The number of hungry people in the world continues to grow, reaching 821 million in 2017, or one in every nine people, according to the report, “The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2018,” released Tuesday in Rome by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, the World Health Organization, UNICEF and other groups.
The figures are horrific: 151 million children under five years old, 22 percent of the world’s total, are “stunted” by malnutrition; one in every ten children in Asia is described as “wasting,” with weights well below what they should be given their heights; a staggering one in three women of child-bearing age suffers from anemia, in large measure from poor diet.
The report’s authors warn of “alarming signs of increasing food insecurity and high levels of different forms of malnutrition,” but offer no prescription to resolve the deepening crisis except the pious wish that more should be done to bring an end to the military conflicts, including civil wars, which are the primary cause of food insecurity, and to counteract climate change, the second most important cause.
The 821 million hungry people in the world include an estimated 515 million in Asia, 256.5 million in Africa, 39 million in Latin America and the Caribbean, and perhaps 20 million in the rest of the world.
It could all be solved. If we cared.
But we don't. We just want to be given permission not to have to look. As long as we can avert our eyes, we're a-okay.
Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Iraq is to halve the quantity of crops planted next year due to water shortages, climate change & drought. It’s becoming an environmental disaster zone.
I've cut out the link in Liz Sly's Tweet -- and done so for a reason. The story was broken by REUTERS. Liz isn't linking to REUTERS, she's linking to VOA -- VOICE OF AMERICA. First, it's insulting when one outlet breaks the news for a journalist to not link to them. Second, no one should be linking to VOA.
Until 2013, VOA was forbidden to broadcast over US airwaves in the United States because it is propaganda (from 1948 to 2013). The US Congress made that decision. VOA exists to distort news and spin it in ways to influence a foreign audience. Congress did not want the American people to be misled, victimized, exposed to, etc, fake news.
In this time of concern -- or supposed concern -- over fake news, no journalist for a US publication should be linking to VOA.
If you wanted to hear VOA in the US prior to the internet, you had to listen to a short wave radio because, again, it was forbidden to broadcast in the US -- by US law, VOA was forbidden to broadcast in the US. The controversial and highly emotional US House Rep Adam Smith is among those responsible for allowing VOA to now broadcast in the US. (Yet again, the Adam Smiths gave up American freedom in the name of combating 'terrorism.')
Liz Sly is not an American citizen and may not be well versed on VOA as a result. But she is writing for a US outlet and especially in an age of real or feigned concern over fake news, reporters for US outlets should not be linking to VOA.
Staying with the topic of propaganda, Michael Rubin. The AEI scribbler has a piece at THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER where he pretends to address why Iraqis might not be big voters. It's an ahistorical look at the post-2003 invasion. It leaves out many things but one of the things that soured Iraqis on voting was 2010 and Rubin doesn't mention that. In March 2003, Iraqis turned out to vote and they thought they voted out thug Nouri al-Maliki. His slate came in second to Ayad Alawi's Iraqiya. But Nouri refused to step down. For over eight months, he refused to step down and brought the country to a standstill. Instead of siding with the Iraqi voters, the US government overturned their votes with the US negotiated Erbil Agreement -- a legal contract that gave Nouri a second term. This is not insignificant, it's actually very major.
With no proof and driven by their own delusional fantasies, some Hillary Clinton supporters continue to scream the Russia impacted the 2016 election in some manner. Then-US President Barack Obama overturned the votes of the Iraqi people in 2010.
When not distorting history, Rubin grabs the pom-poms for Hayder al-Abadi. It may be a futile effort.
The end is near for Haider al-Abadi, Iraq's U.S.-friendly leader
TIME notes:
The Dawa party, which Abadi
belongs to, has led Iraq since the first post-U.S. invasion government
in 200. Many Iraqis, even in Dawa’s Shi’ite support base, are frustrated
with the government’s inability to provide basic services under the
party. Some local media and activists likened Dawa’s long, dominant rule
to that of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party.
Frustration was already evident
in May’s parliamentary elections. Voter turnout was at the lowest it’s
been since the toppling of Saddam and Mansour says many Iraqis felt
their votes were worth little in the country’s current political
environment. Despite dropping in popularity, it seemed Abadi would get
another term as prime minister—thanks to Iraq’s fractured, top-heavy
political system.
Both the bloc headed by militia
leader Hadi al-Amari, who is close with Iran, and the bloc of Shi’ite
cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who has preached against both U.S. and Iranian
influence, won more seats than Abadi.
Also weighing in are Ahmed Rasheed and Rava Jalabi (REUTERS):
The United States backed Abadi because it saw him as a moderate who could stabilize a country beset by sectarian, turbulent politics. But Washington may have miscalculated, cultivating no alternatives.
The collapse of Abadi’s candidacy would reduce the U.S. sway over politics in Iraq, where it competes with Iran. Tehran has steadily increased its influence in the country since a U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Hayder's had four years (after being installed by Barack Obama) and he's accomplished nothing.
In a desperate bid to be seen as doing something, his office Tweeted the following this morning:
The @IraqiGovt is implementing wide-ranging reforms to Iraq’s electricity sector to end outages and provide reliable and efficient power to homes businesses across the country
The protests kicked off in Basra in July. For some reason, the western press is unable to document killings and keep hitting the snooze button. There are over 70 protesters who have been killed since July. The efforts to keep this information from news consumers is shameful. The protests did not start days ago or just two weeks ago. The count starts with the first one killed. Shame on the western press.
Fortunately, there are other options to the corporate controlled media.
Had the chance to meet and discuss #Basrah issues with the first female joining the protestors in Basrah... great work to be done together soon #Basraprotests #iraqprotests #Twitterkurds
A hopeless arrest campaign began in #Basra with the arrival of security reinforcement. Protests will continue everyday, launching from Al-Arosah Roundabout at 4:30PM. After Monday, September 24, 2018, civil disobedience will begin in #Basrah Province. #BasraProtests #البصرة_تنتفض
Civil Disobedience: After Monday September 24, 2018:
1) Protesters will close roads & entrances leading to #Basra oil fields.
2) Protesters will close #Basrah ports & strategic highways.
3) Protesters will kick out foreign workers from the province.
#BasraProtests #البصرة_تنتفض
Warnings: Protesters...
1) Warned against vandalism & promised to hand culprits to the authorities.
2) Instructed the protection of private & public property with the exception of political party offices.
3) Warned against insulting security forces.
#BasraProtests #البصرة_تنتفض
Lastly: Protesters warned #Basra Provincial Government from using the new Ports Building as its headquarters of operation, considering the amount of public funds robbed would be enough to finance a new building far away from the sight of protesters.
#BasraProtests #البصرة_تنتفض
So much of the story is not being told by the western press.
The following community sites -- plus NPR MUSIC and Cindy Sheehan -- updated:
I like Norm McDonald
6 hours ago
Diabetes and censorship
6 hours ago
Look who's Tweeting
6 hours ago
Rescuing history
6 hours ago
Flushing the John (McCain)
6 hours ago
The media was in on it
7 hours ago
We need a Department of Peace
7 hours ago
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