By Martin Khor *
GENEVA, Apr 2014 (IPS) – The growing crisis of antibiotic resistance is catching the attention of policy-makers, but not at a fast enough rate to tackle it. More diseases are affected by resistance, meaning the bacteria cannot be killed even if different drugs are used on some patients, who then succumb.
Roberto Savio*
Rome, April 2014 — I founded IPS in 1964 and, until I left in 2001, I tried to give space in IPS to Latin American writers. I did the same with film directors for the time I was the RAI director for Latin America ( 1969-1981), giving space to famous directors but who had been marginalised for political reasons, such as Glauber Rocha, Leon Hirschmann, Jorge Sanjines, Joaquim Pedro de Andrade and Mario Sabato, to name those more famous today. In my view, artists must be supported in spite of their political affiliations.
Mychal Denzel Smith – The Nation
According to a study conducted by researches at the University of Minnesota, nonwhite people (black, Asian, Hispanic), regardless of income, are exposed to higher levels of air pollution than white people. John Metcalfe at The Atlantic Cities reports: “On average, non-white people inhale 38 percent higher levels of air pollution than whites, they say. If non-white people were brought down to the levels of pollution enjoyed by whites, it would prevent 7,000 deaths from heart disease in their communities each year.” This, despite the fact that nonwhite people contribute less to air pollution than white people.
By Jim Lobe*
WASHINGTON, Apr 22 2014 (IPS) – As he embarks Tuesday on a major trip through East Asia, U.S. President Barack Obama will be focused on reassuring anxious – albeit sometimes annoying – allies that Washington remains determined to deepen its commitment to the region.
Dear Readers: The article distributed yesterday, Crimea: When, and If, the Dust Settles, by Professor Hall Gardner, omits the source, which is the RUSSIAN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS COUNCIL (RIAC).
I deeply regret this error, from my full responsibility.
Best regards, M.Dujisin, Editor, Other News, April 22, 2014
Hall Gardner*
One of the great ironies of human experience is that the voice of “wisdom” in old age is often considered “utopian” or “unrealistic” when the same counsel comes from younger voices with much less experience. Such is the case for the “wisdom” of Henry Kissinger who has raised a plea for “reconciliation” between Ukrainian factions in the wake of the furtive Russian intervention in Crimea [1]. Kissinger likewise asserted his opposition to Ukraine’s full membership of NATO and has called for Kiev to formally adopt a “neutral” and non-aligned status similar to that of Finland. In effect, Kissinger has urged the new Ukrainian government to sustain the non-aligned status that had previously been accepted by the government of Viktor Yanukovich.
By David Cay Johnston – Newsweek
When fraudulent banking nearly sank the global economy in 2008, one former government official knew exactly how to nail the crooks. And he’d already swooped in to clean up a similar mess.
By Roberto Savio*
ROME, Apr 2014 (IPS) – In case you missed it, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released the third and final part of a report on Apr. 13 in which it says bluntly that we only have 15 years left to avoid exceeding the “safe” threshold of a 2°C increase in global temperatures, beyond which the consequences will be dramatic.
By Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON, Apr 2014 (IPS) – In new data certain to fuel the growing public debate over economic inequality, a survey released Tuesday by the biggest U.S. trade-union federation found that the CEOs of top U.S. corporations were paid 331 times more money than the average U.S. worker in 2013.
By Pepe Escobar* – Asia Times
The US State Department, via spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki, said that reports of CIA Director John Brennan telling regime changers in Kiev to “conduct tactical operations” – or an “anti-terrorist” offensive – in eastern Ukraine are “completely false”. This means Brennan did issue his marching orders. And by now the “anti-terrorist” campaign – with its nice little Dubya rhetorical touch – has degenerated into farce.
Critical Questions – by Kathleen H. Hicks, Ernest Z. Bower, Heather A. Conley, Jennifer G. Cooke, Andrew C. Kuchins, Carl Meacham, and Richard M. Rossow, CSIS*
In December 2013, the Pew Research Center released data suggesting that Americans’ views of U.S. power and prestige abroad had reached a 40-year low. That poll came in the wake of the first releases of National Security Agency (NSA) documents by Edward Snowden and the August 2013 Syria crisis and amid heated battles in Washington over the federal budget.
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 2014 (IPS) – The United States has rarely, if ever, denied a visa to a head of state seeking to visit the United Nations to address the 193-member General Assembly, the highest policy making body in the organisation.
By Gianfranco La Grassa*
For (theoretical) convenience I have always used the tripartition of the society in three “spheres”, three great areas never factually separated by clear delimitations of a boundary): political, economic (with a productive and a financial subsphere) and ideological that I sometimes name ideological – cultural to indicate, on one hand, everything that moves in the field of ideas, of points of view, of the battles between these(i), and on the other hand, the deposits accumulated during this movement in the course of long periods of time in certain social environments, also provided with a territory (usually it is what we call a country, and often from a certain period onwards, even a nation).
By Richard Alford* – naked capitalism
In the last two years, some economists and even current policymakers have acknowledged that interest rate policy and financial stability are connected. They’ve also admitted external factors can have have a significant impact on US economic performance. However, economic policy itself still ignores these issues. Today, US monetary policy is based on a very narrow interpretation of the Fed’s legal mandate. The central bank pursues price stability and full employment without considering possible negative feedback loops via the financial markets or from abroad.
Andrew Hussey – The Observer
One of the slogans of the 2011 Occupy protests was ‘capitalism isn’t working’. Now, in an epic, groundbreaking new book, French economist Thomas Piketty explains why they’re right
Submitted by Tyler Durden – Zerohedgefund
Just a few weeks ago, someone (allegedly Russia) leaked a recorded phone conversation of Victoria Nuland commenting “fuck the EU” and how she (the US) wanted the political stage set in Ukraine. A lot has happened since then but as multiple pro-Russian sources have now ‘confirmed’, the new puppetmaster appears to be in town (or was). As Interfax reported, citing sources inside the Ukrainian parliament, none other that CIA Director John Brennan landed in Ukraine on Saturday under an assumed name and held a “series of secret meetings” with the country’s “power bloc” Interfax reported.
Justin Logan [2] * – The National Interest
No one near the levers of power in Washington suggested that Ukraine’s territorial integrity was worth risking a war with Russia. That stark reality offers an opportunity to evaluate U.S. alliances. Which European countries should the United States be willing to go to war with Russia over?
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 2014 (IPS) – The 132-member Group of 77, the largest single coalition of developing nations, has urged Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to provide, “as soon as possible…alternative options for banking services” in New York City following the mass cancellation of bank accounts of U.N. missions and foreign diplomats.
Conn Hallinan – The Nation and Foreign Policy In Focus
Happy families are all alike: every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. —Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
The opening to Tolstoy’s great novel of love and tragedy could be a metaphor for Europe today, where “unhappy families” of Catalans, Scots, Belgians, Ukrainians and Italians contemplate divorcing the countries they are currently a part of. And in a case where reality mirrors fiction, they are each unhappy in their own way.
Prof David R Cameron* – Financial Times
Sir, In “Why Europe can’t think strategically” (FT.com, April 3), Gideon Rachman argues, against the British politician Nigel Farage and others, that it is not fair to blame the EU for what happened in Ukraine, that the crisis has been a chapter of unforeseen developments and that it was hard to foresee that, just hours after signing an agreement negotiated by the three EU foreign ministers, President Viktor Yanukovich would order or allow scores of his own people to be gunned down and would then flee.