Friday, July 1, 2022. JACOBIN discovers Erdogan, Joe Biden announces another forever war, the cholera outbreak continues in Iraq claiming yet another life, and much more.
There's always money for war. We can have millions of homeless across America, we can have bridges in need of repair and in danger of collapsing, we can have schools falling apart, we can have people going to be hungry tonight and all of that and so much more doesn't matter to our federal government that always finds money for war while abandoning its own people.
Yes, it's time to talk US President Joe Biden. Joe spoke yesterday. He says our gas prices are going to stay high "for as long as it takes." The newscaster on TV kindly explained the "it" was for Ukraine to defeat Russia.
Meanwhile, it's so good to see that the neocon bible, THE ECONOMIST, is always there to tackle the most important issues of the day -- case in point, "Why Iraqi mustaches are making a comeback." No link to garbage -- Google the title if you don't believe me. And I completely understand if you don't believe me until you Google it.
A second woman in Iraq has died of cholera in the last two weeks. Let's drop back to 2015 when REUTERS provided these basics:
Cholera is spread mainly through contaminated water and food and, if untreated, can lead to death by dehydration and kidney failure within hours.
Iraq's water and sewerage systems are outdated and infrastructure development has been hindered by years of war and neglect. Poor public services were a catalyst for street protests last month in Baghdad.
At least six people died in the summer of 2008 from cholera in Iraq. It's the first of July and there are already two. But thank goodness, right, that we have THE ECONOMIST to focus what truly matters -- the hair sprouting under a man's nose.
Cholera should be front in center in reports but that would a functioning western press and we don't have that. We've got people who know about Iraq but sometimes are forced by their employer to do a write up and then we've got Jane Arraf. Jane's not equipped for journalism. Jane's been filing from Iraq since the 90s. CNN cut her loose shortly after Eason Jordan revealed the lies that they hid and that they spread on CNN to remain in Saddam's good graces so they could stay in Iraq. For a number of people, Eason's column made it clear just how sad Jane's career was. She wanders now, a journalistic nomad, from outlet to outlet, NPR, THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, THE NEW YORK TIMES . . . Never breaking any news, never doing much of anything. Excusing -- sorry, she excuses a lot. When The October Revolution started, in its early weeks, she was there -- on NPR -- to excuse the brutality of the Iraqi military on the young people. They were peacefully protesting. There was a murder that should have resulted in national trial and there was Jane, that same day the security forces murdered a young man, on NPR excusing what they were doing and telling the world that it was just tear gas. Yeah, it was until the canister aimed at a young man's head and kills him.
Stupid, stupid idiot.
Let's help her out because clearly she was in some remedial group at Carleton University.
October 25, 2019, she was all over NPR -- not just what was broadcast on MORNING EDITION but also on this clip that she can't ever live down. She says the police aren't firing on people. At the same time, Qassim Abdul-Zahra (AP) reports, "Iraqi police fired live shots into the air as well as rubber bullets and dozens of tear gas canisters on Friday [,...]"
And it's when this happened:
Jane's on NPR reassuring Americans that the Iraqi forces are being sweet and kind and there's no danger. Jane's doing her typical lying. By the way, the same day, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani criticized an Iraqi government report for whitewashing the deaths of 150 protesters earlier that month. But, hey, Jane's on NPR telling America, it's just a protest that's been going on for a little while and the Iraqi forces are showing restraint.
By the way, at the same time she's lying on air, she's noting on her Twitter feed that all the reporters at her hotel have been moved to the other side of the hotel so that they cannot look out their windows to report on the protest in the square. We've long noted that details like that -- facts -- that she puts on Twitter never, ever make it into what she calls "news reports." During another period of protests, when Sunnis were protesting in 2012, she noted a death at her Twitter feed -- it greatly impacted what followed but she never included that death in her reports.
Again, we get the ones who know nothing or we get Jane Arraf who arrives on the scene fully equipped with her own self-supplied muzzle.
A functioning press would be noting what happened in the past including this from September 13, 2008:
Yesterday, a press conference was held in Baghdad during which is was
noted, "The disease is epidemic in Iraq." The disease is cholera.
Participating were Iraq's Minster of Health Dr. Salith al-Hasnawi, Dr.
Tahseen al-Sheikhly and WHO's Dr. Naeema al-Gasseer (who was a public
menace). And there was plenty of time to slam the press, excuse the
puppet government, blame individual Iraqis and what has to be seen as
encouragement of attacks on Iraqi women. It was a complete embarrassment
and the United Nations should be ashamed that a rep for the World
Health Organization not only participated but launched her own attacks.
Dr.
al-Sheikhly started the conference insiting that "we decided today that
the Iraqi government is going to deal with this topic with total
frank". Apparently that decision required him immediately handing off to
al-Hasnawi who gave the figures for cholera as "36 confirmed cases: 20
cases in Babil Province, 1 in Maysan, 13 in Karkh District in Baghdad.
We had 6 but the confirmative test added 7 -- 3 in Mahmudiyah, 4 in
Yusufiyah. Rusafa District had 1 case coming from Kut, it was dected in
Rusafa. Today we confirmed a second case in Mada'in."
Moving from
confirmed to suspected cases, he declared, "It is 86 cases: 20 in
Maysan, they are new, suspected; 39 in Karkh suspected; 6 in Karbala; 1
in Nasiriyah; 1 in Najaf cases. All of them would cause...would make 86.
The mortalities of cholera were 6 only." Later, he would add, "In
Hillah now, we have 19 suspected cases."
"Total frank" flew out
the window early on. al-Sheikhly declared there was six deaths from
cholera at the opening of the press conference and would later insist
"only five death . . . mortalities." The numbers given were in doubt and
anyone counting on WHO representative Dr. al-Gasseer to clear up the
numbers was hoping in vain. She stayed clear of the number issue
although she did find time to play journalism professor: "Media can be
negative affect also. Your role is to deliver the information rapidly in
order to help us stop spreading the disease." Much later in the press
conference, al-Hasnawi would chime in with his own journalism lesson,
"The media buzz. it has maybe negative results that would affect the
social life and affect the people."
Iraq doesn't have a free press
and while it's easy to snicker at 'advice' from the puppet government,
WHO shames itself and the United Nations by participating in attacks on
the press in a region that knowingly attacks the press. That was
disgraceful and the United Nations should be ashamed for taking part in
that farce. They allowed themselves to be a shield. If you're missing
that fact, much later in the press conference, al-Sheikhly would reply
to a question with, "If you would allow me, I would like the WHO to
answer as being neutral side."
[. . .]
Admitting
that lack of potable water was the cause ("the big reason"), al-Hasnawi
declared "the committee is going to have plans. We're going to have
rapid procedures and strategies for the long term, for the midterm." Oh
really? Much later in the press conference, a timeframe would be
mentioned by al-Hasnawi, "Within 10 years, our infrastructure is going
to be finished for the first 8 centers and providing treatment and the
staff. The outcomes are going to be witnessed after years." Well isn't
that something to take pride in? In 10 years, 8 centers (the first
eight, mind you) will be functional.
In addition As-Salam
Satellite Channel pointed out that despite promises from Nouri al-Maliki
(puppet of the occupation) that villages would receive water tanks, the
tanks have not been received. al-Sheikhly replied, "Mr. Prime Minister
allocated 16 water tanker to be sent to the areas that are having
shortage due to some cuts in the water pipe...waterline. Also, the area
that you are talking about, maybe within the coming days they would
reach the tank...they would receive a tanker." He went on to declare
that the promise was made when a water pipe was broken.
So why wasn't anything done?
al-Hasnawi
would go on to declare that there was nothing to worry about because
WHO was assisting. There is a cholera outbreak and WHO is allowing it to
be minimized. al-Hasnawi asserted, "The shortages of medications, who
said that the Ministry of Health now needs medications with an
expiration to the cholera cases? WHO is present." He then declared of
the outbreak, "It happens in everybody -- in every country in the world,
not only in the ministry of Iraq." Golly, it's hard to think of another
country with all the billions Iraq has (not to mention the billions the
US is spending) that faces cholera outbreaks every year.
As if
the press conference could not become more of a joke, the United
Nation's figure began not just using outdated terminology ("housewife")
but blaming women for the outbreak of cholera, " As you are individual
responsible at your house, if you do not control your family – how they
cook food, how they wash their food, if the woman...the housewife there
does not have correct information about how to deal with food – this is
your responsibility. I would tell...there is a formal responsibility and
local responsibility."
The idiot then returned to the issue of
lecturing and hectoring the media. Someone explain to the United Nations
that the good doctor needs a good ass kicking. That was so shameful and
so embarrassing and it sullies the reputation of the UN. And no one
needs her climbing on the cross about how 'rough' things are for her: "I
cannot call everybody from the international community." No? Well how
about you just trying doing your damn job and if that's too much work
for you, how about you try finding another job because all you are is a
public embarrassment.
WHO again took an issue of potable water
and attempted to turn the puppet government's failures into a lacking in
individual Iraqi citizens: ". . . how to deal with food and personal
hygiene. I have asked the minister that the clergymen need and do have a
big responsibility. They need to spread this line of cleanliness." That
statement is all the more offensive when you consider the attacks on
women and when you take in what "cleanliness" connotates in a
fundamentalist society. Repeating, the United Nations SHOULD BE ASHAMED.
That's a lot but let's zoom in on this part:
al-Hasnawi, "Within 10 years, our infrastructure is going to be finished for the first 8 centers and providing treatment and the staff. The outcomes are going to be witnessed after years." Well isn't that something to take pride in? In 10 years, 8 centers (the first eight, mind you) will be functional.
Ten years.
It's 2022. It's 12 years later.
Why are they still having cholera outbreaks?
What happened to the money, what happened to the plan?
A government that does nothing for the people -- that's the US, of course, but I'm referring to Iraq right now.
It is the country that held elections October 10th and, all these months later, still hasn't name a prime minister or president.
There is a cholera outbreak, the COVID pandemic continues and you've got Congo Fever spreading in Iraq as well. And there's no leadership. There's no prime minister. There's not even a president (that role is supposed to be ceremonial).
Mudher Muhammad Saleh told Zawya Projects that the neglect of development manifested in fewer new cities and towns and related infrastructure getting built over the years.
He said housing supply and infrastructure is unable to keep up with demand from a growing population, which is putting stress on existing urban communities, roads, water, and electricity networks.
The public school system is crumbling, climate change is impacting and Iraq's got no leadership, nearly nine months after the election (nine days from nine months). There is no excuse for that.
Margaret Griffis (ANTIWAR.COM) reports, "During June, at least 165 people were reported killed, and 41 more were wounded. Last month, 196 people were killed, and 79 were wounded."
And still no prime minister for the country.
At JACOBIN, Kate Harry writes:
On Friday, April 22, as Turkey’s finance minister, Nurettin Nebati, brushed elbows with financiers in New York, and as foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu planned a trip to visit his US counterpart in Washington, Osman Kavala gave the final statement in a trial that would determine whether he spends the rest of his life in prison.
Seated on a white plastic chair in a pink isolation cell, Kavala addressed hundreds of journalists, lawyers, diplomats, and human rights advocates. He looked reserved, if gaunt, not fully betraying the four and a half years he has spent behind bars, largely in pretrial detention. He was measured in his defense, if disparaging of the proceedings. He said that he “[did] not expect [his statement] to have any impact on the judgment,” calling the trial “completely deformed,” and his detention an “act of deprivation of liberty by abuse of power.” Human rights organizations and governments around the world agree.
As president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met with UN Secretary-General António Guterres in Ankara the following Monday, Kavala was sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment on charges of attempting to overthrow the government. Seven other defendants — Mücella Yapıcı, Çiğdem Mater, Hakan Altınay, Mine Özerden, Can Atalay, Yiğit Ali Ekmekçi, and Tayfun Kahraman — were each sentenced to eighteen years in prison. As Erdoğan and Guterres announced their planned cooperation, Tayfun Kahraman tearfully said goodbye to his toddler daughter in the hallways of Istanbul’s heavy penal court.
Especially since the 2016 coup attempt and the subsequent crackdown, Western states have rhetorically condemned Erdoğan’s increasingly authoritarian policies. However, the Russian-Ukrainian war and Turkey’s strategic importance to it have exposed the hollowness of this rhetoric. Even as government abuses continue in Turkey, it is being lauded as a critical player in ending Russia’s invasion.
This courting of Turkey continued at this week’s NATO summit in Madrid, where Turkey’s Western counterparts met with Erdoğan, hoping that he would drop his veto on Sweden and Finland joining the pact. Just two days after the violent arrest of 361 people during a Pride march, Erdoğan secured long-sought concessions, such as Finnish and Swedish cooperation in the so-called “fight against terrorism.”
This rapprochement with Erdoğan and his government has also continued as Turkey has strengthened its alliances with supposed adversaries of the West — and the international human rights community. Despite European and American sanctions, Turkey continues to import the vast majority of its gas from Russia, with no indication that it is willing to halt these imports. Further, as economic disaster looms, Erdoğan and his government have inched closer to Saudi Arabia and its Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known to have been involved in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Taken together, these show a Turkey edging closer to authoritarian states and signaling crackdowns on opposition and dissent in the lead-up to next year’s planned election, while simultaneously benefitting from the diplomatic embrace of NATO and Western states. This apparent contradiction exposes, above all else, Western states’ acceptance of authoritarianism and human rights abuses when it is strategically and diplomatically beneficial.
Can someone help me out here? Because I really don't know. Do I bite my tongue? Do I applaud because at last a lefty magazine has noted what Erdogan has been doing? I'm not remembering them calling him out when he was on US soil and he had his goons attack Americans that were protesting him (because of how he treats the Kurds). So should I just pat Kate and JACOBIN on the head and tell them we'll go out for ice cream later?
Or do I point out the obvious fact that the article is very lengthy and never addresses Iraq.
Jeremy Corbyn is JACOBIN's Wet Dream. They can never stop talking about him and what he does . . . until he calls out the Turkish government for it's attack on, invasion and continued occupation of Iraq.
Erdogan's set up military bases in Iraq. That's an act of war. Turkish War Planes bomb Iraq. Turkish drones kill Iraqis -- including a young boy last month.
Where is the outcry? Kathy Harris, good for you, you got some truths into JACOBIN regarding Turkey. Good for you. But in your article, you go on about Russia invading Ukraine. However, you never note that Erdogan has invaded Iraq and that he terrorizes people in the Kurdistan.
You never note that this has become a genocide -- just like the one Turkey carried out on Armenia a century ago.
Is that really what JACOBIN wants to be? The publication that never, ever noted what Turkey was doing in Iraq?
It's hard for me to applaud so no sprinkles for your ice cream when we go out later. David Sirota, don't give me that sour look or you won't get a waffle cone.
The following sites updated:
