On the Middle East – Tensions between Russia, Syria and Iran boil to the surface… but the alliance will remain.
Syrian army liberating swaths of Idlib Province from Turkish-supported Islamic mercenaries in northwest Syria
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Have been reading about this for several weeks now- signs of which have appeared here and there. Knowing my interest in the Middle East, friends have sent me articles I would have otherwise missed. Is the Russian-Iranian-Syrian-Hezbollah alliance – the “Axis of Resistance” falling apart? Will the tensions between Russia and Syria result in some kind of split?
Wishful thinking on the part of both Republicans and Democrats in Washington. Ain’t a gonna happen.
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Yogi Berra, the New York Yankees catcher and baseball philosopher once said, “It ain’t over till it’s over!”… “and even then, it ain’t over,”others have added.
So it is with U.S. meddling in Syria even though “the game” (U.S. efforts to overthrow the Assad government and partition Syria) is lost and the Assad government, with international aid from Iran, Russia and Hezbollah in Lebanon have won back large swaths of the country to the national embrace.
Well there is something afoot – tensions between allies Russia, Iran and Syria have boiled over and have become public. The Russian press – at high levels – has expressed frustrations with the Assad government in Syria’s unwillingness to negotiate a settlement that would give less than full sovereignty over its territory.
Have been reading about this for several weeks now- signs of which have appeared here and there. Knowing my interest in the Middle East, friends have sent me articles I would have otherwise missed. Is the Russian-Iranian-Syrian-Hezbollah alliance – the “Axis of Resistance” falling apart? Will the tensions between Russia and Syria result in some kind of split?
Wishful thinking on the part of both Republicans and Democrats in Washington. Ain’t a gonna happen. Read more…
Iranian medical workers in April, when the Coronavirus started finally to slow and slipped below 1000 cases a day for the first time. Photo Credit: al Jazeera
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The addition of oil from shale on the international market was already lowering the price per barrel of oil to such a degree that it was hurting all oil producing countries. Venezuela had to be included as well. Then the coronavirus pandemic comes along and does its damage but the interesting thing is – what is it that is collapsing? – What’s collapsing is the U.S. domestic oil industry. The oil shale industry. It’s in trouble, I don’t see it lasting much longer.
Rob Prince
The other issue is the risk of confrontation either by accident or by design. When too many U.S naval vessels in the region (Persian Gulf) – in that small restrictive space where the Iranians are agitated and they want to prove that they can defend their own country and their own waters, accidents are almost inevitable, some unforeseen event that leads to a confrontation between two warships – one that fires, the other responds… and that is ‘the beginning of the end.’
Ibrahim Kazerooni
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Part Two: (continued from Part One)
Ibrahim Kazerooni: Rob, you spoke earlier about the oil glut, can you shed a little bit of light now and explain its origins?
Rob Prince: Yes, I wanted to delve into this a little bit more because in a certain way, it all kind of comes together – the oil glut and the Middle East.
If you look at the U.S. oil shale industry, it never made sense economically – and still doesn’t. Meaning what? That to process the shale and get the oil from it is very costly, It’s quite different from drilling a hole in the ground in Saudi Arabia or Libya or Iran.
Ibrahim Kazerooni: By the way Rob, you are right – the wells are unstable. What is the reality? The reality is that oil has been entrapped in porous holes in different kinds of sand and rock, To get at it, what is necessary is to drill three, four, five holes and then inject either brime or steam or the like so that the mix of oil and rock liquefies so that it can be extracted from the ground.
It’s totally different from Middle East oil extraction.
Rob Prince: Yes, it’s a very complex process and of course a very polluting process.
Given that both the (U.S.) government and the major oil companies are well aware of what we just described, Ibrahim, one has to wonder why are they engaged in such a non-cost effective process anyhow.
Why are they doing it?
The answer goes back to the early years of the George W. Bush Administration when the then vice president, Dick Cheney, who more or less ran the show, put together put together a big energy task force that produced a report. One of the conclusions of that report was that the United States had grown too dependent upon Middle East oil in a region of “unstable governments” – I think that was the term used and that Washington should work towards “energy independence.” Read more…
Hans Modrow. He’s still alive at 92
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While he didn’t go into great detail about its failings, the GDR’s glaring internal contradictions, Modrow did cite a number of problems: the lack of democracy in the system and the fact that the country’s youth felt they had no role, no contribution to make in the country’s future. He insisted that rather than rejecting Socialism that Marxists should instead learn from the system’s failures so that it could rise from the ashes, once again, as a system that had the possibility of liberating humanity…and that it would rise again because of the very nature of the world, the capitalist world in which we are living.
Speaking of Hans Modrow, the last leader of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) before it collapsed and was reunited with the Federal Republic of Germany
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1.
On social media, someone posted an article from “The Jacobin” – an online Marxist source and a pretty good one at that – an article on the shift to the right in the Balkan country of Bulgaria with the headline “Never Forget What The Facsists Did.” The sub-headline reads “In Bulgaria, campaigns that equate Communism with Nazism aren’t about defending democracy against “Russian meddling,” they’re about rehabilitating Bulgarian fascism and its complicity in the Holocaust. It is written by one Jana Tsoneva who is described at the end of the article as “pursuing a PhD in sociology at the Central European University in Budapest. She works in the fields of political and economic sociology and is a member of the Collective for Social Interventions, Sofia.”
Realizing that for many Americans – and those who read this blog – the happenings in Bulgaria are far afield, still I urge you to read the piece, which from where I’m sitting is excellent. Although it deals with Bulgarian history, its themes are more generic, more universal. Its well written and its main message – that Communism and Fascism essentially have nothing in common – and how that comparison is repeated misused as an excuse for countries to move to the extreme political proto-fascist right – is worth understanding.
I’ve never bought into Fascism and Communism are twins joined at the hip… even though at times there are, what I would call superficial similarities. Dig deeper and the essence of the societies is profoundly different. Same goes for their historic leaders. Stalin and Hitler are often portrayed as psychic twins, which they weren’t. For all his foibles – and they were many – Stalin was not Hitler and Soviet Communism for all its weaknesses had virtually nothing in common with Nazism once the surface is scratched… And it is true that Soviet Communism collapsed and before it did, gave the world Chernobyl.
Dr. Hasan Ayoub – No Way to Treat a Child: Palestinian Children in Israeli Detention – webinar Thursday, May 14, 2020, 7 pm.
Please join us for a webinar with Dr. Hasan S. Ayoub, Assistant Professor, Political Science Department at An-Najah University in Nablus, covering Palestinian Studies, U.S. Policy in the Middle East, Political Sociology, Political Change, and Challenges of Development
He is currently spending a sabbatical in Denver as a Center for Middle East Studies Visiting Scholar, Korbel School of International Studies. He returns to the University of Denver where he completed both his MA (2009) and his PhD (2012) in International Politics, Comparative Politics.
Dr. Ayoub will speak about his and his family’s personal experiences in Israeli prisons as children and about current legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives, No Way To Treat A Child—HR 2407, “Promoting Human Rights for Palestinian Children Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act,” a bill prohibiting U.S. taxpayer funding for the military detention of children by any country, including Israel.
H.R. 2407 seeks to promote justice, equality and human rights by ensuring that United States financial assistance provided to the Government of Israel is not used to support widespread and institutionalized ill-treatment against Palestinian children detained by Israeli forces and prosecuted in Israeli military courts lacking basic fair trial protections.
Please share!
Dr. Hasan Ayoub
Read a recent article he wrote for Mondoweiss, “The Deal of the Century Endorses Zionist Ethno-religious Claims”: https://mondoweiss.net/2020/02/the-deal-of-the-century-endorses-zionist-ethno-religious-claims/?fbclid=IwAR3NycSsn9jR9Zh1DcDpd6u8jjURnf5fBsZGoYjO6axFwC10Fc9nC8O_J4g
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Topic: No Way to Treat a Child – Palestinian Children in Israeli Detention, with Dr. Hasan Ayoub
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Year of the Plague 19 – Visit to Lowell Ponds…
Wood ducks and ducklings at Lowell Ponds, S. Adams County, Colorado – May 9, 2020
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I had first heard of them some time ago from an unusual source. Ishi, considered the “last Yahi”, the California Native American who came out of the woods more than a hundred years ago and spent the last years of his life in the care of anthropologist A. E. Kroeber, made a recording of “the wood duck story” that went on for a full 28 hours. It was translated in part by T. T. Waterman and partially transcribed. The recordings of Ishi’s voice in Yana remain. Ishi’a retelling of his people’s fable “The Story of Wood Duck” spans 51 cylinders and was said to last more than 24 hours in all. In 2010, these recordings were chosen by the Librarian of Congress for the National Recording Registry, an annual list of recordings deemed to be of vital import to the history and culture of the United States. Those 51 cylinders of Ishi’s audio recordings were a part of the 148 wax cylinders in which Ishi told stories of his people in his language, a primary source of information about his people.
So I always wondered what wood ducks looked like and why Ishi could talk about them for 28 hours. When I first saw that pair in La Junta, I kind of understood.
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Lowell Pond Wood Ducks…
Went to Lowell Ponds, South Adams County, Colorado, early this morning after Tim McCarthy alerted me to the fact that there were Wood ducklings there. Dan Aykroyd’s line from the Blues Brothers “We’re on a mission from God” came to mind. Knew I had to go.
A cool sunny morning and at 8 am the place was empty.
When I first arrived at Lowell Ponds there appeared to be five or six adults along with the ducklings. Almost immediately all but one female adult flew off – probably because of my presence. A male returned a few minutes later and accompanied the little brew around the western edge of the pond going back and forth among the weeds. At one point the whole family got rather close, within a 100 feet of where I was standing on the southern edge of the pond. As long as I stood still, they didn’t seem to mind my presence but as soon as I moved, the male would get nervous and fly away… and then come back a few minutes later.
A few people showed up, another birder with his binoculars, a fisherman and just before I left after an hour and a half, a young couple with five dogs. In these social distancing times we all well separated from one another although I did share a few words with the dog owners, mentioning the wood ducks and their babies. They knew already – yes, I was told, they’ve been here for a while, seven ducklings in all. But I had only counted five so two had apparently had already not made it.
Until recently, Wood Ducks were not so plentiful here in Colorado. Like other bird species, they have had a rough time of it. In the early 20th century the species was threatened with extinction. Wood Ducks are unusual in that they nest and have their young generally high up in trees. Logging, cutting down larger variety resulted in habitat loss as did hunting. Legal protection and provision of nest boxes helped recovery; many thousands of nest boxes now occupied by Wood Ducks in U.S. and southern Canada.
La Junta Wood Duck couple. April 2019
In recent years, apparently has been expanding range in north and west. This year they seem to be plentiful along Colorado’s Front Range.
They have their own patterns of behavior.
They nest in trees because they cannot dig their own nests and tend to forage for food by dabbling along the shores of lakes and ponds but are also known to graze for food on land. The females habitually return to the same places every year to hatch their eggs during the breeding season along with their mates. Unlike other duck species that tend to intermingle, wood ducks go it alone. I saw an example of this as the female duck in this picture chased off a mallard pair who had gotten to close to her young. They do congregate in groups of their own kind however, but in small numbers, no more than 20 at a time.
Wood ducks are among the more colorful ones in North America, especially the males like the one above behind his mate and the five ducklings. Although like other bird life they have had a rough time of it as a result of habitat reduction, they remain rather common. I’ve seen many photos of them published on social media websites that specialize in birds. But personally my wood duck sightings have been rather rare. My first encounter with them was in La Junta a year ago on a trip to through southeastern Colorado on my way to Quivera National Wildlife Preserve in south central Kansas. A pair was by a pond in that town’s city park. I was quite excited about that. Although others have posted photos of them, especially along the South Platte south of Denver in Littleton, I had never seen wood ducks in the Denver area until two weeks ago.
I had first heard of them some time ago from an unusual source. Ishi, considered the “last Yahi”, the California Native American who came out of the woods more than a hundred years ago and spent the last years of his life in the care of anthropologist A. E. Kroeber, made a recording of “the wood duck story” that went on for a full…. It was translated in part by T. T. Waterman and partially transcribed. The recordings of Ishi’s voice in Yana remain. Ishi’a retelling of his people’s fable “The Story of Wood Duck” spans 51 cylinders and was said to last more than 24 hours in all. In 2010, these recordings were chosen by the Librarian of Congress for the National Recording Registry, an annual list of recordings deemed to be of vital import to the history and culture of the United States. Those 51 cylinders of Ishi’s audio recordings were a part of the 148 wax cylinders in which Ishi told stories of his people in his language, a primary source of information about his people.
So I always wondered what wood ducks looked like and why Ishi could talk about them for 28 hours. When I first saw that pair in La Junta, I kind of understood.
Coronavirus – Tunis. Photo Credit: Admed Zarrouki
KGNU – Hemispheres – Middle East Dialogues – April 28, 2020
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Iran thus is facing a three part crisis: the economic crisis caused by the sanctions and the drop in oil prices, the Coronavirus and now the threat of war has resulted in a huge challenge to the Iranian government, although on the other had, economically they have been able to produce non-oil exports in order, literally, to stay alive.
– Ibrahim Kazerooni. KGNU. April 28, 2020 –
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Jim Nelson: Good evening and thanks for tuning in to Hemispheres; I’m your host Jim Nelson and thanks for tuning into listener-supported radio at KGNU Boulder-Denver-Ft. Collins, kgnu.org for those listening on line.
Rob Prince: There is a tendency in the United States – not just here, but here it’s particularly strong to view this pandemic only within the limited framework of what is happening in our country as if what is happening in the USA itself is enough or is separate from how the pandemic is growing/playing itself out globally.
We are dealing with a phenomenon that is truly global and we need to look at how it moves across the world.
Oil
Let’s start with the collapse of oil prices. the strangest thing…but those of you who have followed the oil markets in recent years…perhaps not as surprising as it seems.
– On April 20, the price of oil (bought in the United States) went below zeros for the first time in its history. Sellers are actually paying buyers to take oil… Oil has no price
Ibrahim Kazerooni: Before we move on into the oil glut, let’s remain focused on one or two issues within the Middle east.
I agree that starting the discussion with oil when you want to talk about the Middle East is inseparable – the production, selling of oil. Any threat to oil becomes existential for the Middle Eastern countries.
Just before the program started there was a BBC report from Lebanon related to the economy and healthcare in light of the current pandemic. This oil glut, oil crisis plays out its own dynamic when it comes to the pandemic in the Middle East, particularly when it comes to the case of Iran.
From the 1979 beginning of the Islamic Revolution, Iran has literally been under economic sanctions, military sanctions by the United States. Since then, the United States has never shied away from using oil excess capacity of various countries (Saudi Arabia) to break Iran’s back, it’s oil based economy. It has used this weapon against Iran as well as Russia and a few other countries., but it has been done specifically with regard to Iran. Read more…
Year of the Plague 18 – “We Deserve to Survive” Camp Demands Action From the City of Denver
“We Deserve A Right To Survive” – Tent Camp. 33rd and Curtis
“We Deserve to Survive” Camp Demands Action From the City
Press Conference at We Deserve to Survive camp on 33rd and Curtis Saturday May 2nd 2020, 1pm
The Press Conference will also be live on Denver Homeless Out Loud Facebook if you would like to watch from afar
On Wednesday night, April 29th, just ahead of the City’s mass sweep, a group who had been living in tents on the blocks set to be swept moved onto a plot of vacant land on 33rd and Curtis to start an organized safe camp called “We Deserve to Survive.” They have been cleaning the land and keeping a safe socially distanced camp on vacant unused land since then. Residents state, “We are doing our part. We are doing all we can.” They are demanding the City and State do their part to simply allow them to survive as they cannot afford housing.
Residents of the “We Deserve to Survive” camp state, “We are left with the choice between going to mass congregate shelters and catching COVID-19 or staying in a tent and trying to survive. We choose survival.”
The camp was told today by a police officer that they have until Tuesday before they will be kicked off the site with force. The office said the property owner wants them off, but the property owner has not been in direct contact with residents and residents of the camp still do not know if this is truly the bidding of the property owner.
This site has been vacant for countless years, open and accessible to the public, unused for anything. The “We Deserve to Survive” camp is demanding the City buy this land and give it to the people for a safe tent site so we can survive this pandemic and then build housing we can afford. The camp is even willing to rent the space from the land owner at an affordable rate.
If not here than where?
They are demanding the City and State step up to the plate and do their job to protect the residents of Denver by providing housing, or at the very least a plot of land for them to survive.
Since the City never does their job, if you are a land owner this community is also calling out for your space! They will improve on your land and hold down a community-run space for those with no home to live in these health and housing crises.
“We Deserve to Survive” camp is a safe social distancing site. Each of our tents are kept 6 feet apart in line with the CDC guidance. And port-a-potties and hand washing stations will be on site as soon as the camp is more sure of their stability at the site. This camp is a self-governed community. Residents work together to keep things safe and clean and support each other.
Why are they living in tents and not houses? Residents state emphatically, “If we could afford housing we would!” Housing is not being built for low-income and working class people. If you work full time minimum wage (or even above) you cannot afford an apartment in Denver. Signs on their tents say, “I would gladly trade this tent for a house.”
Come to a press conference with the We Deserve to Survive camp at 33rd and Curtis on Saturday May 2nd 2020 at 2pm to hear from residents what they are doing and see the camp in person.
Donations of food, water, brooms, shovels, hand sanitizer, or land are welcome!
Contact:
info@denverhomelessoutloud.org
720-940-5291
Colorado National Guard setting up at the Colorado State Veterans Home at Fitzsimons, in Aurora, Colorado
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Update on May 7, 2020: Now up to six deaths at “Fitz”: 5 on the Heritage Wing, and one on what is referred to as “Eagle-Right.” The virus has also spread to the Patriot Wing. Only one wing of the facility, Constitution is Coronavirus-positive free. A bit of good news: a 103 year-old female veteran tested positive but has no symptoms!
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2 residents of Aurora Veterans Home die, 14 others at positive for COVID-19
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What is happening at the Colorado State Veterans’ Home – the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic there is a part of something far more extensive. A week ago, last time I could find info there were 85 out of 272 nursing homes (or there abouts) in Colorado that were reporting COVID-19 positive tests. According to this article in a week, the number of infected facilities has jumped to 149!! that is almost 55% of all nursing home and long-term care facilities in the state.
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(postscript – the day after. Good news – none of the staff tested positive. Bad news – three more residents died today (Friday, May 1, 2020), and two wings are in isolation – Eagle and Heritage – the Alzheimer’s unit”)
Of course it’s good to see them – the Colorado National Guard setting up camp outside of the Colorado State Veterans Home at Fitzsimons… even if it’s terribly late in the game, their presence is welcomed.
Still “too little too late” – that seems to be the “on the ground” response to the Coronavirus pandemic hitting Colorado state institutions – its nursing home, long term care facilities, its prisons and its meat packing industry.
How much pain could have been averted, how many lives saved for earlier, more aggressive interventions, better personal protection equipment, earlier testing and with a Stay-At-Home policy with teeth?
Finally hitting the mainstream news… although the word had been getting out anecdotally for three weeks, maybe longer; terrified staff eating lunch in cars to minimize contacts, late improvement of PPE’s, chaos in the Alzheimer’s Ward, inept facility management, several CNA’s infected and all along the state of Colorado in the know.
If an outsider like myself was aware that something was amiss, certainly the powers that be were in the know as well… and could have done something about it earlier, but as is the national tradition, they were late off the mark in responding.
And now, an even bigger mess.
Keep in mind that the headline below is a little deceiving… these are the stats prior to the COVID-19 test results coming in… 2 dead, 7 staff and 7 residents with the virus…
Contacted the media as soon as the warning signs began to appear. What’s fact? What’s rumor? Couldn’t tell but there was enough smoke coming from Fitz to know that the fire was there too. Here’s a story for you, a tip, mainstream media! Run with it. Nada. Again.
But now that the infections are well along, it hits the news.
Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman tweeted his concern for the veterans on Tuesday evening… a rather hollow statement that does not suggest that Aurora has any plans to address the pandemic at “Fitz” concretely. But then Coffman has long been a master of calming statements that have no teeth – brilliant sound bites that mean nothing. Looking at the record of his recent statements on the pandemic he makes it clear that from the outset he was against social distancing as is the current Republican mantra.
And keep in mind that as of yesterday, Aurora, with its burgeoning immigrant, working class, Black and LatinoX populations has just surpassed Denver as having the highest COVID-19 infection rate in the state. What are you doing about it Mike Coffman besides expressing your sympathies? Not much.
What is happening at the Colorado State Veterans’ Home – the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic there is a part of something far more extensive. A week ago, last time I could find info there were 85 out of 272 nursing homes (or there abouts) in Colorado that were reporting COVID-19 positive tests. According to this article in a week, the number of infected facilities has jumped to 149!! that is almost 55% of all nursing home and long-term care facilities in the state.
Not surprised… problem is systematic includes – low wage and poorly trained staff many of the forced to work, two, three jobs to make ends meet, revolving door of an impressively incompetent management, a Human Services division that at least with Hickenlooper was governor, was one of the worst run in the state – incompetents starting starting with Hickenlooper’s choice to head up Human Services and a state legislature which has choked the facility for funds – and all state facilities – so as to then to point the finger as to how inefficient is the system – a prelude to privatization (which I argue is just around the corner). And finally a form Democratic Colorado governor, Bill Ritter, who caved to the states’s Republican Party and business community and vetoed a bill which would have given the statewide employees union, ColoradoWINS, collective bargaining rights.
Am not close enough to the situation to know if the change in governors has lead to any substantial changes, improvements at Human Services, but Governor Polis has dropped the ball on the states’ nursing homes in this pandemic, as well as on the prisons and meat packing plants and his announcement of lifting the Stay At Home order seems dangerously pre-mature from where I am sitting.
Gravestone of Joseph Polowsky, of the 69th Infantry of the U.S. First Army, the unit that reached Torgau on April 25, 1945 as Soviet troops were entering Berlin to end the Nazi terror.
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While a turn in U.S – Russian relations is not likely now, anytime that the world’s two largest nuclear weapons powers can find common ground is a moment worth celebrating. Climate Change, the danger of nuclear war and the COVID-19 pandemic… The triple whammy humanity is facing. Joseph Polowsky would have understood their connection.
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Time for a pause in anti-Russian hysteria!
Hard as that is for both mainstream Democrats who have made a career on not forgiving Russia from pulling back from IMF structural adjustment programs that nearly led to the country’s post-Communist implosion, and for Republicans for whom anti-Russian hatred is simply a continuation of their anti-Sovietism in a new form.
April 25, 2020 marks the 75th Anniversary of the “Meeting at the Elbe“. Both Trump and Putin marked the occasions although I would venture to guess that the overwhelming majority of Americans never heard of it. A quick “Google” search suggests the mainstream media ignored the occasion. The Chinese press covered it; the White House issued a statement on it that went essentially un-noticed.
To its credit “Antiwar.com” covered it, although the article was more about who was at the Moscow celebrations than the event’s historical significance. It was also mentioned in the right-wing Washington Times – too busy these days building its shrill anti-Chinese propaganda campaign to deflect attention for Donald Trump’s deplorable handling of the Coronavirus crisis to be concerned about Russia for the moment.
The best description/analysis I have seen of the Elbe meeting and both its current and past significance, was written, once again, by retired Indian diplomat, M.K. Bhadrakumar. It is entitled “Trump and Putin revisit the “Spirit of the Elbe” and appears at “Indian Punchline.” It’s a very good piece and I recommend friends read it.
I wrote about it too, about six months ago. “Long Ago and Far Away: Remembering the U.S-Soviet Embrace at Torgau on the Elbe.” For the past 35 years, the occasion – remembering Torgau – has been important personally. I was there. April 25 1985 was the 40th anniversary of the “Meeting at the Elbe”… And for it the German Democratic Republic organized a grand international celebration… it included a major rally in Berlin and trips by the visiting international guests, of which I was one (representing the U.S. Peace Council in those days), to the Seelow Heights and to Torgau.
The Seelow Heights sits to the west of the Oder River in mid April of that year the Soviet military stormed those heights – it was not an easy offensive and eliminated the last Nazi defensive positions guarding Berlin, which they entered a few days later. I have seen read every thing I could get my hands on in English about the storming of the heights at Seelow.
Further south in Germany – units of the 69th Infantry Division of the U.S. First Army met with elements of the Soviet First Ukrainian Front in the southern German town of Torgau on the Elbe River. Among them was Joseph Polowsky ” Taft Republican who had served as a rifleman in the 273rd Infantry, Third Platoon, Sixty-ninth Division of the First U.S. Army, fighting the Nazis.” Polowsky, others from the American unit along with their Soviet counterparts, issued “The Oath of the Elbe” – a commitment on the part of soldiers from both countries to work for peace between their nations.
All through the Cold War, American and Soviet soldiers who shook hands at Torgau would – the rhetoric of their governments aside – meet in Torgau, commemorate that moment of U.S.-Soviet cooperation and re-commit themselves to detente and ending the nuclear arms race. On his request, Polowsky was buried in the cemetery at Torgau.
Soviets made a movie about it, the music for which was composed by the great Soviet composer, Dmitri Shostakovich; the U.S., in its Cold War rejection of U.S.-Soviet cooperation, purged the event from the American collective memory… kept alive only by those U.S. soldiers who had been there… and some peace and anti-nuclear activists.
There was at that time a moment of hope – soon swept away in large measure by the political stupidity of Harry Truman – a early post WW2 kind of Democratic Party version of Donald Trump (where it came to foreign policy where he was over his head and dependent upon hawks and megalomaniacs alike Dean Acheson).
While a turn in U.S – Russian relations is not likely now, anytime that the world’s two largest nuclear weapons powers can find common ground is a moment worth celebrating. Climate Change, the danger of nuclear war and the COVID-10 pandemic… The triple whammy humanity is facing. Joseph Polowsky would have understood their connection.
Shopping During The Coronavirus in Tunis, Tunisia. Photo Credit: Ahmed Zarrouki, Nawaat.org
The Coronavirus Spreads Through The Middle East… From Iran to Saudi Arabia, to the Occupied Palestinian Territories to North Africa: The Growing Pandemic and Trump Administration War Plans.
KGNU 1390 AM, 88.5 FM – Hemispheres, Middle East Dialogues with Ibrahim Kazerooni and Rob Prince. Tuesday, April 28, 2020. 6-7 pm Mountain Time. Hosted by Jim Nelson.
An oil glut – it was coming anyway but the Coronavirus pushed it well over the top, so much so that for a couple of days oil producers weren’t selling their project but paying others to take it! And with this glut, the death knell of the U.S. fracking and shale industry – one of the world’s most subsidized with tumble and soon fall. It has no future.
With its passing, the myth that the United States is “energy independent” and no longer dependent upon Middle Eastern oil will die with it. The Saudi effort to flood the market, put pressure on Russia and Iran has backfired badly as well. And now with hundreds of the royal family infected with COVID-19 and genocidal the war the Saudis are conducting in Yemen going from bad to worse, Riyadh is in trouble…actually pretty deep s@*t.
Meanwhile, the Coronavirus is only starting its deadly march into the Global South where S. Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) countries are bracing for the worst. Besides Iran, where the COVID-10 pandemic first took root, the virus is showing signs of taking off in the Palestinian Occupied Territories (W. Bank and Gaza), in Turkey where the numbers are exploding and in North Africa. After half a century of IMF structural adjustment programs that forced countries to cut social services – and in particular, public healthcare services – these regions are ripe for a rip-roaring COVID-19 pandemic that could make what has transpired in Italy and NYC look like childs’ play, especially if the virus follows the same trajectory as the 1918-1920 “Spanish Flu” (which actually started on a U.S. military base in Kansas – and should be named the Kansas Flu) killing far more in the Global South than it did in the more developed countries…
All this and more on Hemispheres, Middle East Dialogues on KGNU – Boulder – 1390 AM, 88.5 FM – 6-7 pm, Mountain States Time, hosted by Jim Nelso.
Clear Creek Walk Between Lowell and Federal Blvd. S. Adams County, Colorado. April 23, 2020
Clear Creek, just east of Lowell Blvd, S. Adams County, Colorado
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We used to walk here a lot, almost weekly it seemed. We’d walk along Clear Creek with Cloudy, our dog who died in 2009. It’s impossible to walk along that stretch of Clear Creek and not think of her. Now we were back again. It had been many years. Neither of us could remember how many.
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We’d parked in the lot where Clear Creek flows eastward towards the S. Platte on Lowell Blvd and then walk along the path that follows the creek northeast toward Federal Blvd. The creek fed a ditch that went off a little to its south; it headed due east came to an abrupt end just before Federal Blvd. On a hot summer’s day, Cloudy would love to jump into the ditch; it was one of her greatest joys. She’d stink for several hours afterwards but never regretted it despite the chewing out she’d get afterwards.
She lived to be almost sixteen although the last thee, four years were hard on her. Twice the family agreed that “it was time” to “put her down”, to take her to the vet. But both times before the vet could administer the injection that would gently kill her, the phone rang: “Don’t!!! Bring her home!” And I did. A wonderful spirited dog, a mutt, that shed like crazy all year round. We didn’t mind that very much though.
And now, given the restrictions of the Coronavirus pandemic, we were back on the path, our faces masked remembering to keep our distance from each other as we walked the path, bicycles whizzing by, and a couple of people on ATVs as well. Looking out from a bridge across the creek I notice… could it 
be?… wood ducks? We scamper off of the path on the brush that leads down to the creek. Yep… wood ducks – three of them, a couple along with another male. The couple are sitting on a large flat rock lodged in the midst of the creek, just checking out the scene.
Wood ducks on Clear Creek !
Looking south towards Bogota This autopista is normally chocked with traffic buses are generally stuffed to the gills. The normal crowded empty except for the police that man each station. Bus after empty bus stop at the station and move on. A few buses had one to three passengers (Photo Credit: Greg Rood)
Interviews with Greg Rood
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It’s not just a question of global solidarity, which it is in part, but there is also an element of self preservation involved as well, as pandemics know no borders. As Davis notes, “…because what could be incubated now in this African, S. Asian (and Latin American) phase of the pandemic could produce a `return COVID-19′ in a more frightening and lethal form.
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Intro…
Very little attention is given in the United States concerning the global nature of the pandemic, it’s still pretty much all about “us”, although the pandemic, like climate change, is worldwide. Given lower immunity rates, and poor or non-existing healthcare systems, many crippled and devastated by International Monetary Fund Structural Adjustment programs – for many countries in the Global South this pandemic is just beginning.
A colonial mentality remains in force. How to overcome it? At a time when the discourse about Coronavirus is becoming increasingly nationalistic, if not openly xenophobic, what is needed is precisely the opposite: a more universal, global approach that includes international coordination and cooperation. This is the lesson of the Coronavirus pandemic – not just Medicare for All in the USA but global coverage.
Sounds “unrealistic”? It isn’t.
Rather than its 800+ military bases all over the world, U.S. foreign policy should be working towards universal healthcare, to protect the health of people everywhere. As Mike Davis suggested in a recent interview, right now it should include:
- Much more global cooperation rather than the current Social Darwinist beggar-thy-neighbor, narrow nationalist approach of the Trump Administration (and others, Germany, U.K. come to mind).
- Protective gear, testing kits and eventually vaccines need to be produced to address not just the national, but the global nature of the pandemic. Such medical equipment needs to be supplied to the countries that will need it most – many of them in Global South, in Africa, South Asia, and in Central and South America.
It’s not just a question of global solidarity, which it is in part, but there is also an element of self preservation involved as well, as pandemics know no borders. As Davis notes, “…because what could be incubated now in this African, S. Asian (and Latin American) phase of the pandemic could produce a `return COVID-19′ in a more frightening and lethal form.
Very little attention is given in the United States concerning the global nature of the pandemic, it’s still pretty much all about “us”, although the pandemic, like climate change, is worldwide. Given lower immunity rates, and poor or non-existing healthcare systems, many crippled and devastated by International Monetary Fund Structural Adjustment programs – for many countries in the Global South this pandemic is just beginning.
Uncertainty, angst are the order of the day worldwide. These brief stories – of how the Coronavirus has effected the lives of people living in Bogota, Colombia were collected by Greg Rood and published below.
The crisis in Colombia, as elsewhere in the Global South, is many faceted. All across the country poor households are hanging red clothing and flags from their windows as a sign that they are hungry. In coastal state of La Guajira people have begun blocking roads to call attention to their need for food.
And the pandemic is just beginning.
Rob P.
Bogota, Colombia. Coabas strip mall, empty because of the Coronavirus pandemic
COVID 19
Bogota, Colombia
by Greg Rood
No one imagined the reality we all share today. Unknown frightening future has filled many with doubt, forced others to seek relief in their respective Religions, as for me I’ve turn to Science for my answer, Contributing to my uncertainty about our collective future. I desperately hope what I envision as the world’s future is wrong.
Crowded Bogota was showing signs of economic decline early last summer. The impact of the great Venezuelan exodus hit Bogota hard. Four years ago my barrio in Norte Bogota, Cedritos had beggars, their ranks slowly increased. By early 2019 the flow of Venezuelan’s crossing the frontera was endless. Many of these new arrivals have settled in Ceditos or Cedrizuela as its new arrivals jokingly refer to it!
Tension between these two groups have slowly escalated as Colombians were forced to compete with this steady stream of new labor flowing across its eastern border. The Colombian government’s response is to the influx was to issue all Venezuelan’s a two-year visa upon arrival. Some years earlier the flow was in the opposite direction during Colombia’s time of need.
Businesses in the nearby Coabos strip mall have increasingly been replaced by Venezuelan entrepreneurs. Only those with deep pockets have managed to stay afloat more out of necessity than success. Venezuelan’s owning businesses have an easier time keeping legal status in Colombia.Nino a 29-year-old Cuban who was raised in Venezuela, was working repairing cellphones when we met. Nino’s dream is to one day visit the Estados Unidos. Read more…
Year of the Plague – 14 – Jerry Roys Weighs In
Jerry Roys. Historian, author, roofer, bass player …and my friend
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Right now, we are asked to sacrifice by following some simple rules, wear masks, wash your hands, stay 6 feet away when out in public. Of course, humans are human and some just can’t do it. Some feel their rights are being taken away. Last time I checked you can still jump in your car and take a ride, take a walk in a park. Hell, you can even go gather in a church, if your church is holding service. Entertainment is on hold, eating out, by the way, these places are still open and you can still support them by ordering out now and then.
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We all want to get back to normal.
All of us.
Humans hate change and this has been a big one. Humans love going to places where everyone knows your name. We love gathering with friends, going out to eat, to party, to socialize. Yes, we all want to get back to normal. But when that happens, we want it to “last.” To work. People talk about being strong, you hear it all the time when something bad happens in an area.
Strong is tagged. “American Strong,” you know like the Greatest Generation of World War ll. They are called the Greatest Generation for a reason. One has to remember this generation knew hardship. Prior to WWII they were the generation of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowls and even ugly government policies like the Mexican Repatriation Act.
America was thrown into the WWII. When this happened, they were pulling out of the Great Depression. They were asked to sacrificed, and they did. They didn’t bitch and moan about the hardship they had just been through. They rationed, they volunteered by the 1000s to fight and die in the front lines. They did what they had to do to win the war. I have to wonder what history will say of this time, this generation. You see we’re all soldiers in this war, all of us.
Most of us are holding up the rear as they say. Those on the front lines are the doctors and nurses, transportation, grocery workers, delivery workers, . . . all those serving the public who are making it possible to keep those of us in the rear safe and comfortable. A lot of people are still working, and a lot are not.
This is where the stress is. Mortgages have to be paid; bills have to be paid. This is where banks could help. They could just take the length of the mortgage loan and extend it. Put it on the end of the loan. A program can also be made for renters. So when a person goes back to work there is no catching up. A person doesn’t have to come up with a big payment. It really is a bank loan to get by on. This would relieve a lot of stress, keep people from losing their homes.
Right now, we are asked to sacrifice by following some simple rules, wear masks, wash your hands, stay 6 feet away when out in public. Of course, humans are human and some just can’t do it. Some feel their rights are being taken away. Last time I checked you can still jump in your car and take a ride, take a walk in a park. Hell, you can even go gather in a church, if your church is holding service. Entertainment is on hold, eating out, by the way, these places are still open and you can still support them by ordering out now and then.
But other than that, you still have freedom. Read more…
Year of the Plague – 13 – When did the Trump Administration first know about Coronavirus?
Coronavirus response in Tunis, Tunisia, North Africa. There is concern that the impact of the Coronavirus will be even more destructive in North and Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh) and in the Middle East. all areas where it is just beginning to gear up. Photo credit: Ahmed Zarrouki, Nawaat.org
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But in re-reading a recent article I was struck by the fact that U.S. Intelligence had informed both NATO and Israel of the COVID-10 danger already sometime in the previous November, that is to say, already six weeks prior to the WHO informing the Center for Disease Control.
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It now appears that the Trump Administration knew about the Coronavirus not two months before they acted, but four months – already by mid-November, making Donald Trump’s public claim of no prior knowledge of the pandemic little more than propaganda.
I’m re-posting a link to an ABC article from April 8, 2020 entitled “Intelligence report warned of coronavirus crisis as early as November: Sources”. Affirmation of its content came in an article in the Times of Israel.
For about a month now, I have been putting together an informal timeline – based on press reports – all publicly available sources – that includes
- . simulations done the world round on a possible Coronavirus
- . When different authorities new or had information about the pandemic.
According to numerous sources, Trump’s most recent scapegoat for his Administration’s dramatic failure to deal with the Coronavirus in a timely fashion, the World Health Organization (WHO), had informed the U.S. – and the rest of the world – of the danger of the pandemic on January 3. The WHO itself had been informed by China already on December 31. This was reported by the Center for Disease Control.
This part of the timeline has been pretty well established for some time now and is not, today on April 17, 2020, “new” news. But the fact that the Administration knew about the Coronavirus danger much earlier has recently come to light. Read more…
View from the Left Bank: Rob Prince's Blog 