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USA

The US needs to apologize for its Korean massacre

Geoffrey Fattig
Foreign Policy In Focus
Mon, 14 May 2018 00:00 UTC
Moon Jae-in
© Blue House Photo PoolMoon Jae-in at Jeju Uprising Memorial
To help make peace in Korea, the U.S. should follow South Korea's lead and apologize for its role in the devastating Jeju massacre.

Singapore has been chosen to host the unlikely summit between U.S. president Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in early June. The choice for the summit venue went against Trump's preference for the meeting to take place at the Peace House in Panmunjeom, where the world had been captivated just weeks before by the amicable scenes of Kim walking hand-in-hand across the Military Demarcation line with South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

Given that Panmunejom embodies of the division of the Korean Peninsula, it is regrettable that U.S. and North Korean negotiators opted for the southeast Asian city-state instead. This is because the root of the nuclear issue stems largely from the decision by American military officers to divide the Peninsula at the 38th Parallel in the aftermath of World War II. The arbitrary divide led to a devastating war, decades of hostility between a previously unified people, and heartbreak for families forever separated from loved ones.

One of the most tragic results of the division was the 1948 Jeju Uprising, which began on April 3 of that year and resulted in the deaths of over 10,000 of the island's inhabitants - many of whom were civilians, including an estimated 770 children under the age of five.

Comment: Does the US want peace in Korea? Does the US apologize? We shall see what President Trump is capable of providing, or not, given the neocon 'make war and never look back' company he now keeps.

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Cow

Muslim man lynched to death by angry villagers in central India for 'slaughtering cow'


RT
Sun, 20 May 2018 17:43 UTC
Cows
© Kamal Kishore / Reuters
A Muslim man has been beaten to death by an angry mob of villagers in India for allegedly killing a bovine - an act considered a crime and punishable by imprisonment under local laws.

The gruesome incident took place in Amgara village in the "Heart of India" - central Madhya Pradesh state - on Thursday night, local media report. The villagers allegedly noticed two men, later identified in reports as Riyaz Khan and Shakeel Maqbool, with the animal near a quarry.

Conflicting reports say it was either a cow or a bull, but the killing of either is considered a criminal offence under state laws. Madhya Pradesh prohibits the slaughter of cows, calves, bulls, bullocks and buffalo calves. However, the locals apparently decided to take the matters into their own hands.

"The villagers saw them [Khan and Maqbool] slaughtering bulls. They got angry and attacked them," local police official Rajendra Pathak said, as cited by the Indian Express.
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Arrow Down

CPV exec apologizes to former company, but not victims of New York fracked gas power plant

Lee Ziesche
Medium
Tue, 15 May 2018 00:00 UTC
Fracking plant
CPV fracked gas power plant in Wawayanda, New York
Albany corruption dominated Courtroom 443 at the Thurgood Marshall Courthouse in downtown Manhattan on Friday May 11th.

Just after a jury found former NY Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver guilty on 7 counts of federal corruption, Completive Power Ventures (CPV) executive Peter Galbraith Kelly plead guilty in the same room to lying to his former company about bribing Governor Andrew Cuomo's top-aide in a pay-to-play scheme for a 650-megawatt fracked gas power plant CPV has built in Wawayanda, New York.

While working for CPV in 2012, Kelly arranged a low-show job for Joseph Percoco's wife to gain influence over the Governor's right-hand man while Cuomo's administration evaluated the fracked gas power plant for key permits.

Before entering his guilty plea, Kelly, breaking down into tears, said, "My decisions were the greatest mistakes of my life. I will forever regret them and the horrible impact they had on my family, CPV and others."

Comment: See also:

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Newspaper

Japanese victims of forced sterilization file three more lawsuits over inhumane eugenics law


RT
Sun, 20 May 2018 17:12 UTC
Japanese steriization
© Kiyoshi Ota / Reuters
Three Japanese pensioners have filed separate lawsuits against the government over irreversible damage caused by forced sterilization conducted under Japan's eugenics law, which was in place for almost 50 years.

Faced with life-long hardship, three Japanese citizens in their 70s filed lawsuits on Thursday, seeking total compensation of 80 million yen ($720,000) for being forcefully sterilized under a 1948 Eugenics Protection Law that was designed to "prevent the birth of poor-quality descendants."
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Colosseum

Anti-Russia sanctions are damaging EU companies, says chair of German Left Party: 'Ice age must end'


RT
Sun, 20 May 2018 15:46 UTC
EU switzerland German flags
© Mladen Antonov / Agence France-PressThe EU, German, and Swiss flags fly near the Kremlin in Moscow on March 29, 2018.
The "ice age" against Moscow must be ended, the chairperson of Germany's Die Linke (Left Party) has stated, adding that sanctions against Russia hurt European companies.

Speaking to Germany's Osnabrucker Zeitung newspaper on Saturday, Sahra Wagenknecht said the ice age in relation to Russia has to be ended. "It is in Europe's interest to come together and talk about how we can achieve security and disarmament," she said, noting that European sanctions against Moscow "primarily harm European and German companies."

Wagenknecht's comments came just days after the EU Council decided to impose sanctions on five additional Russian individuals for helping to organize the Crimea referendum in March 2014. In total, more than 100 Russians have been placed on EU sanctions lists since the first round of measures was approved by European officials four years ago.

Comment: More cracks in the Atlanticist alliance. Profit will always outweigh any political ideology. The current resident of the White House ought to know that better than anyone. China and Russia are forging alliances all over the world because they understand the policy of win-win.

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USA

Michigan sets precedent by passing law that effectively bans NSA's illegal data collection practices

Rachel Blevins
The Free Thought Project
Sun, 20 May 2018 16:24 UTC
NSA National Security Agency
Michigan has become the first state to ban the National Security Agency's intrusive data collection practices by passing a law that prohibits law enforcement and state agencies from turning over personal data to the federal government without due process.

The Fourth Amendment Rights Protection Act, or HB4430, will go into effect next month after it passed the Michigan state legislature with overwhelming support and only one "no" vote.

The text of the bill states that its purpose is "to prohibit this state and certain other governmental agents, employees, and entities in this state from assisting a federal agency in obtaining certain forms of data without a warrant; and to prohibit certain uses of certain data collected without a warrant."

According to the new law, the state and its political subdivisions "shall not assist, participate with, or provide material support or resources to a federal agency to enable it to collect or to facilitate in the collection or use of a person's electronic data or metadata," unless at least or more of the following criteria are met:
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Pistol

'God bless the USA finally an American!' Unhinged gunman shot at Trump resort

David Ovalle and Charles Rabin
Miami Herald
Sat, 19 May 2018 09:06 UTC
Jonathan Oddi
© TwitterJonathan Oddi
Less than a year ago, South Africa native Jonathan Oddi proudly posed behind a backdrop of an American flag, touting his new citizenship. "God bless the USA finally an American!" he wrote on Instagram.

On Friday morning, he unfurled the American flag inside the South Florida hotel owned by the nation's president, then got into a firefight and chase with police while ranting about Donald Trump, Barack Obama - and bizarrely, rap mogul P. Diddy, according to law enforcement.

Investigators late Friday were still trying to unravel the motivations of Oddi, a 42-year-old fitness junkie and businessman who appeared to become unhinged while attacking the Trump National Doral Miami resort.

Oddi suffered police gunshots to the legs, and faces charges of attempted murder. Agents raided his nearby apartment to recover phones, electronics and other evidence that might reveal what led to the bizarre incident.
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Star of David

The Palestinians are non-people: How long after this week's Gaza massacre can Israel make us keep pretending that?

Robert Fisk
The Independent
Thu, 17 May 2018 15:29 UTC
gaza protest march of return
© European Press AssociationIsraeli troops fire teargas at Palestinian protesters during clashes in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday May 14, 2018.
Remember how they were to blame for their own exodus seven decades ago, because they followed the instructions of radio stations to leave their homes until the Jews of Israel were 'driven into the sea'. Only, of course, the radio broadcasts never existed

Monstrous. Frightful. Wicked. It's strange how the words just run out in the Middle East today. Sixty Palestinians dead. In one day. Two-thousand-four-hundred wounded, more than half by live fire. In one day. The figures are an outrage, a turning away from morality, a disgrace for any army to create.

And we are supposed to believe that the Israeli army is one of "purity of arms"? And we have to ask another question. If it's 60 Palestinians dead in a day this week, what if it's 600 next week? Or 6,000 next month? Israel's bleak excuses - and America's crude response - raise this very question. If we can now accept a massacre on this scale, how far can our immune system go in the days and weeks and months to come?

Comment:

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Arrow Down

EU dips into rainy day fund as member economies are hit by collapse in investment


RT
Sun, 20 May 2018 15:21 UTC
St. Peter's Basilica
© Alessia Pierdomenico / ReutersSaint Peter's Basilica is seen behind a statue depicting Saint Catherine
Capital investment in 24 of the EU's 28 member states has fallen dramatically over the past ten years, according to data from statistical agency Eurostat.

Investment decreased on average by 2.3 percent, falling to 20.1 percent of GDP last year. It stood at 22.4 percent from 2007 to 2017 period. Countries in Europe's east and south, which were more vulnerable to the crisis, experienced the biggest drops in investment in the years following the crisis, Eurostat reports.

Statistics showed that only three EU countries have seen their investments increase. Those are Sweden (from 23.9 percent of GDP in 2007 to 24.9 percent), Austria by 0.6 percent and Germany by 0.2 percent.
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Info

German broadcaster: Ramadan an older German custom than Oktoberfest

Chris Tomlinson
Breitbart
Fri, 18 May 2018 15:16 UTC
german muslims
© Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images
German radio broadcaster Deutschlandfunk Kulturhas claimed that the Islamic holy month of Ramadan is not only an "old German custom" but that it had been celebrated in the country longer than Oktoberfest.

In an article, journalist Eren Güvercin claims that Ramadan is a thoroughly German holiday and that there is no question that Islam belongs to Germany.

Güvercin maintains that the practice is older the Oktoberfest, also known in Bavaria as Wiesn. While he provides no evidence for his assertion, the earliest Wiesn celebrations are thought to have been held on 12 October 1810 to celebrate the marriage of Prince Ludwig, later King Ludwig I, and Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen.

The oldest mosque in Germany, by contrast, was built in Berlin in 1915 and was discovered by an archaeological team in 2015. The mosque, which was made of wood, was thought to have been intended for Muslim prisoners of war as it was built inside a World War One-era prison camp.

"Fasting in the month of Ramadan has long been part of the German religious landscape. It is a German reality. To break the fast in the evening, many people gather in Germany to eat together and to meet each other," Güvercin said.
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