Home » Posts tagged 'humanitarian crisis'

Tag Archives: humanitarian crisis

VIDEO: Investigating Venezuela’s ‘Humanitarian Crisis’: Max Blumenthal Tours a Supermarket in Caracas

February 22, 2019

VIDEO: Investigating Venezuela’s ‘Humanitarian Crisis’: Max Blumenthal Tours a Supermarket in Caracas

America is today’s Nazi Germany.

September 16, 2018

America is today’s Nazi Germany.

It’s not against Jews this time; it’s against, especially, Houthis.

The U.S. and its allies — in this case mainly the Saud family who own Saudi Arabia — are systematically blocking food from reaching tens of millions of people, Houthis, who live in Yemen and are surrounded by the U.S. alliance’s engines of death. The U.S. alliance’s goal is to slaughter them all. The Sauds want the land — not the people.

The U.N. has been brought into this scheme of mass-slaughter. The responsible U.N. Agency is the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Its leadership is mainly Mark Lowcock, who keeps silent about the genocide, except for rare occasions in which he says that if something is not done, then more tragedy will somehow happen in Yemen — in other words, platitudes, in the face of what might turn out to be the biggest genocide since World War II. (And most of Hitler’s slaughtering killed even more non-Jews than Jews, because the vast majority of people everywhere didn’t want to be ruled by him and resisted his rule. The U.S. aristocracy and its allies haven’t yet matched what Germany did in that time, but they’ll surpass it if they attack Russia as Hitler did — which could happen.)

Lowcock’s official web-page says about him that “Mr. Mark Lowcock of the United Kingdom … led the United Kingdom’s humanitarian response to conflicts in Iraq, Libya and Syria, and to natural disasters in Nepal and the Philippines” or that he was a functionary of the British aristocracy during its invasion of Iraq along with the aristocracy of the United States — the billionaires and their international corporations and the ‘non-profits’ which are actually these aristocrats’ main propaganda-mills and yet are tax-exempt. With Lowcock’s “designation as a Qualified Accountant, Mr. Lowcock brings a personal and analytical approach to humanitarian challenges.” He doesn’t count the corpses; he counts the money. That’s “Humanitarian,” in this New Nazism.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Yemeni Suffering Made Easy

June 27, 2018

Yemeni Suffering Made Easy

Photo Source Felton Davis | CC BY 2.0

The Saudi and UAE-led operationto retake the rebel-held port city of Hodeidah, which could jeopardize the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians, represents more than the latest tragic chapter in Yemen’s civil war. It is the fully expected outcome of several Western nations’ complicity in a multi-country assault that has made Yemen the world’s largest humanitarian disaster.

The recent attack on Hodeidah is both a function of Western arms support and a feature of longstanding Western political programming that has sustained the coalition’s attack on the country since a bombing campaign began in 2015.

For the last several years the US, UK, and France have all greenlit arms sales, refueling missions, and special forces guidanceto the coalition with few, if any, conditions. The operation in Hodeidah is no different, where French special forces are already on the ground and the US is providing intelligence and aerial refueling to assist the coalition. Since the beginning of the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen, the results of American, French, and British arms and support have led to the bombing of funerals, weddings, markets, hospitals, schools and other public spaces populated by civilians. The latest bombing of a wedding party (because there have been more than one) killed twenty, including the bride herself.

Some observers equivocate as to whether these destructive acts stem from purposeful targeting or simply the negligent use of sophisticated Western weapons technology, but the frequency with which non-combatants, civilian production capacity, and food supply chains continue to be struck appear deliberate. To assume these attacks are anything but calculated is to stretch the bounds of reasonableness: within the first day of operations in Hodeidah, a Doctors Without Borders treatment facility suffered a coalition missile strike even though the GPS coordinates of the facility had been providedtwelve times and the roof had clear markings to distinguish the building for medical purposes.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The Saudi-UAE Alliance is the Most Dangerous Force in the Middle East Today

June 18, 2018

The Saudi-UAE Alliance is the Most Dangerous Force in the Middle East Today

The latest: they are bombing a port that accounts for 80 percent of the food and aid trickling into starving Yemen.

Prince Salman meets with officials at the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD/Photo by Senior Master Sgt. Adrian Cadiz)

For three years, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have conducted a murderous campaign to reinstall a pliable regime in the desperately poor country of Yemen. This campaign is based on a lie intended to gain American support: that the two authoritarian monarchies are responding to Iranian aggression. Now the UAE is preparing a military offensive that could split Yemen apart and create mass starvation.

The Saudi-Emirati alliance is the most dangerous force in the Middle East today. Sometimes acting alone, but usually in tandem, the two dictatorships have promoted intolerant Wahhabism around the world, backed brutal tyranny in Egypt and Bahrain, supported radical jihadists while helping tear apart Libya and Syria, threatened to attack Qatar while attempting to turn it into a puppet state, and kidnapped the Lebanese premier in an effort to unsettle that nation’s fragile political equilibrium. Worst of all, however, is their ongoing invasion of Yemen.

To demonstrate support for its royal allies, America joined their war on the Yemeni people, acting as chief armorer for both authoritarian monarchies and enriching U.S. arms makers in the process. America’s military has also provided the belligerents with targeting assistance and refueling services. And our Special Forces are on the ground assisting the Saudis.

The result has been both a security and humanitarian crisis. Observed Perry Cammack of the Carnegie Endowment: “By catering to Saudi Arabia in Yemen, the United States has empowered AQAP, strengthened Iranian influence in Yemen, undermined Saudi security, brought Yemen closer to the brink of collapse, and visited more death, destruction, and displacement on the Yemeni population.”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Treasury Warns Of “Humanitarian Crisis” In Puerto Rico If Congress Does Not Agree To Bailout

October 22, 2015

Treasury Warns Of “Humanitarian Crisis” In Puerto Rico If Congress Does Not Agree To Bailout

“Puerto Rico is not Greece“… but it increasingly looks like it will be in a few weeks, thanks to US taxpayers who are about to foot the bill for yet another creditor bailout.

As we reported last night, creditors of the insolvent commonwealth, hoping to get a bailout and the highest possible return on their bond investment courtesy of the US taxpayer, have been pushing to portray the fiscal situation in Puerto Rico as beyond repair, hoping to force the administration and Congress to act. As The NY Times reported, on Wednesday, Puerto Rico took the unusual step of announcing that talks over restructuring about $750 million of the island’s debt had broken off, a move that some creditors saw as posturing to Washington for help.

Then, all day today, Puerto Rico’s leadership, realizing its interests are suddenly alligned with those of its creditors as a bailout is in everyone’s best interest, took the rhetoric up a notch when the island’s Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla said in written testimony for Senate Energy Committee that Puerto Rico will have negative cash balance of $29.8 million in November 2015, and then added that the Puerto Rico Government Development Bank may be unable to make its $355 million debt service. “These GDB bonds are supported by a guarantee from the Commonwealth, and the GDB, which faces its own liquidity crisis, is not expected to be able to make the payment on its own based on current information.”

Others quickly chimed in: Puerto Rico Senate President Eduardo Bhatia said he would be in favor of “including everything” in a broad, comprehensive restructuring of the debt.

In short: bail us out now or face the consequences of a domino effect of defaults which puts not only the creditors, but the island itself, in dire straits.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Saudi air raids kill dozens of Yemeni civilians amid humanitarian crisis

September 20, 2015

Saudi air raids kill dozens of Yemeni civilians amid humanitarian crisis

A man sits on cars damaged by a Saudi-led air strike in Sanaa, Yemen, September 19, 2015 © Mohamed al-Sayaghi

The latest Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen have left dozens of civilians dead and nearly 160 injured at a time that sees medical facilities struggling to provide even the most basic services. The country is suffering from a shortage of vital supplies due to the ongoing blockade.

TrendsYemen unrest

The coalition air raids against Houthi forces in Sanaa overnight on Friday killed at least 40 civilians and injured at least another 130 people, Yemen News Agency (SABA) reported.

One strike leveled an apartment building in the center of the city killing a family of nine, while another strike killed a man who had been searching for his family in the rubble, AP reported. The coalition has even managed to attack Yemen’s interior ministry in the capital, launching about 10 strikes at the building as well as at a police camp and a military building close to it.

The airstrikes also hit the residence of Oman’s ambassador in Sanaa.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Greece Is Now A Full-Blown Humanitarian Crisis – In 9 Charts

July 18, 2015

Greece Is Now A Full-Blown Humanitarian Crisis – In 9 Charts

The people of Greece are facing further years of economic hardship following a Eurozone agreement over the terms of a third bailout. The deal included more tax rises and spending cuts, despite the Syriza government coming to power promising to end what it described as the “humiliation and pain” of austerity. With the country having already endured years of economic contraction since the global downturn, The BBC asks, just how does Greece’s ordeal compare with other recessions and how have the lives of the country’s people been affected?

The long recession

It is now generally agreed that Greece has experienced an economic crisis on the scale of the US Great Depression of the 1930s.

According to the Greek government’s own figures, the economy first contracted in the final quarter of 2008 and – apart from some weak growth in 2014 – has been shrinking ever since. The recession has cut the size of the Greek economy by around a quarter, the largest contraction of an advanced economy since the 1950s.

Although the Greek recession has not been quite as deep as the Great Depression from peak to trough, it has gone on longer and many observers now believe Greek GDP will drop further in 2015.

Dwindling jobs

Jobs are increasingly difficult to come by in Greece – especially for the young. While a quarter of the population are out of work, youth unemployment is running much higher.

Half of those under 25 are out of work. In some regions of western Greece, the youth unemployment rate is well above 60%.

The Anglo-American empire is preparing for resource war

July 9, 2015

The Anglo-American empire is preparing for resource war

The control of resources remains a core factor in US considerations for sustaining global US hegemony in the face of rising geopolitical influence of its major rivals

Last week, the US Joint Chiefs of Staff released the new National Military Strategy of the United States of America, 2015.

The report’s main theme is that “globalisation” and “demographics” are pushing forward trends that are undermining US military superiority, including its capability to sustain “international order”. It sets out how the US military intends to keep ahead of those trends.

Although imbued with flowery technocratic language, when read closely in the context of recent history, the document is ultimately a blueprint to shore-up a dying empire, and reveals much about the reigning ideology of US military supremacism.

Challenges

“The United States is the world’s strongest nation, enjoying unique advantages in technology, energy, alliances and partnerships, and demographics,” the document observes. “However, these advantages are being challenged.”

The report notes that globalisation is catalysing “economic development” while simultaneously “increasing societal tensions, competition for resources, and political instability”.

Of course, the strategy document does not mention that since 1980, under the age of neoliberal globalisation, even as GDP per head has risen, the “vast majority of countries” have experienced a “sharp increase in income inequality,” as documented by a flagship 2014 report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

In the wake of the new era of slow growth and brutal austerity ushered in after the 2008 global banking collapse, the risk of the dire economic climate sparking civil and political unrest is increasing. But what the document also misses is that growing risk is itself a symptom of the uneven “economic development” that constitutes GDP “growth”.

– See more at: http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/anglo-american-empire-preparing-resource-war-1170119289#sthash.zPz1ELd2.dpuf

Building Hope in Times of Crisis

June 10, 2015

Building Hope in Times of Crisis

‘There is a big need for the solidarity movement in Greece. It started in late 2011 and has nearly doubled now to around 400 groups – even more if you add the more loosely networked ones,’ Christos Giovanopoulos says.

We sit in the central Athens office of Solidarity for All, a project that aims to facilitate the solidarity movement. It provide spaces and tools for co-ordination between different groups.

‘The government is friendly to these structures, but they have the bigger picture to consider,’ Giovanopoulos says, describing the attitude of ruling Left party Syriza. The self-organized social solidarity economy has grown quickly since the economic crisis hit Greece and the country was strangled by austerity measures imposed by the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Since 2009, unemployment has nearly trebled to 26%. As those who lose their jobs only receive benefits for the first year of unemployment, poverty and depression have skyrocketed. Even more strikingly, those without employment lose access to public healthcare services after a year. ‘About 50,000 people have died because they have no access to public healthcare. It is a human rights violation,’ Tonia Katerini, also a member of Solidarity for All, says. ‘When people are thrown out of social protection they don’t feel part of the system any more. It is dangerous because if there is no progressive movement these people are easily affected by fascists and the far-right party Golden Dawn.’

As a response to the humanitarian crisis many activists and local people started organizing food distribution and healthcare for those who had fallen through the cracks.

– See more at: http://newint.org/blog/2015/06/09/hope-in-times-of-crisis/#sthash.PGZ5Sk34.dpuf

Tag Archives: humanitarian crisis

Content

Post categories

Economic Links

Energy/Resource Links

Environmental Links

Geopolitical Links

Liberty Links

News Links

Other Links

Survival Skills

Post Archives by Category

Share this:

The corporate media claims Venezuela has no basic food or supplies, so The Grayzone investigated — at a giant supermarket in Caracas.

Challenges

Latest Posts