From Larry Johnson's blog: Looking for Trouble.

Seven years after the invasion of Baghdad, the Iraqi people are experiencing a devastating legacy. Babies are being born with severe deformities and the cancer rate is skyrocketing. The following video from Australian Special Broadcasting Service’s Dateline program offers a visually disturbing look at this legacy.

Please be warned, journalist Fouad Hady, an Iraqi who went to Australia seeking asylum but returned to Iraq for a series of groundbreaking stories, pulls no punches in revealing the depth of the problem. The images are haunting.

(The embedding link has been disabled. When you click to start the video, you will get a message suggesting you watch it on YouTube. Please do. The video is long, but it is definitely worth watching.)

Here is a link to the study mentioned at the end of the video report:

http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/7/7/2828/pdf, and a wiki page on the suspected cause:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depleted_uranium.

And here are... (more)

And USAID Confused?

That, at least, appears to be the assessment of one Till Bruckner, a former Transparency International aid monitor in Georgia (the country in the Caucasus, not the Peach State).

In brief, Bruckner’s complaint stems from a Freedom of Information Act Request (FOIA) he made to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) asking for detailed descriptions of the budget and finances of ten NGOs active in U.S.-sponsored development projects in Georgia.

Flickr, by Austin Kleon

Redacted Information

As a journalist who has had lots of frustrating experiences with FOIAs and trying to get answers from government agencies, I had to chuckle when reading Bruckner’s exasperated comments about waiting 14 months only to receive highly redacted copies of the information. I feel his pain.

Full story at Humanosphere...

The documentary photography exhibit, “Paradoxes of Living on Holy Land: Photographs from Jerusalem and West Bank,” opens at Seattle University’s Vachon & Kinsey Galleries September 20 and runs through December 3rd. Local photographer Rajiv Kapoor will speak about his work on October 8 at 6 p.m. in Wyckoff Auditorium on campus; a reception and viewing will immediately follow.

The exhibit showcases a series of photographs in two galleries, drawing visitors into a land of conflict and history. Kapoor’s images capture everyday life amid the constant reminders of territorial disputes.

A poster of a martyr hangs in a barbershop. A woman pushes a baby stroller past a checkpoint. In Jerusalem, a city dating back to the beginning of writing (4000 BC), Hasidic Jews can be seen everywhere among Muslims and Christians practicing their faith.

The old city of Jerusalem (0.35 square mile) is a walled area within the modern city of Jerusalem which is roughly divided into the Muslim Quarter, the... (more)

Two story themes have come out recently that should remind us that bacteria rule this planet.

Bacteria were here first, they constitute most life on the planet, we wouldn’t survive without them and the best we can probably hope for is prudent accommodation.

A big story over the last few weeks was the warning of a new superbug, which wasn’t quite right.

It was actually a new gene mutation — dubbed New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase 1, or NDM-1 for short — that can transform a normally harmless bacterium like E. coli into a drug-resistant menace.

Full story at Humanosphere...

The following is from the Media with Conscience news site and is used with permission of the author:

Iraq has between 25 and 50 percent unemployment, a dysfunctional parliament, rampant disease, an epidemic of mental illness, and sprawling slums. The killing of innocent people has become part of daily life. What a havoc the United States has wreaked in Iraq.

UN-HABITAT, an agency of the United Nations, recently published a 218-page report entitled State of the World’s Cities, 2010-2011. The report is full of statistics on the status of cities around the world and their demographics. It defines slum dwellers as those living in urban centers without one of the following: durable structures to protect them from climate, sufficient living area, sufficient access to water, access to sanitation facilities, and freedom from eviction.

Almost intentionally hidden in these statistics is one shocking fact about urban Iraqi populations. For the past few decades, prior to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, the percentage... (more)

Most people who die from cancer, and most cancer cases, are in the developing world.

Yet cancer is seldom included in any discussion about global health.

Some powerful people — from the high-profile health activist Dr. Paul Farmer to the even more high-profile Lance Armstrong (not to mention CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta) — want to change that. They present their case for making cancer a global health priority in an article published online Monday in The Lancet and, more generally, on their web site.

Full story...

The cover of the August 9 edition of Time magazine was designed with shock and awe in mind. It shows a picture of Bibi Aisha, a young woman from Afghanistan whose nose and ears had been cut off. The photo was accompanied by the headline: “What happens if we leave Afghanistan”.

I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that Gen. David Petraeus almost simultaneously began giving interviews to The New York Times, the Washington Post, NBC, Meet the Press and others voicing his opinion that a withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan would be unwise.

Normon Solomon wrote an article in Common Dreams.org today, "Gen. Petraeus Goes to Media War," which says: "Let's be clear about what's happening here. The top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, with the evident approval of the White House, has launched a fierce media blitz to cripple the policy option of any significant military withdrawal a year from now. Riding high in what is supposed to be a civilian-run military, Petraeus is engaging in strategic... (more)

Maybe even asking this question is a bad idea. Maybe it’s just me — either because I’m a man and/or a nerd.

But I can’t help but wonder if the latest trend of focusing the global health agenda on women and girls could actually do more harm than good.

Read more here: 

(From Ethan Casey's blog: Reporting with Respect, used with permission.)

SEATTLE, AUGUST 13 – Yesterday a non-Pakistani friend here emailed me: “I wanted to ask you which you think would be the best organization to make a donation to for the current crisis in Pakistan. We usually give to MSF (Doctors Without Borders), but their website doesn’t seem to offer the opportunity to give specifically for Pakistan. Can you offer advice?”

This friend is British and greatly prefers British media outlets, but I need to believe that there are many Americans who also want to help flood victims in Pakistan – or who would want to, if they knew the scale and severity of the disaster.

Why don’t they know? We can, and I do, blame “the media,” but that’s unhelpful and ultimately a cop-out. Each of us individually has the opportunity and responsibility to be aware of every tragedy in our world, and we should be willing to exert ourselves to redress them. We’... (more)

Here’s a good example of how to use a foreign policy argument to justify reneging on a commitment that wasn’t really supposed to be about foreign policy...

Former Ambassador Princeton Lyman of the Council on Foreign Relations makes the case for paring back U.S. foreign assistance on AIDS because the politics of it all is “unpleasant” (I’m not kidding) and it doesn’t really work to advance our foreign policy interests.

Todd Summers of the ONE Campaign, and a former staffer at the Gates Foundation, argues that backing away from our commitment to move toward getting AIDS drugs to more people is “morally indefensible” and also bad policy.

Full story and video...

The World Health Organization has declared the H1N1 “swine flu” flu pandemic (the one you forgot was happening) as officially over.

Read more here: 

The “One Laptop Per Child” scheme — which appears to have stalled lately — was based on the idea that providing children in poor countries with cheap ($100) computers would improve their educational prospects.

But Philanthropy Action editor Timothy Ogden cites a host of studies showing that health improvements such as ridding children of debilitating, parasitic worms or programs that simply provide more teachers are much more likely to produce scholastic achievement than giving kids laptops.

Full blog post at Humanosphere...

From Larry Johnson's blog: Looking for Trouble.

The following material about what it means to be an American is an excerpt from an article by Valeria Fernández, at 90DAYSTOPHOENIX. You can read the full story here. This is part four of an ongoing series of videos I'm using with permission. To read part one, click here; to read part two, click here; for part three, click here.

90DAYSTOPHOENIX.com is an independent media project that has been documenting Arizona’s ongoing struggle to “sift through the truth and lies behind the immigration debate.” Journalists, photographers, filmmakers and others are working together to give a real-time on-the-ground account of Arizona’s controversial new immigration law – SB 1070 – that will take effect tomorrow. Another goal of the project is to show as large an audience as possible how this new law will effect people throughout the state.

According to the Associated Press,  "A federal judge on Wednesday blocked the most controversial parts of Arizona's immigration law from...(more)

From former P-I health and science writer Tom Paulson's new blog Humanosphere:  

Dengue fever, also known as “breakbone fever,” used to be confined to a small part of the tropics. As a recent outbreak in Florida illustrates, it is no longer so confined.

In fact, dengue is now the most common and the fastest-growing mosquito-borne disease in the world, currently threatening a third of the world’s population.

Read more here: 

From Larry Johnson's blog: Looking for Trouble.

This video, made by Jason Aragon from PanLeft, shows one of the many acts of civil disobedience taking place in Arizona as the date for SB 1070 to go into effect comes close.

This is part three of an ongoing series of videos I'm using with permission. To read part one, click here. To read part two, click here.

90DAYSTOPHOENIX.com is an independent media project that has been documenting Arizona’s ongoing struggle to “sift through the truth and lies behind the immigration debate.” Journalists, photographers, filmmakers and others are working together to give a real-time on-the-ground account of Arizona’s controversial new immigration law – SB 1070 – scheduled to take effect July 29.

Another goal of the project is to show as large an audience as possible how this new law will effect people throughout the state.

Seven people were arrested by Phoenix Police on Thursday outside the U.S. District Court in Phoenix while the federal government was... (more)

From Larry Johnson's blog: Looking for Trouble.

90DAYSTOPHOENIX.com is an independent media project that has been documenting Arizona’s ongoing struggle to “sift through the truth and lies behind the immigration debate.” Journalists, photographers, filmmakers and others are working together to give a real-time on-the-ground account of Arizona’s controversial new immigration law – SB 1070 – scheduled to take effect July 29.

Another goal of the project is to show as large an audience as possible how this new law will effect people throughout the state. This is part two of an ongoing series of videos I'm using with permission. To read part one, click here.

Civil Rights Attorney, Richard Martinez explains how Arizona's SB 1070 differs from Federal Immigration Law.

Martinez is one of the attorneys involved in two lawsuits representing police officers in Phoenix and Tucson that believe the new law would force them to violate the U.S. Constitution. It would specially put them in a difficult situation when they... (more)

From Larry Johnson's blog: Looking for Trouble.

90DAYSTOPHOENIX.com is an independent media project that has been documenting Arizona’s ongoing struggle to “sift through the truth and lies behind the immigration debate.” Journalists, photographers, filmmakers and others are working together to give a real-time on-the-ground account of Arizona’s controversial new immigration law – SB 1070 – scheduled to take effect July 29. Another goal of the project is to show as large an audience as possible how this new law will effect people throughout the state.

The law, which now faces a federal suit, has been called one of the 'toughest legislations in the nation.' It means that all immigrants in Arizona must now carry their alien registration documents and it means that police can question anyone they think may be in the United States illegally. It will also address people that knowingly hire illegal immigrants or who transport them.

In two separate hearings in a Phoenix courtroom on Thursday, attorneys representing a broad... (more)

(This story originally appeared at Media With Conscience and is used by permission.)

Introduction
 

There is probably a potential Doctoral thesis in Philosophy in making a formal argument for the case, but around us today there is a lot of evidence to suggest that when criminals take control of the reigns of power, perhaps to the point of ruling the world, then it becomes inevitable that ordinary, decent people will be criminalized. I say inevitable because the most decent among them feel compelled to resist the criminality of power and power, in response, uses the force of law to restrain them.

A good case in point is the story of Sophie Scholl who, along with others of the non-violent, anti-Nazi student resistance group called the White Rose, was beheaded by the criminal, NAZI government for treason [[i]]

The point is well expressed in the words of Professor Huber of Munich University who, in 1943, shortly before he was condemned to death with five of his students for spreading... (more)

From Larry Johnson's blog: Looking for Trouble.

About the author:

Natalia M. Wobst, a June 2010 graduate of the Russian, Eastern European, and Central Asian Studies Program at the University of Washington, spent two months last summer in the city of Osh in southern Kyrgyzstan, which was at the heart of the recent unrest. Here Natalia was enrolled in the American Councils’ Eurasian Regional Language Program, lived within an Uzbek host family, received intensive Uzbek language instruction and conducted research for her Master's Thesis - “Local Impact on Secondary Educational Reform in Post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan.”

According to an AP report of June 17th, 2010, deadly riots led by ethnic Kyrgyz mobs from June 10th - 14th in southern Kyrgyzstan caused hundreds of thousands of native Uzbeks to flee their homes.  As many as 100,000 (mostly women, children, and elderly people) escaped the country and set up makeshift camps across the border in Uzbekistan, while 300,000 people were and are... (more)

Contrary to many earlier gloomy estimates, researchers in Seattle have found substantial reductions in child mortality worldwide.

They also found the U.S. does far worse than most of the rest of the developed world, including much less wealthy countries like Croatia or Estonia.

“Previous estimates had shown child deaths falling slowly and neonatal deaths nearly at a standstill,” said Julie Knoll Rajaratnam, a global health researcher at the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. Rajaratnam was lead author of the study published recently in The Lancet.

Change in child mortality rates 1990-2010

The Seattle team decided to take a more in-depth look at these depressing claims, analyzing more than 16,000 different kinds of records in 187 countries (census reports, birth histories, hospital records, etc.) and applying some fairly sophisticated mathematics.

They discovered more improvement than had been previously reported.

The primary purpose of the report... (more)

From Larry Johnson's blog: Looking for Trouble.

The junta in Myanmar, also known as Burma, has announced plans for the first elections in two decades and Amnesty International UK has launched a campaign to raise money for portable radios to help people get information on the vote and on political parties.

The online campaign called "Break the silence" wants to get 4,000 radios, 60 walkie-talkie kits and 6 satellite kits into Burma by mid-July. Each radio costs $18.50, and that includes batteries and the cost of getting it into the country.

The Associated Press reports:

“So far, 33 new political parties have been approved by the Election Commission and five existing parties have reregistered to contest the polls. Global criticism has failed to win the freedom of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose now-defunct party overwhelmingly won the last election in 1990, but was never allowed to take power.

“Under recently enacted election laws, Suu Kyi and other political prisoners...

From Larry Johnson’s blog: Looking for Trouble.

(Gerri will give a report on the current situation in Gaza at the Northlake Unitarian Universalist Church in Kirkland at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 22.)

   In May, I traveled to Gaza with eight other members of Physicians for Social Responsibility to work with medical colleagues in hospitals and clinics.  This land has been under siege by Israel for more than three and one half years.  The passage of essential goods into and out of Gaza is severely restricted by guarded walls, fortified gates and a sea blockade enforced by Israel.

    The World Food Programme reports that 80% of households in Gaza depend on international food aid.  The Palestinian Health Ministry recently reported that 70% of Gaza’s residents suffer from anemia.  Ard Al-Insan, a health organization in Gaza City, states that 10.4% of households in Gaza City suffer from chronic malnutrition.  

     During our... (more)

From Larry Johnson's blog: Looking for Trouble.

A corn field planted in San Diego, Calif. on Earth Day 2010 in solidarity with the Zapatista movement of Chiapas, Mexico, has been destroyed by vandals.

Supporters say the “corn seed for this planting was donated by Mayan farming families to publicize their resistance to genetically modified – GMO – corn and to seek sanctuary for their heritage corn seed which is now threatened with GMO contamination.”

The destruction of the corn field might not seem like a big deal, but those who helped plant the corn say they believe the attack is a “hate crime” and can been seen as part of the same anti-immigrant and anti-Mexico “hysteria” that has been spreading across the U.S. recently.

They also say, “As a symbol of hope and life, this tiny GMO-free corn field must be replanted to provide continued sanctuary to corn from Chiapas, Mexico.”

They are asking people to join them to replant the field on Sunday, June... (more)

Okay. Israelis have a right to statehood. And I get why they’re worked up over Helen Thomas saying they should head back to Poland, Germany and the U.S.. The first two countries have a profoundly dark meaning in Jewish history, although, certainly, they’re perfectly fine now, 60-some years after WWII. Still. An issue. Got it.

So, I’m wondering where the massive sense of outrage is at the fact that the European Union is deporting Iraqi refugees. Because, let’s face it:

A) Most of these folks probably no longer have a home — or a safe one anyway — in Iraq

and,

B)  That their country is basically unlivable in parts at the moment (before you argue this point, ask yourself, would you move there? I’m asking you, David do-you-have-any-Grey-Poupon Cameron. Would you pack your SamCam and your Saville Row suits and head to Baghdad? ) is not their fault. It’s ours. We’ve occupied their land and created all kinds of hell.

(more)