There’s a theme lurking under the
giant science meeting here along the Mississippi River: Extreme weather
really is getting more extreme because of climate change. The human
influence on hurricanes and wildfires is increasingly obvious.
For years this has been a subject clouded in uncertainties. But now
scientists say they have hard numbers.
Wednesday morning two independent
research teams, one based in the Netherlands and the other in
California, reported that the deluge from Hurricane Harvey was
significantly heavier than it would have been before the era of
human-caused
global warming. One paper put the best estimate of the increase in
precipitation at 15 percent. The other said climate change increased
rainfall by 19 percent at least – with a best estimate of 38 percent.
Meanwhile another team of scientists
released a blockbuster report on extreme weather in 2016, saying that
for the first time they could declare that three spate weather events –
the weirdly warm “blob” of water off the Alaska coast, a
heat wave in Asia and the record global warmth – would have been
impossible without human-caused climate change.
Wow.
And I can remember when Our Lout and
Screwup Barack was supposed to save us – the waters will rise – what was
that crap in his 2008 DNC address?
Instead, he brought us fracking. And,
as Joni Mitchell sings, “ripping off Indian land again, how long, how
long, short sighted business greed.”
That’s the actual theme of Barack Obama’s presidency, his true legacy “short sighted business greed.”
We need to address global warming.
But I doubt we will.
We’ll probably make the planet
inhabitable and the extremely rich will buy rides to Mars, the moon,
etc. where they’ll try to live on colony outposts.
Closing with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Thursday, December 14, 2017. Donald Trump and the War Powers Act are
noted, Iraq carries out more executions, the British legal system issues
a ruling regarding the treatment of Iraqis, and much more.
Bill Van Auken (WSWS) notes:
In 1973, against the backdrop of the debacle of the Vietnam War, the US Congress, overriding the veto of then-President Richard Nixon, passed the War Powers Act. The aim of the legislation was to prevent future presidents from waging undeclared and open-ended wars with little or no accountability to Congress, which under the US Constitution has the exclusive power to declare war.
It gave the president the right to use military force at his discretion for up to 60 days—itself a huge concession of power to the executive branch—but required withdrawal after a total of 90 days if Congress failed to vote its approval of military action.
While still on the books, the War Powers Act has long ago been turned into a dead letter by the quarter century of US wars of aggression that have followed the Stalinist bureaucracy’s dissolution of the Soviet Union, all waged without a declaration of war by Congress.
Both Democrats and Republicans in Congress have willingly acquiesced in the de facto concentration of dictatorial power in the hands of the “commander in chief” in the all-important matter of the waging of foreign wars.
The latest letter from the Trump administration, however, represents another qualitative step in this protracted degeneration of American democracy and the elimination of the last pretenses of civilian control over the military. Failing to even keep Congress “informed” about US combat deployments, the document, for the first time, omitted any information about the number of troops participating in Washington’s multiple wars and military interventions.
While Trump hides the numbers of the deployed, Hayder al-Abadi flaunts a set of numbers.
Apparently fearful that Iraq might lose its standing as a country with the most executions annually, the prime minister oversees a year-end blitz of executions.
AFP reports, "Prison authorities in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah hanged 38 convicts on death row for terrorism offences today, a senior provincial council official said." Ahmed Rasheed (REUTERS) adds, "On Sept. 24, Iraq executed 42 Sunni Muslim militants on terrorism charges ranging from killing members of security forces to detonating car bombs."
Those two execution dates along add up to 80. In 2016, Amnesty International recorded 88 executions in Iraq.
In the second half of this year, at least 31 more people have been sentenced to be executed.
When the figures for 2017 are compiled, it is doubtful that the extra-judicial executions carried out by the Iraqi forces will be included in the official tally.
Since the days of Nouri al-Maliki, many Sunnis have seen executions as Baghdad's way of eliminating the Sunni population. This latest set of executions does not alter that belief.
Osama al-Sharif (AL BAWABA) offers:
The failure of the political establishment in addressing the rights of Sunnis and other minorities helped create so-called incubator environment for extremist groups such as [ISIS]. The fact that [ISIS] was able to recruit thousands of Iraqi Sunnis into its ranks will trouble the country for many years.
Unless they succeed in reforming the political system in a way that allows all Iraqis to participate on the basis of citizenship, rather than ethnicity and sectarian identity, the country will continue to be torn from the inside. It is a tall order because those who are supposed to embrace these reforms are themselves a by-product of the same dysfunctional system.
Abadi is facing challenges from within his own Dawa Party, primarily from former prime minister Nouri Al Maliki and other pro-Iran politicians. Tehran’s influence over the Baghdad government has increased following the establishment of the PMU, who were led by Iranian military advisers. In order to steer away from Iran, Abadi will have to join forces with former foes, such as Shiite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr and others. How long he can maintain this balancing act remains to be seen.
The clock strikes midnight and Cinderella's coach turns back into a pumpkin. Why are we surprised? The common goal of destroying ISIS is gone -- as everyone knew it would be -- and nothing has been done to repair the rifts in the country -- in fact, they've grown even wider.
Here, we argued the 'training' (and bombing) Barack Obama began in August of 2014 would be worth nothing if a diplomatic surge didn't take place.
It never did.
Jane Patterson (RNZ) reports:
Visiting American counter-terrorism expert Matthew Levitt is a senior fellow and director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy's Stein Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence.
He has had senior roles with the US Treasury, the FBI and the Department of State.
Dr Levitt warns unless countries like New Zealand, Australia and the US put pressure on Iraq to give the minority Sunnis a voice in government, at the least, the "bad old movie" would be replayed.
New Zealand has approximately 150 troops in Iraq and Australia's had over 300 (with a rotation of 300 due home for Christmas).
In other news, the KRG has just completed work with the UN on raising awareness with regards to gender-based violence:
Bill Van Auken (WSWS) notes:
The Trump White House Monday issued a so-called “War Powers” letter addressed to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and the president pro tempore of the Senate, Orin Hatch, to “keep the Congress informed about deployments of United States Armed Forces equipped for combat.”
In 1973, against the backdrop of the debacle of the Vietnam War, the US Congress, overriding the veto of then-President Richard Nixon, passed the War Powers Act. The aim of the legislation was to prevent future presidents from waging undeclared and open-ended wars with little or no accountability to Congress, which under the US Constitution has the exclusive power to declare war.
It gave the president the right to use military force at his discretion for up to 60 days—itself a huge concession of power to the executive branch—but required withdrawal after a total of 90 days if Congress failed to vote its approval of military action.
While still on the books, the War Powers Act has long ago been turned into a dead letter by the quarter century of US wars of aggression that have followed the Stalinist bureaucracy’s dissolution of the Soviet Union, all waged without a declaration of war by Congress.
Both Democrats and Republicans in Congress have willingly acquiesced in the de facto concentration of dictatorial power in the hands of the “commander in chief” in the all-important matter of the waging of foreign wars.
The latest letter from the Trump administration, however, represents another qualitative step in this protracted degeneration of American democracy and the elimination of the last pretenses of civilian control over the military. Failing to even keep Congress “informed” about US combat deployments, the document, for the first time, omitted any information about the number of troops participating in Washington’s multiple wars and military interventions.
While Trump hides the numbers of the deployed, Hayder al-Abadi flaunts a set of numbers.
Apparently fearful that Iraq might lose its standing as a country with the most executions annually, the prime minister oversees a year-end blitz of executions.
AFP reports, "Prison authorities in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah hanged 38 convicts on death row for terrorism offences today, a senior provincial council official said." Ahmed Rasheed (REUTERS) adds, "On Sept. 24, Iraq executed 42 Sunni Muslim militants on terrorism charges ranging from killing members of security forces to detonating car bombs."
Those two execution dates along add up to 80. In 2016, Amnesty International recorded 88 executions in Iraq.
In the second half of this year, at least 31 more people have been sentenced to be executed.
When the figures for 2017 are compiled, it is doubtful that the extra-judicial executions carried out by the Iraqi forces will be included in the official tally.
Since the days of Nouri al-Maliki, many Sunnis have seen executions as Baghdad's way of eliminating the Sunni population. This latest set of executions does not alter that belief.
Osama al-Sharif (AL BAWABA) offers:
The failure of the political establishment in addressing the rights of Sunnis and other minorities helped create so-called incubator environment for extremist groups such as [ISIS]. The fact that [ISIS] was able to recruit thousands of Iraqi Sunnis into its ranks will trouble the country for many years.
Unless they succeed in reforming the political system in a way that allows all Iraqis to participate on the basis of citizenship, rather than ethnicity and sectarian identity, the country will continue to be torn from the inside. It is a tall order because those who are supposed to embrace these reforms are themselves a by-product of the same dysfunctional system.
Abadi is facing challenges from within his own Dawa Party, primarily from former prime minister Nouri Al Maliki and other pro-Iran politicians. Tehran’s influence over the Baghdad government has increased following the establishment of the PMU, who were led by Iranian military advisers. In order to steer away from Iran, Abadi will have to join forces with former foes, such as Shiite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr and others. How long he can maintain this balancing act remains to be seen.
The clock strikes midnight and Cinderella's coach turns back into a pumpkin. Why are we surprised? The common goal of destroying ISIS is gone -- as everyone knew it would be -- and nothing has been done to repair the rifts in the country -- in fact, they've grown even wider.
Here, we argued the 'training' (and bombing) Barack Obama began in August of 2014 would be worth nothing if a diplomatic surge didn't take place.
It never did.
Jane Patterson (RNZ) reports:
Visiting American counter-terrorism expert Matthew Levitt is a senior fellow and director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy's Stein Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence.
He has had senior roles with the US Treasury, the FBI and the Department of State.
Dr Levitt warns unless countries like New Zealand, Australia and the US put pressure on Iraq to give the minority Sunnis a voice in government, at the least, the "bad old movie" would be replayed.
New Zealand has approximately 150 troops in Iraq and Australia's had over 300 (with a rotation of 300 due home for Christmas).
In other news, the KRG has just completed work with the UN on raising awareness with regards to gender-based violence:
.@UNHCRIraq and partners conclude activities for the ‘16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence’ campaign in Duhok Governorate.
goo.gl/hStMjS
A big shout out from #UNHCR staff in #Sulaymania & #Garmian, in the Kurdistan Region of #Iraq, working together to end sexual and gender-based violence.
#16Days #16DaysofActivism #OrangetheWorld #endVAW
bit.ly/2C07YkQ
A big shout out from UNHCR staff in #Erbil, in the Kurdistan Region of #Iraq, working together to end sexual and gender-based violence.
#16Days #16DaysofActivism #OrangetheWorld #endVAW
bit.ly/2yWeEkG
A big shout out from UNHCR staff in #Duhok, in the Kurdistan Region of #Iraq, working together to end sexual and gender-based violence.
#16Days #16DaysofActivism #OrangetheWorld #endVAW
bit.ly/2nKGyMP
تحية من موظفي المفوضية السامية لشؤون اللاجئين فى #دهوك، في إقليم كردستان #العراق، الذين يعملون معا لإنهاء العنف القائم على النوع الاجتماعى.
#علمودها #لأجلها #16_يوما #لون_العالم_برتقاليا #لن_يستثنى_أحد
bit.ly/2A8m2re
تحية من موظفي #المفوضية السامية لشؤون اللاجئين فى #اربيل، في إقليم كردستان #العراق، الذين يعملون معا لإنهاء العنف القائم على النوع الاجتماعى.
#علمودها #لأجلها #16_يوما #لون_العالم_برتقاليا #لن_يستثنى_أحد
bit.ly/2Aqm5TA
تحية من موظفي #المفوضية السامية لشؤون اللاجئين فى #السليمانية، في إقليم كردستان #العراق، الذين يعملون معا لإنهاء العنف القائم على النوع الاجتماعى.
#علمودها #لأجلها #16_يوما #لون_العالم_برتقاليا #لن_يستثنى_أحد
bit.ly/2C07YkQ
Violence against women and girls goes on throughout the world.
Human Rights Watch Retweeted
A hidden truth: new @hrw report documents widespread sexual violence by security forces against women & girls in this year's Kenya election hrw.org/news/2017/12/1…
"'Where is the evidence? How can we believe you?’ They told us we must have enjoyed the rape.” Women who reported sexual violence endured during #Kenya2017elections ridiculed, verbally abused, and sent away by police, says @hrw hrw.org/news/2017/12/1…
Turning to England, ITV reports:
Four Iraqi citizens have won High Court damages against the Ministry of Defence related to their treatment during the invasion of Iraq.
Claims were brought alleging they were unlawfully imprisoned and ill-treated by British armed forces.
A judge in London ruled they were entitled to compensation under the Human Rights Act, with one of the men being awarded more than £30,000.
Ian Cobain (GUARDIAN) adds:
British troops breached the Geneva conventions and subjected Iraqi civilians to cruel and inhuman treatment by hooding them and taking turns to run over their backs, the high court has ruled.
Furthermore, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) breached the conventions as well as the 1998 Human Rights Act in the way in which it detained civilians after the 2003 invasion, the court concluded on Thursday.
The judgment comes 10 days after the international criminal court (ICC) declared there was “a reasonable basis” to conclude that British troops committed war crimes against Iraqi detainees.
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