Category: World News

By Martin Kuebler / DW / March 25, 2024

A winter of heavy storms and flooding, especially in late December, has washed away vast stretches of protective sand dunes and bathing beaches on Germany’s North Sea islands.

Coastal areas on islands such as Sylt, Borkum and Norderney, which together attract millions of tourists, will need to be rebuilt before the summer holidays — an extensive and expensive procedure.

By Marta Vidal / Washington Post / February 5, 2024

CORUCHE, Portugal — The rhythmic noise of axes whacking trees echoes in the depths of the cork oak forest. But in Coruche, a rural area south of the Tagus River known as Portugal’s “cork capital,” the bang of trees falling to the ground doesn’t follow the sound of the ax strokes. Instead, experienced workers carefully peel away the bark from the tree trunks.

This annual rite of extracting cork in the summer months has been around for thousands of years in the western Mediterranean. Egyptians, Persians, Greeks and Romans used the material to make fishing gear and sandals and to seal jugs, jars and barrels. As glass bottles gained popularity in the 18th century, cork became the preferred sealant because it is durable, waterproof, light and pliable.

By Jon Queally / Common Dreams / March 4, 2024

Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday accused Israel of standing in clear violation of the U.S. Foreign Assistance Act by creating the conditions for mass starvation within the Gaza Strip as he called on the Biden administration to halt all military aid to the country until Palestinians are granted the life-saving humanitarian relief they urgently need.

“Starvation is taking place in Gaza,” Sanders said in a statement. “Israel is prohibiting aid convoys from delivering desperately needed food and water.”

The San Diego Veterans For Peace and Code Pink are hosting a weekly demonstration demanding a ceasefire in the current fighting in Gaza …. every Saturday from Noon to 1 PM at the corner of Sunset Cliffs Blvd and West Point Loma Blvd in Ocean Beach

Like so many Americans, local members of Code Pink, the San Diego Veterans For Peace, and their supporters and friends,

Alexei Navalny, the main opposition leader of Putin’s Russia, was killed Friday, Feb. 16 at the remote Siberia prison he had been condemned to. Here’s his tribute to a post-Putin Russia written a year and half ago.

By Alexei Navalny / Washington Post   / September 30, 2022 (Re-posted RSN Feb. 19, 2024)

What does a desirable and realistic end to the criminal war unleashed by Vladimir Putin against Ukraine look like?

If we examine the primary things said by Western leaders on this score, the bottom line remains: Russia (Putin) must not win this war. Ukraine must remain an independent democratic state capable of defending itself.

Join Code Pink and the San Diego Veterans For Peace in their weekly vigil in OB demanding a ceasefire in the current fighting in Gaza …. every Saturday from Noon to 1 PM at the corner of Sunset Cliffs Blvd and Point Loma Blvd in Ocean Beach.

The United States must make clear to Netanyahu that we will not provide another dollar to support his inhumane, illegal war.

By Bernie Sanders / the Guardian UK / Jan. 28, 2024

Many of us are watching with horror the severe humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza. Unfortunately, too many of my colleagues in the House of Representatives and US Senate are choosing to ignore this reality and evade their congressional responsibilities.

Let’s be clear: what’s happening in Gaza is not just some unfortunate tragedy taking place thousands of miles from our shores. The United States provides Israel with $3.8bn in military aid every year, and the bombs and military equipment that are destroying Gaza are made in America. In other words, we are complicit in what is happening.

And what’s happening is unspeakable.

By Erwin Chemerinsky / Op-Ed Los Angeles Times / Jan. 29, 2024

Texas’ continuing dispute with the federal government over immigration enforcement goes to the very heart of our constitutional system. Gov. Greg Abbott, and those who are cheering him on, are challenging not only federal authority but also the power of the Supreme Court and ultimately the supremacy of the Constitution itself.

The dispute arose because Texas installed razor wire fencing along parts of the Rio Grande, among other unilateral measures at the U.S.-Mexico border. Texas officials say they did so to deter an influx of people crossing the border, many of whom are seeking asylum. The question is whether the federal government can remove the fence given its power over the border and immigration.

By Peter Bohmer / January 18, 2024

I mourn the deaths of 26,000 people murdered in southern Israel and Gaza over the last three weeks (as of January 17, 2024), over 24,000 Palestinians in Gaza and 360 Palestinians in the West Bank by the Israeli military and settlers, and 1200 in Israel, mainly by Hamas. Israel has killed over 10,000 Palestinian children. More than 20 Palestinians have been killed for every Israeli.

I am anti-Zionist which is fundamentally different from being ani-Jewish.

More than two hundred members of two Jewish groups and two Palestinian groups demonstrated outside of State Senator Alex Padilla’s office in downtown San Diego Monday morning, November 6. In signs, chants, speeches, and letters they called upon Padilla to introduce a resolution in the California Senate calling for a ceasefire.

Jewish Voice for Peace San Diego and the San Diego Coalition for Palestine were two of the main groups who gathered outside of Padilla’s office with signs that read “Ceasefire now: no more money for Israel’s crimes,” “Senator Padilla: Stop Funding Genocide of Palestinians” and “Jews for a Free Palestine.” Meanwhile, drivers honked their horns and demonstrators loudly chanted. Four organizers of the event, two Jewish and two Palestinian,

by Ernie McCray

I turn on the TV
and I hear the news
that Hamas
had taken the lives of
hundreds of Jews
and my eyes teared
and like dust being vacuumed
my breath was sucked away
just thinking that human beings
can treat each other this way
putting them in harm’s way
as they listen to music being played
and then I became equally dismayed,
knowing that Netanyahu’s
retaliation to this horrible display
of heinous madness
would be more deadly

The following was given at “A Conversation on Gaza-Israel War” program at the Olympia Center, in Olympia, Washington on October 17, 2023, and revised 10/30/2023.

By Peter Bohmer

I want to share how my background causes me to support the Palestinian struggle against the Israeli occupation of all of Palestine including Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Since 1967, I have actively opposed the U.S. military aid and ideological support for Israel, and in solidarity with Palestine.

I mourn the deaths of 9500 people murdered in southern Israel and Gaza over the last three weeks (as of October 29th) over 1400 in Israel, mainly Israeli civilians by Hamas and over 8000 Palestinians in Gaza and growing numbers in the West Bank by the Israeli military, the IDF. Let us take a moment to reflect on this death of human life and the injuries of many more.

My parents and grandparents were Jewish from Central Europe, my parents grew up in Vienna, Austria. The German military and Nazis were welcomed by much of the Austrian population when they invaded in spring 1938. Germany immediately annexed Austria. My dad was 22 when he was incarcerated in Vienna by the Austrian Nazis and frequently  beaten.