Mois : septembre 2008

Linked with The world after the Russia-Georgia war.

… Today, he is Professor and Chair of International Law at King’s College, London (where he directs the MA Programme on International Peace and Security) … In 1991-92, he was First Deputy Foreign Minister of Estonia. And before that, Müllerson was Head of the International Law Department of the Institute of State and Law of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and Adviser to President Gorbachev. No wonder he appears to know the Russian mentality more clearly than any American author I have read. (He may also understand the Chinese, as the first review I found on Google of this book was by Sienho Yee, in The Chinese Journal of International Law). Finally, he understands the concerns of the international community and NGOs. For, Müllerson spent 2004 as UN Regional Adviser for Central Asia, and his published works include International Law: Rights and Politics (Routledge, 1994); Human Rights Diplomacy (Routledge, 1997) and Ordering Anarchy: International Law in International Society (Kluwer Law International, 2000). Quite simply, there is no better guide to explore this landscape with than Müllerson … (full text Registan.net, May 5th, 2008).

His Profile also on King’s College, London; on openDemocracy.

..

Rein Müllerson – Estonia

Excerpt of a review of his book, Central Asia–A Chessboard and Player in the New Great Game: … Unlike some commentators who may indulge in emotionalism, name-calling, or blame-gaming, Mullerson takes a cool, calm and penetrating look at the ways Central Asians view their role in world affairs, and how other countries treat Central Asia. This book is deeply personal, filled with anecdotes and humane observations based on personal experience. No doubt his biography has made Müllerson uniquely qualified as a political analyst … Müllerson understands the difficulties former Soviet republics have faced in adapting to change following the collapse of Communism … (full text Registan.net, May 5th, 2008).

Google Download-Books:

• Theory of International Law at the Threshold of the 21st Century, 1996, 1008 pages;
• Essays in Honour of Wang Tieya, 1994, 964 pages;
• Diplomatie, 1999, 246 pages.

The OHCHR Regional Advisor for Central Asia, Professor Rein Mullerson, arrived on Tuesday, 9 March 2004, in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The Regional Adviser is a key element of the OHCHR Regional Project for Central Asia. Professor Rein Mullerson, has significant expertise in international human rights standards and procedures and their application at the national level, and of the legal systems and practices in the region. He will be working at the policy and information levels. This will include participation as a trainer in project activities, the convening of roundtable discussion sessions on specific human rights issues for government officials and policy makers, serving as an independent expert to governments, NGOs, UN country teams and other international organizations active in the region, travelling to provincial areas, publishing articles, speaking at public events and in the mass media, and supporting coordination and cooperation with other international organizations and donors active in the field of human rights in the region. The Regional Advisor’s activities in the field of public information and policy development will contribute to the dissemination of human rights information as well as to the mainstreaming of human rights throughout governments’ policies and legislation, and in the work of UN country teams. (UNHCHR).

Continuer la lecture de « Rein Müllerson – Estonia »

Linked with Russia, Europe, USA and fundamental geopolitics, with The geopolitics of Georgia, with Perhaps 60% of today’s oil price is pure speculation, and with Endgame: Unregulated Private Money Creation.

Frederick William Engdahl (born 1944) has written on issues of energy, politics and economics for more than 30 years, beginning with the first oil shock in the early 1970s. He has contributed regularly to a number of publications, including Japan’s Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Foresight magazine, Grant’s Investor.com, European Banker and Business Banker International. He has also spoken at numerous international conferences on geopolitical, economic and energy subjects, and is active as a consulting economist … (full text).

Confessions of an ‘ex’ peak oil believer, Sept. 25, 2007.

F. William Engdahl is a leading analyst of the New World Order, author of the best-selling book on oil and geopolitics, A Century of War: Anglo-American Politics and the New World Order,’ His writings have been translated into more than a dozen languages. What is so frightening about Engdahl’s vision of the world is that it is so real. Although our civilization has been built on humanistic ideals, in this new age of « free markets », everything –  science, commerce, agriculture and even seeds –  have become weapons in the hands of a few global corporation barons and their political fellow travelers. To achieve world domination, they no longer rely on bayonet-wielding soldiers. All they need is to control food production … (Global Research.ca).

The video: Journalist F. William Engdahl on Alex Jones Tv: »A Century of War », 1/2, 10:54 min, Added: September 03, 2008.

..

F. William Engdahl – Germany and USA

Abridgement of A Century of War, some of his articles.

His official website: Geopolitics – Geoeconomics, and his video on the frontpage: “US tries to create an iron curtain around Russia”, 4.52 min.

He writes: … The deal would further divide European countries into what Barack Obama’s foreign policy adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski calls openly, US « vassals » and those pursuing more independent policies. Any illusions that a Democratic Obama Presidency would mean a rollback of such provocative NATO and US military moves of recent years should be dismissed as dangerous wishful thinking. Obama’s foreign policy team in addition to father Zbigniew Brzezinski, includes Brzezinski’s son, Ian Brzezinski, current US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for European and NATO Affairs. Ian Brzezinski is a devout backer of US missile defense policy, as well as Kosovo independence and NATO expansion into Ukraine and Georgia. (full text, Aug 15, 2008).

The Pentagon’s alarming project: Avian Flu Biowar Vaccine, Aug 14, 2008.

He writes also: … China clearly views Africa as a central part of its strategic plan, most notably for its oil reserves and vital raw materials such as copper, chrome, nickel. The continent is also at the same time becoming an important region for Chinese manufactured exports. But the raw materials battle is at the heart, and the real reason by all accounts, why Washington recently decided to form a separate Africa Command in the Pentagon. (full text, July 30. 2008).

Continuer la lecture de « Frederick William Engdahl – Germany and USA »

Susan Brownell Anthony (February 15, 1820 – March 13, 1906) was a prominent American civil rights leader who played a pivotal role in the 19th century women’s rights movement to secure women’s suffrage in the United States. She traveled the United States and Europe, and gave 75 to 100 speeches per year on women’s rights for 45 years … (full long text).

Her bio on UMKC: … to another generation of American, she was « Aunt Susan, » the crusader who devoted a lifetime of tireless work to the cause of women’s rights …; on Research MITH; on winning the vote; on Project Gutenberg: The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony (Volume 1 of 2) by Ida Husted Harper, and: An Account of the Proceedings on the Trial of Susan B. Anthony, on the Charge of, and: Susan B. Anthony by Alma Lutz; on Rochester History Resources; on fyne times; on Quotation Park; on about.com; on Lakewood Public Library /Women in History; … and thousands more …

Regarding her Trial on the charge of illegal voting (1874), find her quotations on wikiquote.

She said: « The true woman will not be exponent of another, or allow another to be such for her. She will be her own individual self… Stand or fall by her own individual wisdom and strength… She will proclaim the « glad tidings of good news » to all women, that woman equally with man was made for her own individual happiness, to develop … every talent given to her by God, in the great work of life ». (wikiquote).

..

Susan Brownell Anthony – USA (1820 – 1906)

Miss Susan B. Anthony Died This Morning, March 13, 1906 on NYT.

She said also: « The men and women of the North are slaveholders, those of the South slaveowners. The guilt rests on the North equally with the South ». (wikiquote).

Civil Rights Pictures.

And she said: « Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputation and social standing, never can bring about a reform. Those who are really in earnest must be willing to be anything or nothing in the world’s estimation ». (wikiquote).

Argument for the Defense Concerning Legal Issues in the Case of United States vs Susan B. Anthony, May 31, 1870.

And then she said: « Many Abolitionists have yet to learn the ABC of woman’s rights ». (wikiquote).

CIVIL RIGHTS: Judges followed Parks’ bold lead, College of Charleston News Stories, November 2005.

And more she said: We assert the province of government to be to secure the people in the enjoyment of their unalienable rights. We throw to the winds the old dogma that governments can give rights ». (wikiquote).

Continuer la lecture de « Susan Brownell Anthony – USA (1820 – 1906) »

Mary Ann Wright (born 1947) is a retired United States Army colonel and retired official of the U.S. State Department, known for her outspoken opposition to the Iraq War. She is most noted for having been one of three State Department officials to publicly resign in direct protest of the March 2003 invasion of Iraq …(full text).

Resignation: Wright submitted her resignation letter to then U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on March 19, 2003, the day before the onset of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Her letter was published on the internet the following day. In her resignation letter, Wright listed four reasons she could no longer work for the U.S. government under the Bush administration:

• The decision to invade Iraq without the blessing of the U.N. Security Council
• The « lack of effort » in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process
• The « lack of policy » in regard to North Korea
• The curtailment of civil liberties within the United States.

Mary Ann Wright has been a career military woman, a State Department diplomat, and an influential spokesperson in the anti-war movement. She served 13 years in active duty, 16 years in the Army reserves, and another 16 years as a foreign diplomat in countries such as Nicaragua, Somalia, Uzbekistan, and Sierra Leone. She is coauthor with Susan Dixon of « Dissent: Voices of Conscience », the stories of those in the Bush administration and other governments who have had the courage to speak out. « Dissent » was published January 2008 by Koa Books. Transcript From militarism to peace: … (full text).

..

(Mary) Ann Wright, Col. (Retd.) – USA

Her video on RealNewsNetwork, on responsible US withdrawal from Iraq and the prospects for a peaceful future, 7.23 min, Sept. 4, 2008.

Biography for Mary A. (Ann) Wright.

Mary A. Wright’s resignation letter, March 21, 2003.

Ann Wright’s address to Sacramento City College on 10-16-07 MP3 Real Media (click on download to hear the audio).

Ann Wright’s address at Time Tested Book, Sacramento, CA on 10-17-07 MP3 Real Media (click on download to hear the audio).

Wright was the third of three State Department officials to retire from service in protest in the month prior to the invasion of Iraq, the other two being Brady Kiesling and John H. Brown. Wright says that she did not know the other two, and had not read their resignation letters at the time she submitted her own … (full text).

Wright was the third of three State Department officials to retire from service in protest in the month prior to the invasion of Iraq, the other two being Brady Kiesling and John H. Brown. Wright says that she did not know the other two, and had not read their resignation letters at the time she submitted her own … (full text).

Continuer la lecture de « (Mary) Ann Wright, Col. (Retd.) – USA »

Added November 10, 2008: Miriam Makeba dies (1932 – 2008).

Linked with Miriam Makeba, South Africa dies (1932 – 2008).

*****

Miriam Makeba (b. March 4, 1932) is a Grammy Award-winning South African singer, also known as Mama Afrika. Miriam Zenzi Makeba was born in Johannesburg in 1932. Her mother was a Swazi sangoma and her father, who died when she was six, was a Xhosa. As a child, she sang at the Kilmerton Training Institute in Pretoria, which she attended for eight years … Her marriage to Trinidadian civil rights activist and Black Panthers leader Stokely Carmichael in 1968 caused controversy in the United States, and her record deals and tours were cancelled. As a result of this, the couple moved to Guinea, where they became close with President Ahmed Sékou Touré and his wife … In 2002, she shared the Polar Music Prize with Sofia Gubaidulina. In 2004, Makeba was voted 38th in the Top 100 Great South Africans. Makeba started a worldwide farewell tour in 2005, holding concerts in all of those countries that she had visited during her working life. She is still touring as of May 2008 … (full long text).

Listen to: Pata Pata, 3.03 min; Paul Simon & Miriam Makeba, 4.03 min; The Click Song 1966, 2 min; N’Kosi Sikeleli Africa, 6.53 min; Amampondo, 5.40 min; Soweto Blues, 5.23 min.

..

Miriam Makeba – South Africa (1932 – 2008)

Miriam Makeba: A True South African musical legend.

Find her profile on Al-Ahram: After Cairo — this recent visit was her first — she returns to South Africa to make final preparations for a tour of the US which kicks off in Boston on 1 November. The tour will also take her to San Francisco, New Orleans, New York and Washington, where, at the invitation of the wives of the Arab ambassadors, she is to sing in honour of Mandela at the Kennedy Centre together with her old friend Belafonte. Thus will all the strands of her life — all the people Miriam Makeba has been, all the places she has seen, and all the causes for which she has raised her voice — come together at last … (full long text).

Her unofficial website, with: Photo Gallery; her story in german, in english; on records; honours and awards; appearances in movies and on TV.

She says: … « At the end of one show, two men come to see me. I can tell right away by their Dutch looks, and by the way they look at me as if they own me, that they are Afrikaners. The two men from South Africa do not seem happy. One of them says:
– We came here because we thought we’d hear music from home. Why don’t you sing any lietjies? A lietjie is a white folk tune in Afrikaans. I could say to these men that I do not know Afrikaans. That would not be unusual for a native. But, as I say, I am getting a little bit bolder. – When you start singing in my language, I tell them, I will start singing in yours » … (full text).

Continuer la lecture de « Miriam Makeba – South Africa (1932 – 2008) »

Berenice Abbott (July 17, 1898 – December 9, 1991), born Bernice Abbott, was an American photographer best known for her black-and-white photography of New York City architecture and urban design of the 1930s … full long text) … more on wikipedia: changing NY; scientific work; Approach to photography; Europe: Photography and poetry.

… During the 1920s Abbott became « the semiofficial portraitist of the intelligentsia » in Paris and New York. Her straightforward, detailed, powerful images of such luminaries as James Joyce, André Gide, and Peggy Guggenheim made her famous. In the 1930s, Abbott continued her portrait work while completing a 10-year project commissioned by the Works Progress Administration: documenting the changing landscape of New York City … (full text).

Accomplished American photographer Berenice Abbott may be best known for her photographs of New York City’s changing cityscape, but she also made memorable images of lesbians, bisexuals, and gay men in Paris in the 1920s and in New York from the 1930s through 1965 … (full text).

She said: « I didn’t decide to be a photographer; I just happened to fall into it » … (full text).

..

Berenice Abbott – USA (1898 – 1991)

Some of her photos:

• Changing New York, in the NY public library, NY changing.com, and in Museum of the city of NY;
• Portraits NY/Paris;
• An overview of her work shown through 10 photographs at ‘Get The Picture‘;
• on masters of photography;
• actuphoto, Aug 24, 2008;
• Das Porträt als Biografie, Aug 14, 2008;
• Una habitación propia en París, Aug 13, 2008;
• Yancey Richardson Gallery;
• La photographie à la New York Public Library et l’exposition Eminent Domain, Aug 22, 2008.
  

Inspired by Berenice Abbott.

Abbott’s photographs consistently reflect her innate appreciation for the profound documentary capacity of rigorously conceived images to impart information in an aesthetically engaging way. Within four major thematic categories – Portraits (1920s-1930s), New York City (1930s-1940s), Science (1940-1950s), and American Scenes (1930s-1960s) – Abbott’s photographs effectively unite the personal and the impersonal in one penetrating body of work. Her systematic documentary photography of New York City for the Federal Arts Project during 1935-1939, Changing New York is the subject pictured here … (full text).

Continuer la lecture de « Berenice Abbott – USA (1898 – 1991) »

.Linked with … Producers Unlawfully Arrested At the RNC, and with Amy Goodman – USA.

Michel Husson (born 1949) is a French economist specialised in econometrics. Husson is a member of the body of administrators of the French National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies (english website). He is equally a member of the Copernic Foundation (french website) and of ATTAC’s scientific board. (IIRE).

(He) is an economist and a member of the Scientific Council of ATTAC in France … (full text).

A larger Bio (formation, militant activity) on speedy look.

Michel Husson est un statisticien et économiste français travaillant à l’Institut de recherches économiques et sociales et connu pour ses travaux sur la politique de l’emploi. Né le 3 avril 1949 à Lyon, il a milité au PSU puis à la LCR et est aujourd’hui militant altermondialiste … (full text).

His Homepage/ son site web (with articles in many languages).

..

Michel Husson – France

Videos in french with Michel Husson: Congrès Marx 5, 22.07 min, Juin 29, 2008; Refutations, 67.34, May 7, 2007 … (Plus 4 Videos avec ses collègues sur la politique actuelle: Refutations et d’un, 18.04 min, Avril 30, 2007; Refutations, et de deux, 15.31 min, Avril 30, 2007; Refutations, et de trois, 15 min, avril 30, 2007; Refutations quattre, 16.46 min, April 30, 2007).

À propos d’une étude sur le marché du travail, le 2/01/2008.

La relación salarial, 10-8-2008.

Published on his website, by European Labour Network for Economic Policy elnep, Brussels: Financial crisis threatens employment and growth, Policy responses needed, 60 pdf pages, May 2008 … Résumée en français: La crise financière met l’emploi et la croissance en péril – des réponses politiques sont nécessaires, 4 pages.

Ideology Factories, Oct. 17, 2007.

He says: … It shows that the scope of the crisis requires « intervention at the heart of the ’game,’ that is, by radically transforming its structures » and observes that within the European Union, « any transformation runs up against the unbelievable protection the treaties found it necessary to accord financial capital. » Then it proposes two precise objectives: the abrogation of Article 56 of the Treaty of Lisbon and restriction of the « freedom of establishment » provided for in Article 48 that prohibit all restrictions on capital movements. Certainly, this is inadequate to define an overall policy, but it does allow us to conduct a concrete campaign around a key question, that of the necessary control of capital movements. And Europe is a vast and integrated enough economic unit for another policy to be envisaged at that level … (full interview text, April 17, 2008).

Continuer la lecture de « Michel Husson – France »