requested a charter to start an American Colony for a “Holy Experiment”. In honor of William’s father, the King granted the land known as the Forests of Penn — Pennsylvania.
“William Penn was the first great hero of American liberty. During the late seventeenth century, when Protestants persecuted Catholics, Catholics persecuted Protestants, and both persecuted Quakers and Jews, Penn established an American sanctuary which protected freedom of conscience. Almost everywhere else, colonists stole land from the Indians, but Penn traveled unarmed among the Indians and negotiated peaceful purchases. He insisted that women deserved equal rights with men. He gave Pennsylvania a written constitution which limited the power of government, provided a humane penal code, and guaranteed many fundamental liberties.” — The Quakers’ The Freeman
The Quakers also played an important role in the Revolutionary War.
Among the pro-Revolutionary Friends was a group of 200 Free Quakers, who claimed to be “free of the ecclesiastical tyranny of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting,” the governing body of Pennsylvania Quakerdom. The Free Quakers charged the yearly meeting with abandoning the liberty of conscience – the cornerstone of William Penn’s “Holy Experiment” in government and his motive for resettling Europe’s religiously-persecuted peoples in his American colony – and elevating pacifism, a secondary testimony, as the defining principle of Quakerism and a prerequisite for membership in the Society of Friends.
The Quakers of Plymouth Meeting in old Philadelphia County, now Montgomery County, were careful to abide by the discipline of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and thus tried to avoid any involvement with either army during the Revolutionary War. Their meetinghouse, however, was strategically located along Germantown Pike between Philadelphia and Gen. George Washington’s headquarters at Whitemarsh. During the early winter of 1777, when Washington decided to relocate his forces at Valley Forge, the Plymouth Friends’ meetinghouse served as a hospital and campsite for the Continental Army en route to their winter encampment near the Chester County village. — State Of Pennsylvania Historical Markers
Principles
Occupy Philadelphia has founding principles similar to William Penn’s stand on Freedom Of Speech, and his commitment to non-violence. To date, dozens of Occupy protesters have been arrested for speaking out during peaceful demonstrations.
Location
The Friends Meeting House at 15th and Cherry Streets finds itself in a strategic location for the Occupy Philadelphia movement. Due to the proximity of the the Friends Center to the Occupy encampment at Dilworth Plaza, City Hall, Philadelphia, the Friends furnished facilities to cook 1500 meals per day, provide medical treatment and hold meetings. After the forcible eviction of the non-violent protesters from Dilworth Plaza, the Friends continue to offer their hospitality.