Friday, December 30, 2016
As 2016 draws to a close Hawaii has done absolutely nothing to end human trafficking in its fishing fleet
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Honolulu’s port continues to rank among the highest by value in the country, with $100 million of fish landed — predominantly pelagic fish such as tunas and billfish. … “We are at the beginning of a new era, one that promises to be interesting as our country adjusts to new policies and perspectives,” [Wespac Executive Director Kitty] Simonds wrote in the newsletter. “Change is as inevitable as night and day. Our region’s fisheries and the Council need to be prepared to meet these challenges and opportunities.”—quoted in Civil Beat: Year Of The Tuna: A Quota Showdown Looms In 2017
”
by Larry Geller
One challenge the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council probably did not work to resolve during its annual meeting in Fiji is the ongoing problem of abuse and slave-labor conditions in the Hawaii long lines fishing fleet.
So as you enjoy your New Year’s ahi, please do not forget that part of our fish is still being caught by foreign fisherman some of whom are working in abominable conditions. 75% of workers in Hawaii’s long lines industry are said to be foreign fisherman who are not allowed to even set foot in Hawaii because they are in a technical state of deportation as they fish.
As 2016 draws to a close, althougth the Hawaii State Government is responsible for licensing these fishermen, it has done absolutely nothing to end human trafficking and abuse in what is described as the highest value fishery in the country.
Surely the ship owners can afford to treat the fisherman fairly while still making their humongous profit.
Thursday, December 29, 2016
Hawaii state government spends $72,600 to monitor social media only to get cut off
“
Social media monitoring allows police to constantly target, track, and archive information posted on social media from millions of people. It can be used by law enforcement to monitor and log posts on popular sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube, regarding everything from protests to potential threats.—pastemagazine.com
”
by Larry Geller
The Brennan Center for Justice queried law enforcement agencies across the country to see which were monitoring social media. Their research turned up purchases in the state of Hawaii (see documents below).
Snaptrends software was purchased in May of 2014 and yearly licenses renewed in two subsequent years. Each purchase was for $24,200 and covered seven licenses.
The purchases were made for use at Hawaii’s Fusion Center, which shares information between the federal, state and county law enforcement organizations in Hawaii (see these Disappeared News articles on fusion centers and Hawaii’s fusion center). Presumably they were able to use the Snaptrends software from May 2014 until it was (reportedly) cut off sometime this October.
Police departments nationally have used this and similar software to monitor hashtags such as #BlackLivesMatter, #DontShoot, #ImUnarmed, #PoliceBrutality, and #ItsTimeforChange according to a report on the website pastemagazine.com. With the software police and other security agencies were (and probably still are) able to monitor, record and permanently log any social media traffic of interest.
Bottom line for Hawaii tweeters and Facebook users: the police are watching you. They are able to spend tens of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money (your money) to do this. And they are likely doing more than just watching—the software allows them to build a dossier on each of us, even though we have committed no crimes. By mapping the data, they will also know where you have been and whom you have met there.
The Brennan Center cautions that purchase of surveilance software does not prove it was used. In Hawaii’s case, they renewed through 2016 for seven licenses. If they did not use the software, then that is also a questionable use of taxpayer money. So it is safe to assume it was used and that data is on file for citizens not accused of any crime for a space of up to three years.
It’s clear that this power of surveilance has been misused nationally and will continue to be misused.
As any 15 year old knows, social media is also highly context-dependent. A journalist on the national security beat may follow a suspected terrorist for her reporting—but how will an automated software program, or an intelligence agency, know that the journalist doesn’t subscribe to the terrorist’s message? The situation is even more fraught for adolescents in areas with gangs, who might need to “like” a picture to keep themselves out of trouble with neighborhood gang members but simultaneously get into trouble with law enforcement; one teen spent nineteen months in Rikers Island for appearing in pictures with “crew” members and liking their Facebook posts.
[Brennan Center for Justice, Cops Are Watching Your Facebook Feed, 11/21/2016]
For those not familiar with Rikers Island, people can and are held there in abominable conditions awaiting charging or trial for long periods of time. So that the teenager spent nineteen months there does not imply he did anything illegal.
Below are the two procurment documents posted by the Brennan Center for the Hawaii purchase they uncovered.
Download State of Hawaii procurement document for surveilance software 1 of 2 from Disappeared News
Download State of Hawaii procurement document for surveillance software 2 of 2 from Disappeared News
Fake news: Hawaiian shores “full of rotting trash”
by Larry Geller
These days people believe fake news. In particular, when a mainstream news outlet such as the UK’s Daily Mail promulgates it, Twitter and other social media can transform it into a form of popular reality.
With this in mind I was skeptical immediately when a Google alert plunked this headline from today’s Daily Mail website into my inbox:
When 'paradise' goes to hell: Hawaiian shores full of rotting trash and a waste-swamped Indonesia... the planet's most polluted destinations revealed
Hey – I live here, in “paradise” so to speak, and the shores are not full of rotting trash or any of the other pollution sites that the article highlighted in numerous photographs.
These images serve as a chilling insight into the world's most wretched and disregarded dumping grounds.
They have a picture of Midway Island. That is not one of the “travel destinations that frequently sit at the top of bucket lists.”
I sent an email to the corrections editor. Let’s see if they have a map handy to check on exactly where Midway is, or if they’ll check to see if it’s on the bucket list of any of their staff.
As to the Midway picture itself, it’s a deception. The pile of rubbish shown is a pile that was collected. In other words, the heap resulted from a cleanup. That pile is not the same as the one of the severely polluted Ganges river or the other images they chose to post.
Shame, Daily Mail, for posting “fake news” that does nothing but pollute your own website.
Friday, December 23, 2016
Hawaii should require data for its Limited Purpose Driver’s Licenses be destroyed to prevent mass deportations here
by Larry Geller
Hawaii, the District of Columbia and approximately twelve other states issue drivers licenses or IDs that may be obtained by undocumented immigrants and others who for one reason or another cannot obtain a regular license that conforms to federal requirements of the Real ID Act of 2005. These state’s laws provide an opportunity for those who do not qualify or do not want an official license or state ID to have some official identification.
Now, with the incoming Trump administration promising to effect mass deportations, these licenses have suddenly become a liability to their holders or applicants.
Hawaii can (and should) take steps to protect applicants by destroying the data related to those licenses. It was never the intention of our state legislature that these licenses would lead to deportation of many of the applicants.
New York City issues a limited-purpose ID called the IDNYC card or the Municipal ID. These cards are available to any New Yorker, regardless of immigration status. NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio has promised to protect the thousands of undocumented immigrants who have signed up for a IDNYC card by destroying the applications for the cards in addition to other information kept in the city’s database. Not surprisingly, NY Republicans have filed suit to prevent the city from doing that.
Hawaii passed a law (HB1007. 2015) that requires “Limited purpose driver’s licenses” to be issued starting January 1, 2016. The law specifies which documents may be used to apply and require that the information is to be kept confidential:
Documents and information collected pursuant to an
application for, denial of, or issuance of a limited purpose
driver's license, limited purpose provisional driver's license,
or limited purpose instruction permit shall be confidential and
shall not be disclosed by the examiner of drivers or the
department except as required by law.
It’s that last part, “shall not be disclosed by the examiner of drivers or the
department except as required by law,” that would permit Trump’s long federal arms to grab Hawaii’s information in order to compile his database of undocumented immigrants to deport.
Hawaii should follow New York’s example and amend the law this coming session, as soon as possible, to require that the information be instantly destroyed. Alternatively, it may be easier to simply create rules mandating really short record retention.
It should be enough for law enforcement purposes to lump the limited licenses in with the regular license database. The renewal and reinstatement terms as well as the fees are the same as regular licenses and varies by age and issuing county.
The REAL ID Act of 2005, Pub.L. 109–13, does not prohibit the issuance of alternative licenses or identification. Hawaii and the other states passed implementing laws with only good intentions, and we should now take the extra step of protecting those intentions by making sure that there is no information that the federal government can grab that would harm those who have taken advantage of this law.
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
Johan Galtung’s view from Europe: Bravo Trump–No to CIA!!
Bravo Trump–No to CIA!!
19 December 2016
#459 | Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service
Whatever this “intelligence” may be is it intelligent?
Information about the “capability, intention and circumstances” of foreign (CIA) and domestic (FBI) actors: nothing wrong about that. With a good balance between friendly and hostile intentions; 80-20? It sounds more like 1-99, though. Outer and inner worlds are scanned for threats of violence, not for opportunities of peace. The focus is on security, not building cooperation. That may be done by conventional diplomacy–where does Trump stand on that? The US “intelligence community”–19 big organizations–looms higher. To disregard threats damage a top politician more than to disregard opportunities.
The net result is institutionalized paranoia. Trump might have compared the “intelligence” about Russia with his own impressions, and found it gravely wanting. Of course, they may both be wrong. Or right.
The reader will find ahead a table that has appeared in this column before: 15 conflict cases, with peaceful and violent ways of handling them. In the comment the focus is on loving USA vs hatred. Trump’s goal is Making America Great; not Big like a Big power, but as a Great Power; not “again” in the old way, but as his foreign policy ideas communicate, in totally new ways.
To be a Great Power is not the same as being a Big Bully.
So these fifteen ideas are offered again, this time more humbly, not critically. Regrettably Russia is not even on this list. Syria is, whether Putin and Trump end up with something similar or not.
IS came later; by this column seen IS as spiritual rather than military, focused on Mecca. The advice has been meeting IS violence protectively with defensive defense and negotiation. A task for Trump?
CONSTRUCTIVE vs DESTRUCTIVE US FOREIGN POLICIES: 15 CASES
| CONFLICTS | CONSTRUCTIVE, POSITIVE | DESTRUCTIVE, NEGATIVE |
| FINANCIAL F REAL R ECONOMY CRISIS | Encourage local saving banks Publish M2 Check Fed Reserve Tax speculation Drop bonuses Outlaw basic needs speculation Democratic control of central banks, state or private Mixed world currency | More F than Real growth More money than value Serving loans not people Countries in debt bondage Globalization through privatized central banks US$ world reserve currency |
| TERRORISM | Identify their just goals Publish Atta Who did 9/11? | Extra-judicial execution SOCO-Drones Covert war |
| US-ISRAEL vs ARAB-MUSLIM STATES | Palestine recognized; and A two states solution; and A Middle East Community MEC Israel and 5 Arab neighbors 1967 borders with revisions; and Org for Sec Coop West Asia | Tail wagging dog: Israel wagging USA; AIPAC wagging Congress Judeo-Christianity is anti-islam. Danger: Extreme US anti-semitism |
| LIBYA | Self-determination for parts, Federalism with democracy | Continued anarchy Unitary state illusion |
| SYRIA | Self-determination for parts, Federalism with democracy | Attack; SCO response? split Syria, rule parts |
| IRAQ | Self-determination for parts, (Con)federalism with democracy Kurdish autonomous communities | Withdrawal only: no rebuilding, no compensation |
| IRAN | Conciliation for 1953, Middle East nuclear free zone Cooperation on non-fossil energy | Attack, SCO response? No Iran nuclear arms Controlling Iran oil? |
| PAKISTAN | Pashtun autonomy, drop Durand Self-determination in Kashmir Indian-Pakistan-Kashmiri parts | Building a Durand fence Extrajudicial execution SOCO-Drones Covert war |
| AFGHANISTAN | A Central Asian Community Federation Local autonomies OIC-UNSC joint peacekeeping Nonaligned, no bases | Withdrawal only; no rebuilding, no compensation keeping troops, bases |
| KOREA | Peace Treaty with N Korea Normalization USA-N Korea Korea as nuclear free zone | Marginalizing N Korea US-SK military exercises Breaking agreements |
| CHINA | Open high level dialogue Mutual learning in economics Civil and economic rights | Encircling, sub-satel-navy “Reform”=neo-liberalism civil rights only |
| JAPAN | Japan in NE Asian Community Good relations to USA, APEC+ USA pulls out of Okinawa | Impeding conciliation Keeping Japan as client Subverting A9 |
| AFRICA | Welcome African Unity Build with China E-W rail road | AFRICOM Military intervention |
| LATIN AMERICA | Welcome CELAC integration Equity Latin Carib-Angloamerica Normalization USA-Cuba | Military intervention Supporting coups CIA micro-management |
| WORLD | All human rights conventions, across state borders National self-determination Dialogue of civilizations Stronger UN, with parliament | Civil-political only, within state borders Unitary state models Western universalism US exceptionalism |
The right column is sadly familiar; new cases are queuing up.
The left column also carries sadness. Nothing radical, more like common sense translated into political practice, to the relief of the parties concerned, the USA, and US relations to the world. USA wants to be loved, but reaps hatred with right column politics. Turn left.
Trump has a good distance to go in his relations to Iran and Cuba as a key to Latin America-Caribbean. Did he nonetheless listen too much to CIA, on those two major issues? Direct encounters with Raúl Castro may bring to his quick mind a very different Cuba; so may direct talks with the spiritual and political leaders of Iran. Trump’s Russian contacts could be helpful in both cases: Iran has borders with the former USSR and Cuba significant relations with Russia since 1958.
However, the most important case for Trump may be the first in the table: US economic relations to the world. To the right are well known US policies, all of them now proven as failed or discredited; to the left some ideas that may or may not coincide with Trump Thought.
Crucial is the US “Federal Reserve” Bank, basically a club of about 70 of the largest banks in the USA. Self-controlled, not by the legislative, nor the executive, nor the judicial power of the USA.
It relates to central private banks abroad and directs US federal policy rather than vice versa. Thus, at some time in the 1990s US blacklisted seven countries with central state-owned banks: Iraq-Iran, Lebanon-Libya, Syria-Sudan-Somalia; fought in six, pressured Iran.
The private central banks then come together in Basel under Swiss auspices, in the Bank for International Settlements, BIS, a pivot the USA wants to use for global financial control.
Now, where does Trump land on this? If he had the courage and the wits to attack one sacred US cow, the CIA, he may do so to another that also has grown out of proportion, the Federal Reserve. What the Federal Reserve does, however, is also business–and may also fail. Being in charge of Executive power he might like to enhance that power and not be waged by a tail. That may also apply to Netanyahu’s Israel: buying senators etc. may no longer be in.
Well, this is future talk. But that future may only be one month away. History is accelerating and more under Trump than ever.
___________________________________________
Johan Galtung, a professor of peace studies, dr hc mult, is founder of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment and rector of the TRANSCEND Peace University-TPU. Prof. Galtung has published 1670 articles and book chapters, over 450 Editorials for TRANSCEND Media Service, and 167 books on peace and related issues, of which 41 have been translated into 35 languages, for a total of 135 book translations, including ‘50 Years-100 Peace and Conflict Perspectives,’ published by the TRANSCEND University Press-TUP.
This work is licensed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 License.
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
How 75,000 votes were disappeared in Michigan
“
Officially, Donald Trump won Michigan by 10,704 votes. But a record 75,335 votes were never counted. Most of these votes that went missing were in Detroit and Flint.
How do you disappear 75,335 votes?—Greg Palast
”
by Larry Geller
Yes, the election was rigged, although the mainstream, commercial media has not paid attention. Those who get their news from Democracy Now or from Flashpoints (on KPFA or podcast) know the story quite well.
The “rigging” has nothing to do with Russia, though something might still be discovered about that. It is home-grown voter suppression and the use of voting machines that enforce discrimination against those who would likely vote for Democrats.
If you haven’t heard of “Crosscheck,” please watch the video below, or visit Greg Palast’s website. Crosscheck is (from the Democracy Now transcript):
a list that was created by Donald Trump’s operative, Kris Kobach, to hunt down and imprison voters who illegally voted or registered in two states in one election.
The list contains names, the vast majority those that would likely be African-American or hispanic, that vaguely resemble names registered in other states.
Michael Bernard Brown is supposed to be the same voter as Michael Anthony Brown. Then Michael Timothy Brown is supposed to be the same voter as Michael Johnnie Brown.
These names are eliminated from the voter rolls in states which participate. It is basically a Jim Crow system to suppress the vote.
Palast discusses also voting machines placed in particular districts that couldn’t quite interpret the filled-in bubbles on a ballot sheet.
Do check it out at his website.
Here’s the video, which Democracy Now shares under a Creative Commons license. The transcript is here.
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
Four Congressmen query Coast Guard and NOAA about conditions and violations in the Hawaii longlines fishing fleet
“
The human rights abuses we’ve discovered in the seafood industry, including on ships flying the American flag, are shameful and disturbing,” [Representative Raúl M.] Grijalva said. ”The deeper we dig, the more we find that far from using some harmless loophole, these vessels are flat out breaking the law. Too much seafood on our plates today comes with a side order of violence and human misery.
”
“
Conditions on some vessels in the Hawaiian longline fleet have been described in the AP article and by crew members and fishery observers as unsafe and unsanitary. What responsibilities does the Coast Guard have to ensure that these vessels do not present a safety or health hazard to crew members regardless of their citizenship status?
”
“
…while these are some of the more valuable species harvested by the Hawaiian longline vessels, it is clear from landings records and marketing materials produced by the Hawaii Seafood Council that these vessels are fishing for, catching, and selling species other than those defined as HMS [highly migratory species] in the Magnuson-Stevens Act, including significant quantities of mahi mahi, wahoo, moonfish, and sickle pomfret.
”
by Larry Geller
Following the Fishing for Justice forum held December 6 on Capitol Hill, Congressmen from four committees sent a letter yesterday to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Coast Guard questioning conditions and illegalities reported in Hawaii’s longline fishing fleet.
The letter is posted below, and an OCR copy is available for download.
In addition to concerns related to abusive conditions in the fishing fleet, the letter also notes that the longlines fleet is catching fish other than “highly migratory species” and so the vessels do not qualify for the statutory exemptions that allow them to emply labor other than 75 percent US citizens.
From the letter:
The Magnuson-Stevens Act specifically defines highly migratory species (HMS) as "tuna species, marlin, oceanic sharks, sailfishes, and swordfish." No federal agency has the authority to categorize any other species of fish as HMS for the purposes of fisheries management or law enforcement. Yet, while these are some of the more valuable species harvested by the Hawaiian longline vessels, it is clear from landings records and marketing materials produced by the Hawaii Seafood Council3 that these vessels are fishing for, catching, and selling species other than those defined as HMS in the Magnuson-Stevens Act, including significant quantities of mahi mahi, wahoo, moonfish, and sickle pomfret.
…
Based on this information, these vessels should not be eligible for either of the aforementioned statutory exemptions from the manning requirements in 46 U.S.C. §8103. Instead, they should be required to be manned by at least 75 percent U.S. citizens, and certify that U.S. labor is not available before allowing foreign workers with H2-B visas on board.
In a press release accompanying the letter, two of the signers of the letter stated:
“The human rights abuses we’ve discovered in the seafood industry, including on ships flying the American flag, are shameful and disturbing,” Grijalva said. ”The deeper we dig, the more we find that far from using some harmless loophole, these vessels are flat out breaking the law. Too much seafood on our plates today comes with a side order of violence and human misery. I’m working with my colleagues to press responsible federal agencies to take action under existing law, and if we need to close loopholes, pass new legislation or create additional enforcement authority, we’re going to start taking those options very seriously.”
“I am deeply disturbed—while the United States has been criticizing other nations for serious labor, environmental, and human rights abuses in high seas fisheries, U.S. flagged fishing vessels based out of Hawaii may be guilty of the same violations,” Rep. DeFazio said. “Turning a blind eye to illegal fishing practices and serious labor abuses on fishing vessels here at home undermines our nation’s credibility in prosecuting this behavior abroad. These vessels also exploit cheap labor from places like Indonesia, allowing crews that haven’t been properly vetted for national security concerns to gain access to U.S. ports. NOAA and the Coast Guard must aggressively enforce existing U.S. laws that prevent illegal fishing operations. Moreover, they must fully investigate allegations of serious labor and workplace abuses reported on U.S. flagged fishing vessels, and if confirmed, take swift action to stop these violations.”
Johan Galtung’s view from Europe: Meanwhile, Around the World
“
Be careful because Trump is smart. We will soon see who outsmarts whom.
”
Meanwhile, Around the World
12 December 2016
Quite a lot is happening. NYT (11 Dec 2016): President-Elect Trump made Carrier keep 1,000 factory jobs in Indianapolis, not “trading” to Mexico; and canceled the Boeing contract for a new Air Force One.
Three Trump Upper Class challenges: Solidarity with the working class; a foreign policy based less on war and more on negotiation; and a new tax code (USA has the longest in the world, feeding highly paid law firms with loopholes). Trump wants jobs, and infrastructure.
There are also non-events: no Trump apologies to the groups he offended grotesquely in the campaign: non-whites, women, immigrants particularly Mexicans. And the old campaigner Trump is still alive.
Trumps’s focus on USA-Russia cooperation from the American to the Bolshevik revolutions, and now on the coming century, is brilliant and intellectual in an anti-intellectual USA. While US media and their copycats all over are still fighting the election for Clinton.
Ian Buruma “The End of the Anglo-American Order”, The New York Times Magazine (29 Nov 2016), praises the post-world war “vision of democracy and freedom”. There is something to that. But only as long as they voted correctly; not for Allende in Chile, Muslims in Algeria, for Brexit in UK (“U.S. loses direct link to Continent”, NYT 28 Jun 2015), for Duterte in the Philippines (with anti-drug atrocities) leaning away from the USA toward an Asian neighbor, China, for Erdögan in Turkey (with neo-Ottoman warfare) leaning away from the USA toward a European neighbor, Russia. And worst of all: not for Trump in the USA.
In this lengthy article not a word on the USA, assisted by the UK, killing more than 20 million in 37 countries after WWII. Or on 54% of the US Spending Budget allocated to the military and 46% shared among 11 sectors–none more than 6%. Very many words on Trump, with incredible arrogance not even checking what he does[i]. Be careful because Trump is smart. We will soon see who outsmarts whom.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, leading US intellectual and Supreme Court associated jurist, addressing the Harvard 1895 graduating class on “The Purpose of War Is to Die for One’s Country”, The Soldier’s Faith:
“–the faith is true and adorable which leads a soldier to throw away his life in obedience to a blindly accepted duty, in a cause which he little understands, in a plan of campaign of which he has little notion, under tactics of which he does not see the use”.
Holmes thinks he understands cause, plan and tactics, but does not understand that he blindly accepts them, willing to use the soldiers’ blindness for his own. Maybe they should have thrown away his life?
120 years later, Hillary Clinton will not throw away US soldiers’ lives but those of the “enemy”, soldiers or civilians, any numbers. One belligerence exchanged for the other; no democracy, nor freedom. Even The Nation endorsed her, blind to her massive privatized killing.
Move to The Hague, “The ICTY[ii]‘s Surprise Ruling: Hague Tribunal Exonerates Slobodan Milosevic for Bosnia War Crimes Ten Years Too Late” (18 Jul 2016) seems to have passed unnoticed. Karadzic, not surprisingly, sentenced to 40 years, but the exoneration was too contrary to Western media pre-judgment.
Move to “Panama: The Hidden Trillions” (The New York Review of Books, 17 Oct 2016). The conclusion of 400+ journalists working on 2.6 terabytes of information is very clear: “We pay tax, but they don’t pay tax. The burden of taxation has moved inexorably away from multinational companies and rich people to ordinary people”.
Fast forward to “Palestinians Demand UK Apology for Balfour Declaration (Al Jazeera 1 Nov 2016)–as parliamentary petition. With 100,000 signatures the British Parliament must consider debating the subject. The “Jewish Homeland” Declaration has a prescient clause:
“–understood that nothing shall be done that prejudices the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status of Jews in any other country”.
Both premises are broken. Does the UK have enough wisdom to apologize and yet stand by an Israel compatible with international law; 242, &c?
Move to Palmyra, reconquered by IS? Could Trump negotiate, rather?
Move to Saudi Arabia, to Mohammed Alyanya “Don’t Link ‘Wahhabism’ to Terrorism” (NYT 19 Oct 2016). Wahhabism, like Salafism, praised Islam as practiced by the Prophet as Medina ruler; the overwhelming majority is not violent. We add: in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia violence is more mundane, to preserve a Kingdom split down the middle.
Move to Ukraine: Arve Meisingset – “Massiv feilinformasjon om Ukraina”–Massively Wrong Information On Ukraine” (NY TID 17 Nov 2016). The coup against the Orthodox-Ukraine President was on 22 Feb 2014; on 1 Aug Paul Picard, head of the OSCE observers in Don-bass, Donetsk said he had seen no Russian troops or weapons. The Uniate (Catholic) policy is ethnic cleansing, and many left for Russia. The fighting in Ukraine is in the Orthodox part, headed by Uniate-Ukraine president Poroshenko, now only supported by 5.9% of the voters.
Fast forward to USA-Russia. The Russians fear that NATO at its border is a secret Operation Barbarossa (Hitler’s failed invasion 22 June 1941) because (points made by many, among them Leo Semashko):
- Deployment of NATO nuclear weapons on Russia’s Western border.
- Obama’s intent to spend US$1 trillion on nuclear arms next decade.
- A US doctrine which allows the first use of nuclear weapons.
All waiting for Hillary Clinton. But then came Trump. They hate him.
Afghanistan: Robert Fisk, “The invasion of Afghanistan 15 years ago was an arrogant, wretched adventure that caused a migrant crisis“, The Independent 7 Oct 2016. Geopolitical Futures, Kamran Bokhari: “Afghan Government Staring at the Abyss” 10 Oct 2016–“Kabul is unlikely to defeat the Taliban even after investing 15 years and over a $ 100 billion”. Better not talk about it. (NYT, 21 Sep 2016).
Norway: “We love America-We hate Russia-America hates Russia”, balanced, made elites change their military doctrine to attack Russia. Then “We love America-We hate Russia-America loves Russia”, dissonant. After a period hating Trump-America, Norway will accept Russia, and Störe’s Norwegian Labor Party will win the 2017 elections on that basis.
____________________________________
NOTES:
[i]. For a very knowledgeable overview of Trump’s policies, yet very critical of him as a person, see William Blum, The Anti-Empire Report #147, Nov 30 2016.
[ii]. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
___________________________________________
Johan Galtung, a professor of peace studies, dr hc mult, is founder of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment and rector of the TRANSCEND Peace University-TPU. Prof. Galtung has published 1670 articles and book chapters, over 450 Editorials for TRANSCEND Media Service, and 167 books on peace and related issues, of which 41 have been translated into 35 languages, for a total of 135 book translations, including ‘50 Years-100 Peace and Conflict Perspectives,’ published by the TRANSCEND University Press-TUP.
This work is licensed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 License.
Wednesday, December 07, 2016
Three months after the AP revealed slave-like conditions aboard boats in the Hawaii fishing fleet, no fix is in sight
“
Another threat to Hawaii’s tuna and swordfish fisheries are the deplorable conditions for foreign workers on the boats, recently described as “slave-like,” by the Associated Press. The treatment of these workers is unjust and un-American. These disgraceful conditions are perpetuated by boat owners who do not want to pay the minimum wage, so they jump through immigration loopholes to employ foreigners, many of them desperate, and are often indebted to the owners. What will the owners do if they are forced to pay their workers a living wage? Will they give everyone a raise and start hiring American citizens, or will they move the fleet to an island country where these conditions are allowed? We assume it will be the latter, and when that happens it will not be the fault of the conservationists, but that of the fishing boat owners, who put personal profits first.—article in The Hill
”
by Larry Geller
Despite world-wide publicity resulting from Associated Press articles that exposed slave-like conditions aboard Hawaii’s long line fishing fleet, almost exactly three months after the story broke, nothing has been done to bring relief to the foreign fishermen.
Hawaii’s government leaders came in for withering criticism Tuesday at a Capitol Hill forum on abusive labor conditions for foreign fishermen employed as contract workers.
Witnesses described working conditions on the Hawaii-based tuna fleet as “tragic,” “gruesome,” “unconstitutional” and “brutal,” asserting that the foreign workers have been exempted from U.S. labor laws and protections to boost the profits of the fishing industry.
[Civil Beat, Activist: Officials Care More About Fish Than People Aboard Ships, 20161207]
Fishing "is used as a tool for slavery," said Kathryn Xian, executive director of the Pacific Alliance to Stop Slavery, a Honolulu-based advocacy group.
Xian and other speakers at the forum urged Congress to close the loophole that allows workers to stay on the boats without coming ashore.
[from the forum held in Washington DC yesterday, widely reported in an AP story]
See Disappeared News article below for a video of the forum.
From the Civil Beat article:
About 60 people attended the event, including Capitol Hill staffers and officials from the U.S. Department of Labor, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Justice Department.
It was held in a meeting room located just upstairs of a giant statue of King Kamehameha in the rotunda of the Capitol Visitors Center.
Hawaii’s Department of Land and Natural Resources, which has been issuing licenses to foreign fishermen confined to ships and unable to land in Hawaii, continues the practice even though it is in clear violation of Hawaii state law to do so. The signatures of these fishermen are obtained by the captains or owners without the assistance of translators, another violation of state law and also of federal law.
A petition to correct DLNR’s rules so as to conform to state and federal law was denied at the hearing. [disclosure: I am one of the signers of the petition]
Congress has not yet closed the loophole that permits workers to remain on the boats in deportation status, with the ship captains holding their passports.
In the absence of action either in Hawaii or in Congress, conditions aboard Hawaii’s long line fishing fleet will likely remain unchanged for the short term. The Associated Press can be expected to follow the situation, and Hawaii will continue to be embarrassed by the resulting world-wide coverage until indeed something changes to bring relief to the fishermen.
Subscribers to the Star-Advertiser may find an article on the forum buried in back of the business section on page B7, just before the obituaries. Apparently November home, condo sales jump is a more important story to the editors.
Tuesday, December 06, 2016
Watch Fishing for Justice forum from Washington, DC, with Hawaii panelist Kathryn Xian
“
Congress should act immediately to improve slave-like conditions for hundreds of foreign fishermen working in Hawaii’s commercial fleet, speakers at a congressional forum said Tuesday. “These fishermen are treated like disposable people,” said Mark Lagon, a scholar at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service, who told the forum the fishermen live like modern-day slaves.--Seattle Times (AP)
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by Larry Geller
Here’s the YouTube video of today’s forum. Click the thingy at the lower right for full screen.
An AP story covering the forum is here via the Seattle Times.
The sound in the YouTube video was barely audible on my computer. If you’d like a version you can actually hear, click this link. It takes a while to load, it’s a big file.
Monday, December 05, 2016
Kathryn Xian is in Washington—tune in tomorrow at 8 a.m. HST for live stream of Fishing for Justice forum
by Larry Geller
Note change in URL from previous post.
Kathy sends a new link for the live stream—different from my previous post.
Tune in at 8 a.m. Hawaii time Tuesday Dec. 6 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZkeiBFiww4 to watch the presentations.
The House Natural Resource Democratic forum examines recent reports of forced labor and human trafficking in the seafood industry; discuss legal frameworks that have the potential to combat labor and human rights violations at sea; and explore multi-stakeholder initiatives that promote the safety and working conditions of fishermen. The panel is open to Members of Congress, staffers, the media, and the public.
Panelists will be:
Mark Lagon, former Director Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, U.S Department of State
John Connelly, president of the National Fisheries Institute
Kathryn Xian, executive director of the Pacific Alliance to Stop Slavery
