September 11, 2011 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
9/11 should, after this 10th anniversary, and in the aftermath of the deviation from and restoration of core values that we have undergone, become a national day of solemn recognition, collaborative restoration, and an affirmation of our civic space, in which citizenship is a sacred trust and human interest in the principal goal of our activity. It should be a day of national reflection and of the reaffirmation of the value of an open, democratic and voluntary civic space.
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August 9, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
As early as one day after the March 11 tsunami sparked the (still ongoing) nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, Japan’s government had advanced radiation fallout and atmospheric modeling showing the area most likely to be hit by fallout from the explosions and the ongoing seepage. The government allegedly concealed this information, to prevent [...]
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May 5, 2011 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
There is a simple response to the GOP hardliners who say bin Laden’s demise justifies waterboarding and other torture techniques used under the Bush administration, and that is: if it had worked, it would not have taken 10 years to locate bin Laden. What “led” the US intelligence community, and SEAL Team Six to bin Laden’s fortified compound was long-running, diligent intelligence work of the kind that is hampered and obstructed by irrational fits of violence, torture and vengeful behavior.
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May 2, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Pakistan’s president Asif Ali Zardari, whose late wife Benazir Bhutto was assassinated by extremists shortly after returning to her homeland to seek the presidency, said he was not informed prior to the operation that it was taking place, but that his government, and all of Pakistan should celebrate Bin Laden’s demise. Bin Laden had repeatedly tried to kill Bhutto, and was suspected of plotting to assassinate Pres. Zardari.
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May 1, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Tonight, the news is breaking across global television and online media that the president of the United States will be making a special televised address to announce that Osama bin Laden has been confirmed killed. NBC News’ Chuck Todd is reporting the news began to leak out after Pres. Obama began informing, by telephone, the key leaders in Congress, that he would be making this announcement.
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April 12, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
After what now looks like significant foot-dragging, for fully one month, Japanese authorities have finally admitted the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is undergoing a level 7 nuclear emergency, the worst possible. There is still an effort to slow-walk this news, with repeated claims the radiation release has not been as significant as Chernobyl, also a level 7, but the Fukushima disaster involves 6 reactors, with at least 4 considered to be at ongoing risk of meltdown.
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March 27, 2011 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
Reports from Tokyo today have authorities telling residents water is now safe for infant consumption, even as reports from Fukushima show radiation levels may have surged to 10 million times the normal level. Readings taken 30 miles out to sea have found radiation levels in seawater at 1,850 times the normal level. More nations around the Pacific Ocean are expressing concern about the handling of the disaster.
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March 16, 2011 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
A report from the American Medical Association finds the US is not prepared to deal with the public health crisis that would ensue from a major nuclear accident. There is also evidence suggesting that aging nuclear plants are less stable and less secure than the public is led to believe. Indeed, radiation releases are surprisingly and disturbingly common.
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March 15, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
As the four troubled nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex continue to deteriorate, the news is breaking this evening that workers at Reactor #4 are being forced to abandon the site, due to the risk of extreme radiation contamination. The evacuation means that at least one of the failing reactors will not have any one in place to manage it; at this hour, it is not clear whether the entire Fukushima complex is being evacuated.
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March 15, 2011 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
The president’s proposed budget for 2012 includes $36 billion in loan guarantees for the development of new nuclear power plants. The United States has still not solved the problem of where to securely store nuclear waste material for the time frame necessary. In Japan, two nuclear reactors appaer to be in meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. The $36 billion would be far more wisely spent developing a clean energy economy based on advanced solar and wind technology.
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March 15, 2011 :: The Editors :: No Comment Yet
Nuclear power plants, like the one at Fukushima Daiichi, contain 1,000 times more radioactivity to leak than the Hiroshima bomb. Nuclear scientists estimate 1,000,000 people would be killed or injured in a major accident, were one to occur at the San Onofre plant in southern California. But Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) on Monday compared the [...]
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March 15, 2011 :: staff :: 2 Comments
A fourth reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has now reportedly lost its cooling system and is on fire, while a third of the troubled reactors has suffered an explosion. The exclusion zone has been expanded to 19 miles, and international monitors now say the Fukushima nuclear emergency is officially the second worst [...]
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March 13, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Japanese authorities are reporting, just after 3:00 am EDT, that two of the reactor cores at the Fukushima nuclear plant may have begun meltdown. At least nine people are reported to have been exposed to dangerous levels of radiation. A 20km exclusion zone is being established, and authorities say they are evacuating an estimated 200,000 [...]
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March 12, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
The Fukushima nuclear plant contains 5 nuclear reactors, which combine to produce the world’s largest concentrated power generation. At least one of the reactors is reported to have radiation levels 1,000 times normal inside one of its control rooms. Today, RussiaToday is reporting that white smoke seen rising from the plant may be due to an explosion. Authorities have warned that some radioactive material may have seeped out into the environment already. There is an ongoing concern that the plant may be vulnerable to meltdown, as plant operators have not been able to resume cooling of nuclear fuel.
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March 12, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Google yesterday launched a “person finder” for Japan, to help people looking for relatives and loved ones who may be lost in a communications outage or in physical danger, due to the earthquake and tsunami. Facebook also has a disaster relief service at facebook.com/DisasterRelief. There is also a surge in information on Twitter at hash-tags like #tsunami or #sendai or Fukushima.
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March 11, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Two nuclear reactors in Fukushima, Japan, are now reported to be unable to cool the nuclear fuel in their cores, and radioactive materials may have seeped into the environment. The reactors reportedly suffered service interruption after the worst earthquake in Japanese history. The magnitude 8.9 quake unleashed a massive tsunami the pushed far inland at Sendai, northeast of Tokyo.
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February 15, 2011 :: staff :: 3 Comments
Demonstrators in Tehran yesterday defied an official ban on their proposed rally to support the people of Egypt and their ongoing process of democratic change. Security forces clashed with demonstrators, firing tear gas into the crowds. There are reports at least one person was killed, and hardliners within the regime are now calling for opposition leaders to be rounded up and executed.
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January 19, 2011 :: Eva Scherson :: Comments Off
China’s president Hu Jintao is visiting the United States and will be the focus of several state-level functions, including a full state dinner and a special luncheon hosted by the vice president, Joe Biden. In the face of US demands that China remove rate controls and allow its currency to appreciate, Pres. Hu has said the yuan should be thought of as the world’s currency standard, with other currencies priced against its value.
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November 9, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
The Burmese ruling military junta, which officially corrected the English translation to Myanmar —a more traditional pronunciation— after it seized power, has staged the first democratic elections in two decades, and observers both inside and outside the country are saying the vote process was rigged to favor pro-junta politicians. The military also retains no less than 25% of all seats in the new parliament, which will double as an electoral college to choose the president.
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November 9, 2010 :: staff :: Comments Off
Over the past three days, my wife Michelle and I have experienced the — and dynamism of India and its people — from the majesty of Humayun’s Tomb to the advanced technologies that are empowering farmers and women who are the backbone of Indian society; from the Diwali celebrations with schoolchildren to the innovators who are fueling India’s economic rise; from the university students who will chart India’s future, to you —-leaders who helped to bring India to this moment of extraordinary promise.
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July 29, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: One Comment
The following is a transcript of an interview conducted by Joseph Robertson, Cafe Sentido’s editorial director, with Davoud Geramifard, a Persian mixed-media artist and filmmaker living in Toronto, Canada, whose documentary Voices of the Unheard was screened at this year’s Human Rights Watch Film Festival in New York City… CafeSentido (editor Joseph Robertson): Was it [...]
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June 17, 2010 :: staff :: Comments Off
From the lies, fraud, and violations of the law that were used in the election, the question of “where is my vote” was born, and you the people, with utmost clarity and without any ambiguity, shouted this question powerfully in a historic, peaceful march on Khordad 25, 1389 [June 15, 2009]. Except for those made blind and deaf by their superstitions and greed, everyone at the national and international levels heard you. But what was the response [of the ruling elite]? Was it anything other than murder and imprisonment, putting chains on the bare feet of the jailed and attacking the university dormitories?
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June 5, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: 2 Comments
On 4 June 1989, the Chinese military moved into Tiananmen Square to disperse a long-running student and citizen protest in favor of democratic reforms. The military were reportedly ordered to use deadly force and opened fire, killing an unknown number of unarmed civilians. The anonymous man in the above photo became known around the world as an icon of human rights, when he stopped a column of tanks by standing in their way, a moral and human challenge to the military crackdown.
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June 1, 2010 :: staff :: Comments Off
“The minds on the margin are not marginal minds” is the guiding philosophy of the project Anil Gupta discusses in this talk, aimed at highlighting efforts to find indigenous Indian entrepreneurs who might have the best ideas for shaping a better future, though they lack the resources to get their ideas into the mainstream culture or the realm of cutting-edge science.
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March 24, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: One Comment
Google has announced it will stop censoring search results for users in China. This radically reverses the dynamic of its relationship with the Chinese government, which had demanded as a condition of being searchable in China that the internet giant systematically bar certain content from appearing in lists of search results. Google had agreed to enter the Chinese market filtering out search results related to the Tiananmen Square protests and massacre of June 1989, even to the word “democracy”, but a cyber-spying attack that originated in China caused Google to rethink the validity of the initial agreement.
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March 19, 2010 :: staff :: Comments Off
A prominent muslim scholar and cleric has issued a 600-page fatwa, or religious edict, drawing from authoritative historical sources and scripture, to rule that true Islam bars any form of bloodshed. Dr. Tahir ul-Qadri, a muslim theologian from Pakistan, who lives and teaches in Britain, said an honest examination of the teachings and doctrines of Islam demonstrates an absolute prohibition on the shedding of blood for political or religious purposes.
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January 2, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: 2 Comments
Because three issues alone will not adequately describe the breakthroughs we will experience in the coming decade, a second installment of the 2nd decade prognosis is necessary. While denuclearization pacts and a verification process for limiting the threat of nuclear weapons is likely to be key to international relations, and the green technology revolution will spur economic development around the world, international cooperation must also be directed toward issues relating to basic resources, like water and the food supply. Gender equality will be key to peacemaking efforts, and counter-extremism will be a leading aspect of collaborative development efforts.
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December 30, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
China may be fast moving toward global superpower status, with rates of industrialization and wealth-creation nearly unprecedented in human history. But the ancient imperial state still faces pervasive problems of regional and ethnic disharmony and multiple separatist movements intent on breaking up the map of the modern political state. To hold together, Beijing will have to democratize public and private institutions at a rapid pace and in a credible way.
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December 29, 2009 :: Anjika Sridhar :: One Comment
Aung San Suu Kyi, the jailed Burmese pro-democracy opposition leader, was recently granted visitation rights to meet with three aging leaders of her National League for Democracy. The meeting marked the highest-level contact she has had with her party in years, even as the Burmese junta prepares to clamp down on pro-democracy elements ahead of the first nationwide election since her victory —never realized by taking office— in 1990. Suu Kyi has instead spent most of the last two decades under house arrest.
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December 28, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
Iran’s supreme leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamene’i, has reportedly been transported by military helicopter to a secure location, on a military base outside Tehran. Reports emerging from Iran suggest the security forces’ brutal crackdown on unarmed civilians during the festival of Ashura has sparked active resistance. There are now reports of ongoing clashes across the capital.
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December 27, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
Iranian police have fired on crowds of unarmed civilians demonstrating in Tehran on the feast day of Ashura, the commemoration of the most sacred martyr of the Shi’a strain of Islam. At least four people are reportedly confirmed killed, including one nephew of the leading opposition politician, Mir Hossein Mousavi, whose supporters —along with numerous international observers— believe he won the disputed presidential elections in June of this year.
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December 24, 2009 :: Evelyn Winston Perez :: Comments Off
The Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri died this past weekend, opening a period of seven days of mourning for one of the nation’s most influential clerics. The seventh day of mourning happens to coincide with the Shi’a holy day of atonement, Ashura. Ashura marks the killing of Hossein, grandson of the prophet Mohammed, by the Caliph Yazid, in the year 680. Yazid is often portrayed as a tyrannical ruler in Shi’a tradition, and the festival lends itself to an expression of the very anti-dictatorship language used by the reformist opposition.
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December 24, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
China has outraged political and diplomatic leaders around the world by aggressively blocking agreement on hard targets for binding emissions cuts, refusing even to agree to any accord that would include mention of other nations’ specific cuts. One observer told the BBC that he observed China, India and Saudi Arabia as the key powers working to prevent binding targets from being adopted, but China was the most immovable opponent to a binding agreement.
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December 23, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
As ongoing global climate destabilization builds momentum, and fundamental climate-linked environmental processes come apart, we are hearing time and again that melting ice, whether in glaciers or in the Arctic Ocean, is “the canary in the coal mine”. The metaphor is very tempting, indeed, as coal is the most carbon-intensive fuel in use and a major contributing factor to global warming and climate destabilization, but the problem with the metaphor lies in the meaning of the canary being nothing more than an alarm signal. Glaciers are very much more important to human civilization than that.
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December 19, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
The Philippines looks upon these negotiations in Copenhagen with a critical sense of urgency. The average world per capita CO2 equivalent emission is 6 tons and must be brought down to 3 tons to stabilize at 450 ppm in 2050. The Philippines is already doing better than that. Our emissions are only 1.6 tons per capita and we are committed to further deviate from our business-as-usual growth path.
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December 18, 2009 :: Anjika Sridhar :: One Comment
The United States is pledging to “take the lead” on a global fund of $100 billion over ten years, designed to help developing nations transition to a zero-combustion energy economy and fend off the already mounting ravages of climate destabilization. The offer was announced yesterday by Sec. of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and was intended in part to put added pressure on China to agree to a binding climate deal with emissions reduction verification processes built in.
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December 17, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
The government of the Philippines has deployed military forces to the vicinity of the Mayon volcano, near Legazpi City, to evacuate at least 50,000 people who live in the expected path of lava flows or ash plumes that could result from an impending eruption. Mayon is the most active of the 22 active volcanoes across the Philippines archipelago. The Philippines has failed to prevent loss of life in natural disasters like urban flooding linked to poor management of drainage systems and mudslides linked to illegal mountainside logging, and is determined to do succeed in doing so in this case.
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December 14, 2009 :: Evelyn Winston Perez :: Comments Off
The World Bank is working with the Chinese government to fund major industrial development in specific areas across Africa, as part of an effort to spur development and create jobs. The effort is needed in order to breathe new life into African cities that are experiencing population explosions, with little new investment to match the demand for resources and jobs. But three key factors raise questions about whether the China plan for African industry will be good for Africa.
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December 10, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
The global food supply is facing major security challenges, as warming global average temperatures and the destabilization of climate patterns and natural services undermine dependable agricultural cycles and threaten resources. The food supply is the most direct and visible connection between the breakdown of global climate systems and human health and wellbeing, but not the only link. The possible collapse of a major part of the human food supply means the collapse of agriculture, i.e. the breakdown of the human habitat.
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December 9, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
With a population of over 150 million people, and much of its land below sea level, Bangladesh is already losing significant amounts of cropland to rising seas related to persistent warming in global average temperatures and polar and glacial ice melt. It is expected that in 10 to 20 years, Bangladesh could lose 20% of its land mass to rising seas or chronic flooding.
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December 6, 2009 :: Anjika Sridhar :: Comments Off
Iran’s government has temporarily banned foreign media from operating in the capital, Tehran, in anticipation of student rallies on Monday, marking Iran’s Student Day commemoration. The government has warned against any “illegal rallies”, suggesting it fears the student rallies could turn into a new round of protests against the alleged rigging of the June presidential vote and the subsequent violent crackdown against dissent.
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December 3, 2009 :: staff :: One Comment
The date was 3 December 1984. The people of Bhopal, India, were the victims of a chemical spill of unprecedented proportions. 40 tons of toxic gas spilled into the city, killing tens of thousands of people. Methyl isocyanate, the substance that caused the mass death, prevents oxygen from entering the blood when inhaled. In just one night, thousands were killed, literally drowning in their own bodily fluids. At least 15,000 more people were killed over the next several weeks, and many believe the total number of those killed from exposure to methyl isocyanate is well above 30,000.
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December 2, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
Afghanistan is not lost, but for several years it has moved backwards. There’s no imminent threat of the government being overthrown, but the Taliban has gained momentum. Al Qaeda has not reemerged in Afghanistan in the same numbers as before 9/11, but they retain their safe havens along the border. And our forces lack the full support they need to effectively train and partner with Afghan security forces and better secure the population. Our new commander in Afghanistan — General McChrystal — has reported that the security situation is more serious than he anticipated. In short: The status quo is not sustainable.
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December 1, 2009 :: staff :: One Comment
Pres. Barack Obama, in an historic address at the West Point Military Academy, to an audience of graduating Army cadets many of whom will be among those soldiers deployed next year, announced a new comprehensive strategy for intensifying US military efforts in Afghanistan and securing Afghanistan against the rise of violent extremism. He also cast the war effort in moral terms and cited his own obligation to make the right choice for the security of the American people.
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November 26, 2009 :: Riga Listin :: Comments Off
Andal Apatuan, Jr., the heir to a powerful political dynasty on the southern Philippine Island of Mindanao, and a candidate for governor in 2010, has been taken into custody after a raid by military and police forces. Ampatuan is running to replace his father as governor of Maguindanao province, his father being forced to step down after three consecutive terms due to term limits.
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November 24, 2009 :: Severino Villalonso :: Comments Off
With election contests heating up in the troubled southern region of the Philippines, Mindanao, a mass-grave has been unearthed that is said to contain the bodies of at least 46 people kidnapped and murdered yesterday in connection with the local campaign. At least 20 are reported to be journalists who were traveling with one of the candidates when his convoy was attacked and everyone in it kidnapped, and now, according to reports emerging from the region, summarily executed and thrown into a shallow mass grave.
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November 24, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is in Washington, DC, for the first official state visit of Pres. Barack Obama’s presidency. PM Singh was chosen by the Obama administration for the occasion in order to highlight the complex strategic partnership the US enjoys with India and to build a closer alliance on a range of issues. The bookish economist-turned popular PM is said to have a close working relationship with the legal scholar-turned popular president. Singh praised Obama for “the breadth of his global vision for peace and prosperity”.
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November 21, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
From WhiteHouse.gov: “In an address recorded in Seoul, South Korea, the President discusses his trip to Asia. He talks about his push to stop nuclear proliferation in North Korea, Iran, and around the world. He talks about promoting America’s principles for an open society in China while making progress on joint efforts to combat climate change. And talks in-depth about the primary objective of his trip: engaging in new markets that hold tremendous potential to spur job creation here at home.”
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November 21, 2009 :: Eva Scherson :: Comments Off
Can we expect China’s cooperation on emissions reduction? It’s clear that China has shifted its energy policy somewhat, to take account for the potential long-term strategic economic benefit of being a major source for green energy technology, know-how and to use green energy to fill out the nation’s energy supply and possibly permit exportation of energy or fuels.
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November 19, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
A court in Iran has sentenced 5 people to death for their role in post-election anti-government protests this summer. At least 81 people have been sentenced to jail terms ranging up to 15 years in prison, for protesting the government’s handling of the election and its violent crackdown on the protesters. The government says all 5 are members of “terrorist and opposition groups”, apparently considering opposition to the ruling party a “terrorist” crime.
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