Le Monde diplomatique - English edition

Podcast: When viruses become pandemics | Sonia Shah
▻https://mondediplo.com/2020/03/05coronavirus-podcast
▻https://mondediplo.com/IMG/mp3/lmd_march_2020_shah.mp3

▻https://seenthis.net/messages/832614 via Rezo

How #Israel Spies on US Citizens
▻https://orientxxi.info/magazine/how-israel-spies-on-us-citizens,2598

A never-shown Al Jazeera documentary on the pro-Israel #Lobby in the US reveals possibly illegal Israeli spying on US citizens, and the lobby’s fear of a changing political mood. An investigative documentary by Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera scheduled for broadcast earlier this year was expected to cause a sensation. Its four 50-minute episodes centred on the young and personable James Anthony Kleinfeld, British, Jewish, an Oxford graduate who speaks six languages including Dutch and Yiddish (...)

#Magazine

/ Israel, #Qatar, #Propaganda, American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac), #United_States, Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS), Lobby, (...)

#American_Israel_Public_Affairs_Committee_Aipac_ #Boycott_Divestment_Sanctions_BDS_ #Espionage
« ►http://www.aljazeera.com/investigations/thelobby »
« ►https://zoa.org/2018/04/10377872-zoa-mort-klein-convinced-qatar-to-cancel-anti-semitic-al-jazeera-jewis »
« ▻https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/04/al-jazeera-denies-claims-pro-israel-group-lobby-films-180417145630034.htm »
« ▻https://mondediplo.com/2017/07/02Qatar »
« ►https://theintercept.com/2018/08/01/rex-tillerson-qatar-saudi-uae »
« ▻https://mondediplo.com/2017/07/04USSaudilobby »
« ►https://www.conservativereview.com/news/inside-qatars-20-million-a-year-lobbying-effort-in-washington »
« ►https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/qatar-doubles-down-on-pr-campaign-appealing-to-u-s-jews-d-c-bigwigs-1.57460 »
« ►https://electronicintifada.net/content/qatar-funded-zionist-organization-america/24936 »
« ▻https://mondediplo.com »
« ▻https://mondediplo.com/subscribe »
« ▻https://www.richardsilverstein.com/2018/02/08/israel-lobby-pressures-qatar-kill-al-jazeera-documentary »
« ►https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israel-embassy-to-u-s-we-oppose-qatar-s-outreach-to-pro-israel-jew »

Pulse of Europe
▻http://www.charpi.fr/2017/03/26/pulse-of-europe.html

http://www.charpi.fr/images/2017-03-26.jpeg

The story says that Europe was abducted by Zeus in the form of a white bull, after which she happily gave birth to Minos and other more or less important characters of the Iliad, that then peacefully perpetuated the myth.

However, one should not forget that in the wonderful story of the European Union, it would be more accurate if the institution was compared to the impulsive bull instead of the assaulted woman. The European project was mainly the work of political leaders and many European citizens are not happy with what it has become.

The recent attempt to mobilize “Europtimists” in an apolitical movement, Pulse of Europe, does not clearly show whether its followers are attached to the bull (the EU) or the woman (Europe). At the moment, Pulse of Europe seems merely to embody the fear (...)

November 2016 - English edition
▻https://mondediplo.com/2016/11 #st

https://mondediplo.com/local/couv/2016-11.jpg
… Middle East, Putin’s risky game; freeing Mosul; North Africa, people power; Europe, where are the borders? Gibraltar, rock or hard place? Hungary, fantasies of a tribal past; Poland’s women fight for rights; after the Colombians’ no to FARC; Haiti’s minimum wage is the maximum; US, not all women are Hillary; Mexico, lucha libre crosses borders; the ‘happiness’ culture…

Escaping Chios, by Behzad Yaghmaian
▻https://mondediplo.com/outsidein/escaping-chios #st

In a small refugee camp at the foot of the old Venetian walls of the island of Chios, Ahmed, a 16-year old unaccompanied minor from Mosul, anxiously faces an uncertain future. This is Souda, a makeshift camp on the shore of the Aegean. It is a short walk from the port, the bustling cafes and restaurants, and the shopping district. There is no hunger in Souda. Children spend their days playing, and swimming in the sea. An army of humanitarians and foreign volunteers take care of the refugees’ every need. But escaping Souda, and Chios, is all that Ahmed dreams of.

Dismantling the ‘Jungle’, brick by brick, by Peter Blodau, Sharif Fanselow & Elle Kurancid
▻https://mondediplo.com/outsidein/dismantling-the-jungle-brick-by-brick #st
https://mondediplo.com/local/cache-vignettes/L890xH611/LMD-Visual-1_-wall--eab7c.jpg

“The Jungle exists because of politics and money,” shrugs Sami, a 27-year-old refugee from Kabul. “I think everyone here knows that.”

Slumped in a chair outside one of the camp’s several resident-run cafés, he continues: “You know what? I love Afghanistan. I miss my cities, my villages, my culture, my family, so much ... So much. But I can’t have a safe life there.”

#Calais

Perils of a second Sarkozy presidency, by Matthew Moran
▻https://mondediplo.com/outsidein/perils-of-a-second-sarkozy-presidency #st

Nicolas Sarkozy has launched his campaign for the French presidency. Ousted from the Élysée in 2012 by François Hollande and a French public that was exhausted after five years of the ‘hyper president’, Sarkozy is back for another bite at the cherry. Although currently the outsider — the polls favour Alain Juppé, mayor of Bordeaux and a former prime minister — it would be foolish to dismiss his bid out of hand. Sarkozy is a political scrapper with a good ability to exploit populist causes.

Turkey: from Suruç to a failed coup, by Shane Brennan
▻https://mondediplo.com/outsidein/turkey-from-suruc-to-a-failed-coup #st

The extraordinary scenes from Istanbul on 15 July gripped television viewers around the world, as jets and tanks announced Turkey’s first coup attempt of the new century, the fifth in the past sixty years.

Erdoğan silences the opposition, by Selahattin Demirtaş
▻https://mondediplo.com/2016/07/07erdogan #st

The leader of the Peoples Democratic Party protests the Turkish presidents offensive against that party in an ever-growing authoritarianism that also targets journalists and academics.

UK: lost, divided and alone, by Paul Mason
▻https://mondediplo.com/2016/07/03brexit #st
https://mondediplo.com/IMG/arton8204.jpg

The #Brexit vote was a insurrectionary protest against neoliberalism, globalism and cultural contempt. It will break up the UK, and split England forever.

UK referendum and income distribution, by Robert H Wade
▻https://mondediplo.com/blogs/uk-referendum-and-income-distribution #st

Large numbers of those who voted in favour of leaving the EU in the UK’s In/Out referendum — 51.9% of voters voted Out — did so less from a negative assessment of EU membership than from anger at their falling relative income over the past years and worry that their children would fare economically even worse than them. This conclusion comes both from poll and media interviews conducted after the vote closed, and from the fact that the day after the referendum the second most frequently asked question of Google, among all the EU-related questions, was “what is the EU?”

The Remain camp argued that Britain has done well and will continue to do well economically from EU membership. But the claims of a British boom ring hollow to those who are unemployed, or on zero-hours contracts, or forced off benefits.

Egypt’s innocent donkeys, by Nael M Shama
▻https://mondediplo.com/blogs/egypt-s-innocent-donkeys #st

Rarely does a work of art epitomise the complex sociopolitical realities of its time. But a film from Egypt’s past does just that. Al-Baree (The Innocent, 1985) tells a tale of tyranny and elucidates its dynamics with skill. Starring the actor Ahmed Zaki — Egypt’s Al Pacino — and directed by Atef al-Tayeb, a pioneer of the new realism wave in Egyptian cinema, The Innocent says a lot about politics in Egypt, and the failure of its 2011 revolution.

Georgia: neoliberalism and industrial policy, by Robert H Wade
▻https://mondediplo.com/blogs/georgia-neoliberalism-and-industrial-policy #st

I visited Georgia in late April, at the invitation of Tato Khundadze at the Centre for Social Studies, a small social democratic thinktank supported by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, and also of Gia Jorjoliani, leader of a small social democratic party (Social Democrats for the Development of Georgia) and chairman of a parliamentary committee on environmental protection.

Anti-Muslim propaganda, even in multicultural London, by Muddassar Ahmed
▻https://mondediplo.com/blogs/anti-muslim-propaganda-even-in-multicultural #st

Recently, Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron rightly characterised Donald Trump’s comments about Muslims as “divisive, unhelpful and wrong.” However, his current defence minister, Michael Fallon, accused London mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan of “sharing platforms with extremists”.

After the US Super Tuesday results, which make Trump the de facto Republican nominee, more and more Europeans will be convinced of Islamophobia as a viable campaign strategy. After all, other political parties such as France’s National Front, led by Marine Le Pen, have similarly gained from it. Why wouldn’t more people try it?

Love on China’s factory floor, by Peter Bengtsen
▻https://mondediplo.com/blogs/love-on-china-s-factory-floor #st

When Ying, 18, arrived in Shenzhen from Guangxi’s countryside to enter the 168-million migrant workforce that makes up China’s factory floor, she was the image of a migrant worker — of rural origin, young, hardworking, poorly-educated, low-paid, with no energy for out-of-work activities or socialising — and single.

But then she fell in love — with a colleague at work, also a migrant. They dated for a long time, talking for hours of things they had in common; she envisaged marriage just around the corner. She differed from the majority of migrant workers — not by falling in love, but because she had found love through her everyday life. Li Wang, a schoolteacher in an industrial area of Shenzhen, says: ”Ying’s love story is unusual. It is not easy or common for migrants to meet the right partner through their daily lives here. Many don’t find time to socialise, and also they move around a lot for employment, so they don’t manage to build lasting friendships. The lucky ones may be introduced to a good partner by good friends.”

A New Orleans day, by Jesse Hardman
▻https://mondediplo.com/blogs/a-new-orleans-day #st

Early last November, in New Orleans’s Upper 9th Ward, a woman in her 50s wandered through the morning sunshine in an oversized t-shirt and pyjama bottoms. She stumbled across Bunny Friend Park, past an empty flask of Hennessey, yellow police tape and a bloodstained playground — the remains of a crime scene from the previous night when an impromptu party ended in a shootout. There were 17 victims; miraculously none died. The woman wouldn’t give her real name, only a moniker — TeeWee — because she said if the shooters knew she talked to the media, they’d think “that lady’s a snitch.” She said she was afraid of the repercussions: “I got 11 kids, and I want to live to see em.” She’d been looking for a grandchild when she wandered over to the event the night before. She saw a DJ and people dancing — and then suddenly “they were shooting everywhere.” She heard multiple gunshots, including one she thought was from an AK47. One of the victims fell on top of her.

The end of Syria’s Baathist dictatorship? by Fred H Lawson
▻https://mondediplo.com/blogs/the-end-of-syria-s-baathist-dictatorship #st

As Syria’s civil war enters its sixth year, President Bashar al-Assad finds himself steadily gaining strength relative to the country’s disparate collection of opposition forces. Government troops continue to advance into previously rebel-held areas across the northwestern provinces, and have all but encircled the key northern metropolis of Aleppo. In the south, forces loyal to the regime regained control of the strategic crossroads town of Shaikh Miskin at the end of January. And in the far northeast, the Syrian armed forces have resumed the offensive against ISIS (so-called Islamic State), in conjunction with an assortment of Kurdish, Christian and tribal fighters.

Even so, it is unlikely that the dynamics of governance that characterized the Baath Party-dominated political-economic order that existed prior to the popular uprising in March 2011 will ever reappear. Syria’s domestic politics have changed in a half-dozen ways over the course of the civil war, and whatever type of political system emerges once the fighting comes to an end will be compelled to reflect these new realities.

US primaries and the unintended consequences of democracy, by Harvey B. Feigenbaum
▻https://mondediplo.com/blogs/us-primaries-and-the-unintended-consequences-of #st

It’s primary season again, with the usual media attention in America and curiosity around the world. Many see this series of state-level elections, which determines who will be the presidential nominees of the two parties, as a democratic process worthy of imitation. Yet the American primary process has done more to make America ungovernable than it has to democratise politics.

#Brexit: the challenge for Europe, by John Pedler
▻https://mondediplo.com/blogs/brexit-the-challenge-for-europe

This New Year is likely to be critical for Europe — not just for its EU west but its Russian east too. The question is whether Europe as whole can play the part it should on the world stage; and if it can lead the world towards replacing a time of confrontation by one of international cooperation, essential to tackle the challenges of climate destabilisation and over-population. Will Europe — west and east — work together to build on the global consensus reached last December at the Paris Conference on Climate Change (COP 21)? Or will a divided Europe leave that to the US, which may not even ratify the agreement, and to China, whose government wants to match what the US does on climate just to silence opponents? [#st]

Ukraine conflict reaches the Caucasus, by Jens Malling
▻https://mondediplo.com/blogs/ukraine-conflict-reaches-the-caucasus

Broken columns, damaged balustrades, fallen statues and faded mosaics are everywhere — proof that #Abkhazia was once part of a great empire. Only the empire in question is not Greek or Roman, but a Soviet one. Structures in the architectural style of socialist classicism that Stalin favoured dominate. For years Abkhazia’s ideal location on the Black Sea made it the preferred holiday destination for every combine-worker and kolkhoz-farmer from the 15 Soviet republics. [#st]