What is needed now for the Eurozone is to strengthen in its commitment to bringing Greece to the table
They must be advised on other
issues to save their flagging economy
Greece needs to understand it
can no longer expect the Eurozone to turn a blind eye to Greece’s increasing
intractable demands
Greece really is in no
position to demand anything any longer
They have continually
overstepped the mark and continue to isolate themselves from any radical
reforms
Their positon is completely
untenable and they have no outside creditors willing to entertain their demands
to remain solvent
Greece has to start looking
to themselves for hard-line solutions of which they have no choice now but to
meet
The Greek people are naïve if
they think that austerity measures will simply go away
The country is already in too
much hock to too many creditors
It needs to step back from
the coal face and begin to see an alternative route
By being plunged once again
into the abyss without a lifeline, so it is hoped that they will come to their
senses
They need to bring about a
system of reforms, which must be implemented if Greece wants to stay alive and
not dead?
Whatever the European
situation might think that without Greece Europe will fall, will never happen
Europe will just close its
ranks and become stronger, as it will always attract strength and outside
investments
Europe’s economic strategies
are founded on long-term, sound economic practices
Europe will always survive
without Greece, but Greece cannot survive without Europe!
Greece with so many of their
concessions having already been extinguished, it is now up to the Greek people
to see the light
Because of the many
continuous mistakes made by their own corrupt politicians…
…the Greeks must accept a
package of extreme hardships in order to re-float their sagging economy
Until their own economy is
brought back from the brink of total collapse, nothing will ever be the same
again
Greece can survive outside
the Eurozone, but it will be a very hard austere life
Greeks enjoy the good life
and when they are expected to truly work for their luxuries they are not
prepared to do so
Such is their own mentality
and work ethics
An example of this was in the
preparation of the Olympic Games held in Athens in 2004
This was turning into a
theatre of the absurd
The IOC has already warned
Greece about the delays in construction for those games
Athens looked like a building
site and as usual things were left to the last minutes before situations
started to turn around
The IOC President at the time
Jacques Rogge issued a stark warning for the Greeks to pull their socks up
Even in 2000 Rogge’s
predecessor threatened to take the games away if things did not improve
It was in the last months
before the Games opened that help was given by neighbouring countries
They had to assisted with the
backlog of work so that Athens could have their games
It is this mentality that has
come to bite them hard
No longer will they be
allowed to pull the wool over Europe’s eyes and cheat their way out of what is
not their entitlement
They are between a rock and a
hard place. There is no easy solution and they must now fight to stay alive!
New Zealand’s South Island
and some parts of Australia have been treated to the Aurora Australis, a natural light display in the sky
There was a solar storm
This allows the Aurora Australis in the southern
hemisphere to become more visible much further north than it usually is
Aurorae occur when cosmic
rays or solar wind interacts with the earth’s upper atmosphere
Another view of its activity
will be shown this Thursday giving New Zealanders another chance to see this
amazing phenomenon
Many New Zealanders have
already braved the cold conditions to capture and enjoy this amazing sight
In the northern Hemisphere,
Finland, Iceland and Northern Canada are able to see these northern lights more
frequently
But for those who live in New
Zealand, it is a rare sight and a rare treat indeed
Many people have already
waited years to see this phenomenon with one man who has already been chasing
aurorae for the last 15 years
He is truly ecstatic with the
amazing sights
All things that are natural
in the world are beautiful
We should never take these
for granted. We are after all truly blessed
Is Greece playing the Russian
card against Europe?
The Greek Syriza Government
chose the pro-Russian right wing populist ANEL party
This is the Greek version of
UKIP, as its coalition partner over the pro-European Potami party
A distant threat that Greece
might leave NATO and sell a naval base to Russia would be a serious matter
Not just for Europe, but for
the US as well
Greece’s playing around with
Russia could get Europe and the US to focus on geopolitics rather than its
fiscal counting
The US and the IMF feel that
Greece needs a cut in its debt burden anyway
By dealing with Russia it
hopes it would strengthen Greece’s hand in its demands for a big debt write off
This of course is not easy,
when Cyprus wanted to get money to avoid asking for a European bailout…
…its finance minister came
back empty handed. At that time Russia was awash with oil
The problem with Greece is it
is not just a matter of plugging a hole for a short-term fiscal loan for a few
billion euros
Russia is now in deep
recession and it will not be able to be the backstop for these huge Greek
amounts
Greece needs a backstop for
its banking system
Already the European Central
Bank (ECB) had reached a peak of 135 billion euros at the time of the Greeks
repeat election in June 2012
A bank backstop is the
financial support for banks
Whereas for Governments it is
used to mean their debts can be guaranteed by a central bank
The only possible backstop
for Greek banks in the euro is the ECB
If Greece decided to renege
on its obligations to Europe and the IMF…
…and turned to Russia instead
for a small bridging loan, the ECB support for Greek banks would have to stop
A Russian loan would not help
Greece at all
The coalition of Syriza and
ANEL may have inclined to a pro-Russian line, but it would be toying with their
key national interests
Greece sits on an exposed
corner of Europe
It is close to the war torn
regions of Syria and Libya and next to their neighbour Turkey, who they are
afraid of
For Greece to exchange
wealthy and powerful allies, such as Europe and the US for Russia would not be
wise
Russia is visibly crumbling
under its economic incompetence and the Greek people would not let Syriza-ANEL
get away with it
Greece badly needs fresh
money and a reliable backstop. This it can only get from Europe and the IMF
Flirting with Russia won’t
help Greece secure better terms from the only realistic leaders it has
It is high time that Greece
comes to terms that the financial hardships were caused by mismanagement of
their respective economies
Japan took ten years to turn
over its indebted economy and Germany after the war took even longer
It is high time that Greece
understood that it can no longer expect other countries to continually bail it
out
It has to start the long road
to recovery and to become strong again
It is in their hands alone.
Help is there, but not on their terms any longer!
The Queen has visited the
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany with her husband, the Duke of
Edinburgh
It was at this camp, where
thousands died that were Jews, gypsies and homosexuals
It was also at this camp that
the teenage diarist, Anne Frank and her sister died
The Queen with Prince Philip
visited a memorial to Anne Frank
The Queen laid a wreath at
the camp in memory of all those who died there
It was in 1945 when British
soldiers liberated the camp
They saw the many horrors
that words cannot express adequately about what happened there
The Queen’s presence has
shown that complete reconciliation has taken place between Britain and Germany
Mankind still has not learnt
about the atrocities of war
Many still want to remember,
but not enough is done to prevent these happenings occurring again
Solutions to long term
sufferings need to be addressed more thoroughly, so that atrocities can be
avoided throughout this world
We all must move forwards to
find peace and justice and eliminate sufferings that cause so much hardship to
so many
Massive street protests in
Argentina on the 3rd June called for an end to the killing of women
Tens of thousands of people
mostly women, but many men as well, took to the streets to demand an end to
violence against women
They protested in particular
against femicides, the killing of women because of their gender
It was the female journalists
who organised the rally after they heard of the death of a 14 year old girl
murdered because she was pregnant
The slaying of the girl
called Chiara Paez, who was buried alive, was the latest in a long line of
female casualties
The female journalists said
that they would raise their voices to say ‘THEY ARE KILLING US’
The march saw over 150,000
people, who gathered in the capital alone
Many people were surprised as
they hadn’t realised that male chauvinism was such a big issue
Argentina has a female
president in Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner
They also had the famous
first lady Eva Peron, who fought for women’s rights in the 1950’s
Now the Argentine Supreme
Court and the Human Rights Secretariat will create a register on violence
against women
They hope to have the
information by the end of the year
Most Latin American countries
have this problem with El Salvador and Mexico being the worst, where women are
killed daily
A women’s shelter carried out
a national estimate showing that a women is killed every 31 hours
It is now known that more
than 1,800 women have been shot, stabbed, beaten, burned, strangled or drowned
to death since 2008
That is when these records
began
Argentine’s Congress passed a
bill in 2012 increasing the jail sentences for gender related violence
Femicides differ from other
crimes, because the killer is the husband, boyfriend or former partner of the
victim
This was one of the main
issues addressed by the protest march
This male-on-female violence
stems from a culture, which allows men to see women as objects
These marches will continue
to increase until a notable advancement in public re-education is realised
People are now fighting back.
This brutal culture has to be changed!
Who says one man’s
demonstration cannot move a whole country
In this case a 62 year old
Guatemalan man received a hero’s welcome after a 200km march in protest against
his Government’s corruption
Oswaldo Ochoa was cheered and
applauded from crowds of supporters on his arrival into Guatemala City
Mr Ochoa said he was inspired
by Gandhi and he wants social, political and agricultural changes
Already a series of
corruption scandals had forced the resignation of Vice-President Roxana
Baldetti to occur last month
Mr Ochoa left his home a week
ago
His Guatemalan flag wrapped
around his neck as a cape
He joins a growing movement
of Guatemalans demanding the resignation of President Otto Perez Molina
In addition to Mr Ochoa’s
protest he went on hunger strike during his journey only drinking tea and
juices
When Mr Ochoa reached the
capital he called on all Guatemalans to rise up against the impunity of corrupt
politicians
They who had taken public
money to fill their own coffers
It is only the power of the
people who will be able to change the tide of corruptions throughout the world
The fight against this global
disease of corruption is gathering momentum and those involved will see their
days coming to an end!
Until the International
community starts taking responsibility then more and more people become
displaced
They die from being in a war
zone that they cannot get out of and like sitting ducks waiting for their end
to come
Until the International
community starts to speak with a majority voice to save our fellow citizens
then what does that say about us?
Have we all become so battle
hardened and oblivious to what is actually happening to Mankind?
Do we continue to bury our
heads in the sand until these conflicts are at our doorstep before we act?
The world is in crises
It is up to the world to
devise solutions and act morally to do what is right to save Mankind once and
for all
Sitting on the fence,
continuing to see the suffering and plight of refugees in the world and doing
nothing means we are heartless souls
If we were in these
situations, would we not want Mankind to respond? Of course we would
It is up to all of us now to
act and to impress on politicians that solutions to war-torn countries must be
found
That time has come and the
International communities must bring in political strategies to solve these
refugee crises and political inertia
We, as humans, cannot keep on
killing each other
Ways of how to live together
in peace and harmony will be found if right thinking is given
Syria is the greatest problem
and has the greatest number of people displaced
That political destruction
needs to be addressed. It cannot be allowed to continue
With President Assad openly
dropping barrel bombs on his people, he kills them with impunity, while the
world sits by and does nothing
Surely these atrocities need
to be stopped?
There must be an
International peacekeeping force with teeth to rectify these problems so that
stability is restored
Dictatorial leaders must be
removed and placed before the criminal courts
The International community
is far too slow to act, while daily thousands more die while politicians
deliberate and do nothing
It is on their heads that the
souls of these destroyed people will start to weigh heavily
Mankind must finally do the
right and decent thing!
It is now time for Israel to
reflect, as the US starts to back away from them
No longer can Israel rely on
the US for moral support for Israel’s wrongdoing. Israel’s day is coming
President Obama has given a
revealing interview to Israel’s Channel 2 television station. He was able to
talk to the Israeli public direct
He stated his support of the
Jewish state, but also warned that the status quo between Israel and the
Palestinians cannot continue
If there is no progress
towards the peace process with Palestine…
…there would be an impact
upon how America will approach defending Israel on the International stage
There would be immediate
diplomatic consequences too
President Obama said that the
US would no longer obstruct any European effort…
…to bring about a resolution
to the Palestinian problem through the UN Security Council
Mr Netanyahu’s speech to
Congress has pushed the situation too far
He overstepped his rights by
criticising the President in his own country
The rift in Congress created
by Netanyahu has now opened up a field of criticism of Israel
It has damaged the Israelis
quite badly
Netanyahu has caused grave
hostility and it leaves the Obama administration and its supporters
disappointed
They are frustrated and
insulted at a level of contempt, which has been directed at them by Israel
The continued ascendance to
the right in Israel, presents a challenge to the American Jewish community
They overwhelmingly vote for
the Democratic Party. They do not vote for the hard right Republican Party
As Israel continues its
policy in the West Bank, it puts itself at odds with the rest of the world
So much so that America will
no longer stand alone with Israel against the world
Israel is already being
side-lined and ignored by world Governments and every day is increasing its own
isolation
This often happens when
arrogance takes hold and one can’t see reason anymore
Israel is in a sense digging
their own graves all by themselves
The Emanuel African Methodist
Episcopal Church has the oldest black congregation in the southern state of
South Carolina
This church is a historical
landmark, where black churchgoers escape from suffocating conditions from the
days of slavery
It is where thousands of
faithful members gather to worship today
The Emanuel AME Church in
Charleston signifies not just a place of worship but a safe haven
It offers safety from
segregation and the discontents of slavery and second class citizenship
This church goes back before
the days of the abolition of slavery and is an important landmark to this day
It was in this sacred space
during a prayer meeting that nine black members of the congregation were shot
down and killed
This was by a lone white
gunman
It has been suggested that it
was a hate crime, but others believe the motive to be racism
Too many black people have
been gunned down violently and this is becoming apparent more and more
The attack on the Emanuel
African Methodist Episcopal Church is now the new low!
The white man’s attack on the
black man’s sacred history has been desecrated. It shows nothing is off limits
Time is long overdue in
America dealing with their African America fellow citizens
More than a hundred years
have passed and very little has changed
At the rate that America is
now changing with Latin Americans coming in all the time together with other
minority groups…
…white Americans will soon
feel they are in the minority
Until America can start to
build legitimate bridges and bring justice to those who have suffered the
worst…
…there will continue to be
backlashes
America already has had its
civil war, does it once again want to divide its country and allow another war
to ensue?
America, do the wise thing
and start to reconcile these hostilities and bring back order and love to these
broken communities
It shows once again that the
gun is never the answer to these solutions, only dialogue and the right
intentions are!
The UN peacekeeping missions
face ‘chronic challenges’, such as too few resources and are often too slow in
engaging in crises
A UN panel are conducting
their first major review of peacekeeping operations in a decade
It is stated that the UN must
form a new quicker response force and that their peacekeepers do not engage in
counterterrorism operations
At this time the UN
peacekeepers system is creaking under the strain of what it needs to do
There are only 125,000
peacekeepers at this time
When the UN deployed a
peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic, it took five months to
get it up and running
Now the panel states that
operations must act quicker with responses taking just eight to twelve weeks
The UN peacekeeping missions
lack specific equipment, intelligence, logistic capabilities and specialised
military preparations
These operations need to be
tackled by the host Governments or by a capable regional force
The UN is now considering a
small UN vanguard force, which interacts with civilians, military and police
capabilities
There have been many requests
for a study of peacekeepers
They have repeatedly been
floundering on their availability and where costs are incurred
The panel in the UN Security
Council should engage earlier to address emergency threats
There should also be a Deputy
Secretary General position, which is responsible for peace and security
The UN acknowledges the
enduring shame of the organisation’s sexual exploitation and abuses
These still continue in the
UN peacekeeping operations
The UN has recommended that
victims of sexual abuse by UN peacekeepers will be compensated for the harm
they have suffered
Information leaked by the media
has revealed that UN peacekeeping troops commonly paid for sex with cash,
dresses and mobile phones
The information on 480
allegations of sexual exploitations of abuse was made from 2008 to 2013 with
one-third involving children
At last Ban Ki-moon has
appointed a panel to recommend changes to international peacekeeping in the
face of dangerous conflicts
Ban Ki-moon states the world
is changing and UN peace operations must change…
…that is if they are to
remain an indispensable and effective tool to promote international peace and
security
If the world cannot have
faith is such an organisation as the UN and their peacekeeping forces then what
can it have faith in?
Clearly these peacekeepers
have failed in many ways and the lack of resources has not made it any easier
However it is the integrity
of these peacekeepers which are in question here
There is no real overseer to
do what is right and proper in areas of conflict and unrest
It is right that the
peacekeepers needs to be overhauled and it is sadly overdue
There are also so many things
that are not right in the UN Security Council
It is always too little too
late and the world continues to suffer with the lack of leadership and clout to
do anything about it
It is a sad day for the world
and for any form of right action
Justice for all must not only
be seen to be done, but delivered in the right and proper way
The UN Security Council are
not worth the salaries they are given
At last a Pope who is taking
the atrocities of the Catholic Church seriously enough to act finally on child
abuse
The Vatican is putting a
former envoy to the Dominican Republic on trial for child sex abuse and child
pornography charges
He is Jozef Wesolowski
Pope Francis has also
accepted the resignations of a US archbishop and his deputy
They are accused of ignoring
a priest’s child abuse in Minnesota
It was the archdiocese in
Minnesota that covered up these sexual abuses of children
The US prosecutors charged
the archdiocese with turning a blind eye to repeated reports of a priest
molesting boys
The priest was later
convicted of his crimes and is serving a five year prison sentence
Jozef Wesolowski is accused
of sexually abusing children in the Dominican Republic from 2008 to 2013
He is now under house arrest in
the Vatican and his trial begins on 11th July
This move is seen as a
crackdown by Pope Francis on clerics and employees of the Church, who have
exploited children
Pope Francis has also
strengthened the Vatican’s laws against child abuse
Wesolowski’s crimes surfaced
after incidents materialised that he had been abusing Dominican boys while
being a papal envoy
He was defrocked in June of
last year after he was found guilty by a Church tribunal
Wesolowski is the
highest-ranking Church official to be defrocked for such abuse
He will now be facing a
Vatican criminal court. If found guilty he could face between six and ten years
in prison
Pope Francis is two years
into his papacy and is making good on his promise
Promptly to follow up on
allegations of sexual abuse and cover ups by Church’s bishops
In the past it had taken
months and years for any action to take place…
…in spite of repeated
whistle-blowers attempts to expose paedophile priests
Now with Pope Francis he is
acting within days
The Pope has created a
special Vatican tribunal to try bishops accused of covering up sex crimes
It is for the public to
consider how effective these measures will be
The sexual abuse scandals
have happened over decades
It is time for the victims to
get recompense for their many agonies and to allow healing to take place
This abuse cannot be allowed
to continue if the Church wants to halt a massive exodus by its congregation on
its failings to its public
The continued lies by Israeli
military to the world and its people are noticed and are gathering momentum and
justice will prevail!
During last year’s Gaza war
we saw 2,200 Palestinians die - the vast majority were civilians
The funeral of a 26 year old
Israeli soldier killed in the war was held in a military cemetery
This funeral was attended by
Lieutenant Colonel Nerya Yeshurun
He was so incensed by the
killing of one of his own soldiers that he ordered his troops to fire on a
medical clinic in Gaza
This crowded neighbourhood,
where the Israeli troops had killed 120 people just days before, was again
subjected to brutal force
Yeshurun’s words are military
evidence of deliberate war crimes, including targeting a medical facility
without military necessity
He took military action in
revenge that was clearly prohibited by international law
Five people were killed and
dozens were injured by the Israeli attack on this medical centre
It was clear that Yeshurun’s
shelling was something the Israeli army wanted the Israeli public to know about
It is the swaggering
commander’s admission of a war crime, which did not even get a murmur from the
Israeli public or press
On 11th June it
was made public that the Military Advocate General had opened a criminal
investigation on this incident
It was based on evidence
uncovered
The MAG has now announced the
closing down of investigations without charges of several prominent criminal
investigations
The most notable was the
unlawful killing of four little school boys, as they played football on a Gaza
beach
It had been openly declared a
crime when it occurred and later it was presented to the Israeli people
The idea was to boost a
flagging moral in the Israeli army and the nation
Yeshurun trumpeted his eulogy
at the funeral as an attack on Palestinians
He was performing for his
soldiers and his country
Yeshurun insists this is the
right way to behave
He was insisting upon the
honour and righteousness of his soldiers and it was the invader’s chief concern
This single episode speaks
volumes
It says that the sadistic 50
day assault committed by Israel on Palestinians last summer was intentional and
premeditated
This crime was in plain sight
of the world’s media
It is being systematically
immunised against accountability by their own army’s internal investigations
Israel will delay or prevent
any investigation by the International Criminal Courts
For the Israeli soldiers the
wanton shelling of Palestinian civilians, their homes and hospitals is
something to boast about at home
It is up to the Criminal Courts
to now take a stand and to show openly to the world they will not be dictated
to by the US and Israel
Have the Courts got the guts
to do something positive and constructive?
Will they do what is morally
right or will they do what they always do and chicken out?
The world now in complete
chaos and where retribution on a number of levels is ever increasing
The Higher Intelligence is
now formatting a system of highly successful operatives
They will be able to put in
place a package to suit so many countries and Governments
This strategy will be
long-lasting and have incredible effects throughout the world
There will be a number of
Governments, who will settle old scores to bring in a more decisive approach to
not only helping one another…
…but to put together a
planned objective to increase wealth and to reduce massive sufferings on so
many levels
It will be the brainchild of
one man, whose foresight is already established into so many things
He is already established and
where from a commanding position he can now alter the state of events
A specialised team of
operatives will see that the work is carried out, where corruption and personal
interests are not required
This is a humanitarian
approach within a legal framework, where relief is given to so many
The structures of policies
not before seen will renew Man’s confidence in justice once more
The interests of this group
is to renew standards of diplomacy
Here personal gains are not
the issues, but overall global satisfactions is
The group will be in a
position to adjust strategies, which will allow for lasting relief against
violence and discrimination
It will be the blueprint that
all Governments around the world must abide by irrespective of colour, creed or
religion
This will allow for changes
to occur nationwide and to bring relief and satisfaction to an ailing world
Justice is the main theme to
be recognised, where all have a direct hand in its delivery and purpose
All have to obey, so that
circumstances are able to change from the grass roots up
No longer can Man rely on the
discretions of another
These new policies will be
signed up as law, so that lasting benefits can be delivered to all
The guiding hand of The
Almighty will be seen by all and witnessed by all
This will allow Mankind to
rebuild his life and the lives of the generations to come
A lady, who has the calling,
will be the initial instigator in helping/formatting of these policies
She has the Higher Calling
and will not be denied
Her influence through the power
of God sees to all the needs of everybody in this world
The world will come to know
her soon enough
They will see that Mankind
must learn from his misdemeanours in order to make amends and to then go
forwards
All is given with love and
the right indoctrination to influence others in now taking up the cause to save
Mankind
Mankind must be saved from
the very brink of destruction
All will abide by these new
rulings
Lasting relief to the masses
changes the elements of war and focuses them into peaceful productive schemes
It is high time that Mankind
listened and expanded his conscience
He has to follow the true
path of righteousness if he wants to be saved
No single person will be
excluded
This is a blueprint for right
living and where those who choose to fight against it will be dealt with by the
Law
These laws are Universal and
are accepted by all religions and creeds
They will establish the basis
to do what is right and turn Mankind away from the abyss of personal
destruction!
The situation in Greece will
continue to be dire and many Greek people will feel the pinch as their money or
lack of it bites them hard
It is Greece’s political
culture and their thoroughly corrupt public institutions, which have hindered
their economic growth
The public institutions have
blocked the adjustments that all societies need to make in this world in order
not to remain static & backward
It was the Greek Government
that cheated their way into joining the Euro by giving false accountings
Then the political elite took
advantage of cheap borrowing costs and engaged in reckless spending, pushing up
debts to unstainable levels
How can anyone lend hundreds
of billions of Euros to a country that was already posting the highest debt of
GDP levels in all of Europe?
Greece’s political regime is
notoriously corrupt, lacks structures and processes of transparency, democratic
accountability and openness
It really does not deserve
any more bailouts where their system of reform is not worth the paper it is
written on
With five years of hardship
the Greek people are quite naturally fed up with austerity
They were hoping to secure a
debt write off and be addressed as a humanitarian crisis
Greece is now bust
It is time that all of its
citizens realised the true costs of their respective corrupt Governments have
put them through
The Greek people also have to
address their own culture, which tends to be corrupt and underhanded
Until this culture is
addressed then going forwards will be extremely difficult and painful for them
all
It would be better for all
concerned for Europe and Greece that Greece leaves the Eurozone
Even if it means that from
rock bottom they will be able to find a way and eventually rebuild their nation
It might be decades, but they
will at last be masters of their own fate
Greece will no longer be
subjected to paying off enormous loans, where there was no money to do so!
Equally they can no longer
expect loans of billions of Euros given from hard working countries, where
corruption is not part of the system
Finally they will need to
learn that corruption does not pay and they will all have to suffer this fault
in their culture
Let’s hope they finally learn
from it. They will certainly need to in order to survive
Barrel bombs are the scourge
of the Assad regime on the innocent children
Now the Arab world is
expressing their solidarity with the child victims of barrel bombs in Syria
Barrel bombs, which are made
from oil drums filled with explosives and scraps of metal, are dropped by
helicopters
The use of barrel bombs has
escalated in recent days in Aleppo
These weapons destroy
children and the graphic scenes are continually shown
They have been criticised for
causing indiscriminate destruction, despite being banned by a UN resolution
The world now recognises the
uselessness of the UN resolutions and its lack of teeth into bringing those
responsible to account
It is because of the
uselessness of the UN that dictators can act with impunity and nothing changes
There needs to be another
organisation, which is law abiding, that will bring those who blatantly commit
acts of genocide to account
The International Criminal
Court is too slow and too bureaucratic
It is outrageous that so
little is ever done when so many are suffering
In Syria 12 million people
have been affected by the Assad regime
It needs the Arab world to
start to take responsibilities and act for their own fellow man
No longer can they afford to
sit on their hands and just watch. Active action needs to take place
Assad will never leave his
chair of office
Assad will fight to the
bitter end regardless of how many Syrians are left standing
Syria will be left as a
barren wilderness until somebody is prepared to rise up and take action
The many humanitarian
operatives risk their lives every day to bring in food and water to the
starving Syrians
If these volunteers did not
care, more Syrians would die each day
The political dialogue has
been exhausted. Action with the right intention is the only hope for the Syrian
people
The Arabic hashtag, which
translates as “We are the child, you are
the barrel”, opposes the Assad regime
This man does not care for
his people or his destruction on his children
There needs to be a united
Arab contingent to operate in saving Syria from total destruction!
As more historical abuse
victims finally come out of their closet of fear, they can begin to express the
horrors they were subjected to
This important work needs to
continue
Boys, who were placed in
boarding schools, are now having their complaints investigated by two police
forces
These police forces are
taking their cases very seriously indeed
The abuses took place in
privately run schools in the Gloucestershire and Wiltshire area
Pupils stated they were
subjected to horrific abuse during the 1970s and 1980s
Staff working there at the
time categorically deny any involvement, as is so often the case until they are
found guilty
Then they bleat like lambs
Some of the boys were
sexually abused, while others were beaten violently
The owner of these schools, a
Mr Anthony Hurley, oversaw the regime of terror and beatings
Hurley died in 2003. He had already been in court in 2000 on
allegations of cruelty and sexual abuse on children
At that time Hurley was
deemed unfit to stand trial
Hurley would force food down
through pupil’s mouths, saying “I’m not
paying for this food and you are not eating it”
The head teacher at the time,
a John Derek Williams and his deputy Ashley Pritchard, are accused of carrying
out violent assaults on pupils
One pupil was caned
repeatedly and his face smashed into a bowl continuously after he refused to
eat his meal
The pupils have stated that
the teachers terrorised them and that, when Williams just stood next to them,
they would wet themselves
The mental and emotional
abuse was rife to the extremes and pupils were told they were unacceptable in
society
The schools at the time were
privately owned and therefore not regulated by the Council
It was only when the Council
became aware of allegations involving staff in the 1970s that the Council
stopped using these schools
In spite of that, nothing was
done by the Council to bring about any safeguards for these vulnerable boys
It is right and proper that
historical and present day abuses are brought to the surface
This culture of warped-minded
butchers of children must be ended
The public has to be more
educated and to realise that children are vulnerable, as these sick-minded
predators will not go away
It is the job of every
individual to shine a spotlight on these evil practices and bring the culprits
to justice
Children can feel that in
some small way they are vindicated
There has been too much abuse
of children and many have ignored their pleas/cries for help
This now has to be addressed
on a massive scale
All children need to be taken
seriously and with compassion and understanding
It is now that the tide is
turning and that the perpetrators of these crimes against the vulnerable are
named and shamed
Society will no longer put up
with these abusers and the law will show it is doing its job by ripping out
this abuse by root and branch
Understand that these souls
suffer a lifetime of emotional pain and suffering
They are perpetually in their
own hell. They need to be given love and therapy to alleviate their sufferings
once and for all
This is where Psychotherapy
can rectify the symptoms from the past by getting to the root cause and dealing
with it to save these souls
We all know they deserve it!
The shameful omission by Ban
Ki-moon on Israel’s name being left off the List of Shame
This List of Shame is of
states and armed groups that violate children’s rights during conflicts
Ban Ki-moon has crumbled
under pressure from the US and Israel and should be ashamed of himself
As he cannot do the job
properly he should leave
He needs to allow others, who
hold moral principles to their hearts, to do the job instead
While Ban Ki-moon continues
to submit to US and Israel pressure it shows he is not fit for purpose and
should go!
In the 2014 war in Gaza,
there was unprecedented and unacceptable scale of impact on Palestinian
children by Israeli forces
Israel has no compunction in
its ethnic cleansing of Gaza and all Palestinians
Their determination continues
to obliterate this race while the world looks on and does nothing
What is the point of having a
UN to service the people of this world against injustice when they openly do
nothing?
The UN inquiry showed Israeli
military were responsible for seven attacks on UN schools
This was in spite of precise
GPS coordinates being given many times
It is known that many Israeli
soldiers no longer have the stomach for these atrocities
Many of them have openly
admitted their instructions were to destroy these people leaving no one alive
Israeli soldiers are made
fully aware that Palestinians are of no count and should be obliterated from
the face of the earth
How can any UN Security
Council faced with this objective by Israel, continue to sit back and do
nothing?
Where are the UN’s moral values? Where are the rights of innocent children?
When will the world act
against the continuous oppression by Israel on Palestinians?
Last year’s 50 day conflict
saw 495 children killed and 3,100 injured with 1,000 having a permanent
disability
Almost 1,500 children were
orphaned. All are suffering deep psychological traumas and again nothing is
done!
Israel continues to hold the
power throughout this world, as no one has the might or influence to stand up
to them!
Israel is the occupying power
and every day they continue their hostile regime
They control the borders, the
airspace and territorial waters as well as all activities of goods and people
How can the international
community continue to sit on their hands and do nothing?
Where is international law
when Israel systematically oppresses Palestinians and their children with all
impunity?
The US, who is controlled by
Israel, exercised their veto power 41 times in the UN Security Council
The US is voting against
resolutions to hold Israel to account for their crimes
The UN will continue to be a
laughing stock by all those who hold justice in their hearts
It is crystal clear that the
UN does not!
The McLaren Formula 1 racing
team needs to improve everywhere!
Their engine partners in
Honda once again failed with their engines
Fernando Alonso and Jenson
Button are now on their fourth and final engines
Jenson Button’s problems with
his car are so severe that he failed to qualify
Alonso only managed to finish
in 14th place in the Canadian Grand Prix
Alonso’s car had a fault
inside his engine necessitating a change
Button’s car was found to
have damage inside the system and needed another replacement
McLaren’s chairman Ron Dennis
needs to think very carefully about these Honda engines
They continually fail their
experienced and exciting drivers
They need to return to a
reliable engine and so become a winning formula again
This is deserved by the team,
the drivers and especially their fans
Continuous breakdowns are no
longer acceptable and they need to realise that Honda is not up to the job,
which is very evidential
Ron Dennis, do the right
thing and go back to Mercedes engines and get the formula back on the track and
not continually in the garage
Tony Blair’s resignation from
his job as Middle East Peace Envoy is not surprising
Is it coincidental that a new
UK documentary film puts Blair and George W Bush at the centre of this
century’s Middle East disasters?
The film ‘We Are Many’, now released in the UK, was made by Amir Amirani and
tells the story of how we went to war in Iraq
At that time there were the
biggest international anti-war demonstrations ever seen throughout the world
On 15th February
2003, millions of people around 60 countries and over 800 cities marched in a
coordinated effort
They marched to stop the
impending war in Iraq
It was the biggest
demonstration ever seen in London with 1.5 million people
In Madrid there were 1.5
million and in Rome there were 3 million people who demonstrated
Despite these demonstrations,
the US and UK and their allies invaded Iraq in March 2003
Hans Blix, head of weapons
inspections mission in Iraq, still needed three weeks before could finish his
job
Hans Blix’s findings
confirmed that Saddam Hussein was not hiding any weapons of mass destruction
Bush and Blair did not want
Blix to finish his job and they certainly did not care about massive democratic
peace protests
They wanted to wage war on
Iraq in order to control oil reserves at any cost!
The cost of this war was
huge. 4,491 American service men were killed in Iraq between 2003 and 2014
The number of Iraqis killed
ranges from 150,000 to over a million
This war has destroyed a
state, its political, military, social and economic institutions
It has also decimated a
society with ethnic and religious groups. Some of them are sectarian and may
become wiped out completely
This film, ‘We Are Many’, reveals 25% of Iraqi
children live with chronic malnutrition
Amir Amirani, the film maker,
took nine years to make this film. For him it was a labour of love
He started out ‘wanting to tell the story’, but quickly
found ‘he needed to tell it.’
The film, now released, has
come along to remind us through interviews of an impressive array of
politicians…
…together with international
lawyers, anti-war activists, journalists and former high profile figures
All tell the story of Bush
and Blair’s great lie
The film shows many
testimonies from those directly involved in policy
They include Hans Blix and
various politicians as well as Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson
Colin Powell, who was Chief
of Staff at the time, states he would gladly sacrifice his freedom…
…if the administration he
worked for could be punished for what they did!
With the biggest anti-war
movement in the world, it shows that International Law remains feeble and with
no real teeth
Tony Blair still roams the
world freely
He is earning millions from
public speaking and advising Governments and now this week posing as a peace
envoy
Tony Blair together with
George W Bush has no conscience
But with all things in life
and when they least expect it, the Higher Intelligence that sees all and knows
all will deal with these souls
It will not be in the way
they would expect it
They have blood on their
hands and no amount of washing can ever remove it
More than 3.5 million lives a
year could be saved if the G20 cracked down on corrupt businesses practices
Money laundering and tax evasion
costs the world’s poorest countries at least a trillion dollars each year
The advocacy group ‘ONE’ has
been campaigning to fight poverty, disease and hunger
All of which are being
damaged by a ‘web’ of corrupt activity
It is this corrupt web of
activity that siphons hundreds of billions of dollars from economies every year
The ONE report says that
money is being stealthily drained off through anonymous shell companies and
shady deals
It is in these developing
countries that corruption is a killer
Up to 3.6 million lives could
be saved if we end the web of secrecy that helps the criminal and the corrupt
It is when Governments are
deprived of their own resources
They are unable to invest in
their essentials, like nurses and teachers, where the cost is devastating
ONE estimates that these
practices result in between $972bn and $2.02tn going out of these developing
countries every year
At least $20tn is held in off
shore tax havens and this money could yield tax revenues of $19.5bn a year for
their own countries
It is not only the scandal to
save 3.6 million lives a year in low-income countries, but it would prevent 4.3
million deaths a year
In the sub-Saharan Africa
alone the money recovered would pay to educate 10 million children a year
It would cover the costs of
500,000 primary school teachers
In addition the retrieved
money would provide antiretroviral drugs for more than 11 million people
Those that have HIV and Aids
would benefit by 165m vaccines
ONE’s report is being
launched in the run-up to the G20 summit in Brisbane in November
There must be a light shone
on these anonymous shell companies
Their information must be
made public to identify corrupt and criminal individuals and businesses
The G20 needs to introduce
tough payment laws to increase transparency in the oil, gas and mining
industries and crack down on tax evasion
It is the only way to hold
Governments to account. It is the use of these shell companies where the
corruption lies
A case, where a licensing
payment was paid by Nigerian subsidiaries of Shell and Italy’s ENI was made in
2011
This was to develop lucrative
offshore oil drilling
That money ended up in a bank
account of a private firm owned by Nigeria’s former oil minister
The British-Dutch company
insisted it had paid the Nigerian Government, not a private firm
They added that they have
acted lawfully at all times
Another report of tax evasion
was against the mining firm in Zambia that is controlled by the Swiss trader
Glencore Xstrata
They have always denied the
allegations
For too long now the G20
countries have turned a blind eye to these massive outflows from developing
countries
Here funds have been
channelled into offshore bank accounts and secret companies
It is down to the G20 to make
drastic changes and to save millions of lives
If they have any moral
conscience at all they will finally do this act and swiftly!
Cultural genocide, a practice
which occurred in Canada where the indigenous children were separated from
their parents
This occurred in residential
schools, a system is now in place to bring in reconciliation to the survivors
In 1966, five year old Joseph
Maud was separated from his family
He was sent to live at the
Canadian residential school for indigenous students in Pine Creek, Manitoba
Maud did not speak English or
French, only his native language of Ojibwa
When the students spoke their
own language their ears were pulled and their mouths were washed out with soap
The greatest hurt to these
children was being separated from their parents
When the lonely little boy
would wet his bed the nun in charge of his dormitory would rub his face in his
own urine. That was so degrading
Maud remembers kneeling
painfully on the cement chapel floor, because the nuns had told him it was the
only way that God hears you
Maud cried, “When is this going to end?”
The Government of Canada
released a report on their residential schools with testimonies from 7,000
witnesses
It was called the ‘Truth and
Reconciliation Commission” (TRC)
From 1840 to 1996, more than
150,000 First Nations, Metis and Inuit children were taken from their families
and placed in these schools
The idea was to ‘kill the
Indian in the child’
TRC chair Justice Murray
Sinclair said that more than 6,000 children died at these schools
Many more suffered emotional,
physical and sexual abuse
It is the survivors of St
Anne’s Indian Residential School in Fort Albany, Ontario, who are suing the
Government
They want them to release the
unredacted documentation
The documentation proves
staff used an electric chair to shock students as young as six and forced sick
students to eat their own vomit
The TRC report concludes that
the Government-led policy amounted to cultural genocide
These inhumane policies were
to eliminate Aboriginal people as distinct peoples
It was to incorporate them
into Canadian mainstream against their will
The will of the Canadian
Government was to remove themselves of any legal or financial obligations to
the Aboriginal people
It also wanted to gain
control over their land and resources
The Canadian Prime Minister
apologised to the survivors in 2008, but it is the report that states urgent
reconciliations needs to run deep
Canada now needs to move from
apology and into action
The TRC report made 94
recommendations about the way we talk to and about each other
There needs to be an
Aboriginal Languages Act to preserve and promote these languages
There needs to be a memorial
museum launched by Canada’s 150th anniversary in 2017
It is high time that we
removed ignorance and begin to recognise people from all parts of this world
and even in our own country
All have a right to live and
to be respected for who they are
The Aboriginal people enrich
our lives and our history
We must never take them for
granted, because we are all a part of this world together
The People’s Democratic Party
(HDP) leader is gaining support with voters opposed to President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan
Selahattin Demiras is a
confident and charismatic 42 year old lawyer
He is transforming the
People’s Democratic Party from a dedicated Kurdish faction into a mainstream
liberal party
Its rise shows the growing
influence of the Kurds not only in Turkey but across the region including Syria
and Iraq
It is the self-governing
Kurdish communities, which are rare islands of stability
Should the HDP party receive
the valued 10% of the vote, it needs to get representation in the Turkish
Parliament
It would be enough to deny Mr
Erdogan’s Islamic-rooted Justice Development Party or AKP a supermajority
The HDP’s performance on June
7th could affect the balance of power in the precarious peace
process
This is between the
Government and the outlawed Kurdish Workers’ Party or PKK
It is their aim to end a
three-decade insurgency that has cost them some 40,000 lives
The HDP’s campaign has
shifted its focus on promoting democracy, free speech and the rights of women
and minorities
The HDP is increasingly
appealing to the young, secular Turks weary of Mr Erdogan’s dominance
This will be a high stakes
election – it all hinges on the HDP
The AKP have been dominant
for more than a decade and they are now vulnerable, largely because they are a
single party
The AKP have won nine
back-to-back elections and other votes since 2002
Mr Erdogan wants more power.
He hopes to change his Presidency from a ceremonial role to and executive one
When Mr Demiras’s party hits
the threshold of 10% to enter Parliament, it will get the 50 out of the 550
seats
This would be enough to stop
the AKP from getting three-fifths supermajority to overhaul the construction to
beef up the President’s role
Relationships with the 15
million Kurds and the Government have improved
However the Kurdish region is
still poor and many feel disenfranchised
Selahattin Demiras has worked
as a human rights lawyer in Turkey’s de facto Kurdish capital Diyarbakir before
entering politics
Mr Demiras has seen
first-hand the many killings of the Kurdish people
Many of his friends were
killed in clashes and in the prisons
Selahattin Demiras states the
youths joined militants, because their conditions were dire. These conditions
have not changed
Mr Demiras wants to turn to
the youths to encourage them into politics instead
One must not forget the Gezi
Park protests last summer
This demonstrated the extent
of dissatisfaction with the ruling AKP party and especially Mr Erdogan
Those street protests
high-lighted the lack of a viable political alternative to the AKP party
The Turkish people themselves
are crying out for modernisation and freedom of speech
Instead they get more
gripping control by their Government, again by Mr Erdogan
It is time that the Turkish
people voiced their opinion in the ballot box and asked for reform and not more
control over them!
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