Wednesday, December 4FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA, PALESTINE WILL BE FREE

South Asia

South Korea: the ‘Land of Morning Calm’ is working itself to death
South Asia

South Korea: the ‘Land of Morning Calm’ is working itself to death

Capitalist dystopia in action: behind the ‘economic miracle’, the daily grind keeps getting harder. Renaud Lambert Subscribe to our  channel South Korea is often held up as a model of modern technological capitalism. But daily life for the masses is much harsher than the glossy image projected by popular culture. This photo shows a man in his home in Guryong slum, very close to south Korea’s wealthiest district of Gangnam. Established in 1988, Guryong now has about 3,000 residents, making it the largest slum settlement in Seoul. The following article is reproduced from Le Monde diplomatique, with thanks. ***** It’s a tired old media trope. When someone questions the virtues of western liberal democracy, back comes the riposte: ‘Why don’t you try ...
China’s Growing Influence in Central Asia and the Middle East Will Lead to Further US Decline
China, Middle East, South Asia

China’s Growing Influence in Central Asia and the Middle East Will Lead to Further US Decline

By Shane Quinn China’s increasing presence on the international scene is an undeniable threat to the US-led world order. Critical to China’s emergence as a major power this century, has been its widening influence in the Central Asian states. Central Asia, rich in mineral reserves, is among the earth’s most strategically important regions. Control over Central Asia ensures access to raw materials such as oil or gas, while it stands as a “guardpost” against US hegemony over the Persian Gulf further south. Considerably bigger in size than India, Central Asia consists of five nations, by far the largest is Kazakhstan followed by Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Central Asia remains sparsely populated with just over 70 million people in total; this is mainly because...
South Asia

South Korea, US Fail to Agree on Sharing Costs for USFK’s Stationing

NOVANEWS   Seoul and Washington failed to agree on the amount of South Korea’s financial contributions for the stationing of the US Forces Korea (USFK) in South Korea, the Yonhap news agency reported, citing a government official. “Again, nothing is agreed until everything is agreed … There’s still a big difference over the total amount [of Seoul’s financial contributions]. The two sides will continue consultations through diplomatic channels. If necessary, we can have [formal] negotiations next month,” the official said, as quoted by the Yonhap news agency. The official noted that there would be no more formal talks in December. The 10th round of negotiations on dividing the cost of the USFK’s stationing between representatives from South Korea and the United States began on Tuesda...
South Asia

Important news: UN say Myanmar military leaders should be investigated for genocide

NOVANEWS Hussein Mohamed & Najma Maxamed London, United Kingdom 5 SEP 2018 —  Hi everyone Thank you for your ongoing support. Here is what has happened since we last sent an update. We crowdfunded to put pressure on the United Nations, we protested outside Downing Street and we also have gotten in-touch with International Lawyers to pursue an investigation and to put pressure on MPs, High Commissioners and UN committees.The lawyers involved also made fact findings and then we have gotten in contact with the right people to put pressure on to the UN to push for more investigations to establish facts of genocide and with persuasions and meetings which our lawyers have attended has had an positive impact towards this. Now a year later, the UN have released a report sayi...
South Asia

Undocumented Myanmar Migrants in Thailand: Border Capitalism, Disrupted

NOVANEWS By Prof. Stephen Campbell The Bullet   Note to readers: please click the share buttons above   Through to the back of the cremation grounds where the fields of sugarcane begin, Ko Soe and I coast our bicycles to a stop. It is mid-December, and the sugarcane stocks are tall now, taller than us. Somewhere amid these fields Myanmar migrant workers from the nearby Apex garment factory are hiding. We know this because Ko Soe had only minutes ago been talking with one of them by phone, but then the connection had died; presumably this worker’s phone had run out of power. So now we dismount and look around for an entrance into the fields. The sugarcane is far too dense to walk through, even if we were to leave our bicycles behind. Uncertain how to proceed, we soon spot a man st...
South Asia

Southeast Asia Getting Killed by Logging and Mining

NOVANEWS By Andre Vltchek Asia-Pacific Research When an airplane is approaching Singapore Changi Airport, it makes the final approach either from the direction of Peninsular Malaysia, or from the Indonesian island of Batam. Either way, the scope for natural disaster under the wings is of monumental proportions. All the primary forest of the Malaysian state bordering Singapore –Johor – is now gone and the tremendous sprawl of scarred land, mostly covered by palm oil plantations, is expanding far towards the horizon. The predictable plantation grid pattern is only interrupted by motorways, contained human settlements, and by few, mostly palm oil-related industrial structures. On the Indonesian side, the Island of Batam resembles a horror apocalyptic movie: there is always some th...
Palestine Affairs, South Asia, USA, ZIO-NAZI

Celebrity Christian, Jewish, and Buddhist Religious Leaders Who Terrorize Muslims

NOVANEWS What do the Rev. Robert Jeffress, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach and Spiritual Leader Ashin WIrathu, have in common? They’re all widely followed, highly influential representatives of religions; Christianity, Judaism and Buddhism, who lend great influence toward the hatred and persecution, torture and murder of Muslims. Jeffress, Boteach and WIrathu tell people how to think and who to hate. It's a terrible lesson in religious superiority in the 21st Century. If any one thing is true, it is that members of all religions have members and representatives who are truly good, and truly bad. Hatred runs the gamut, and another important point is that all of the widely followed religions, in their core teachings, instruct their followers to be peaceful and not to kill. These pseudo religious all ...
South Asia

Malaysia Politics and the Obsession with Power

NOVANEWS By Dr. Chandra Muzaffar Global Research   Power is integral to politics but the obsession with the perpetuation and pursuit of power in Malaysia in the last couple of years has gone beyond reasonable boundaries. On one side you have a person who is hell-bent on remaining in power in spite of the massive ethical questions surrounding his direct and indirect involvement in a state-owned strategic investment company that was mired in money-laundering, fraudulence and manipulation on a gigantic scale through individuals and entities associated with it. Some of these individuals and entities are being investigated in other countries. A few of them have been convicted in court and imprisoned. And yet in Malaysia there has been no concrete action against the alleged culprits t...
South Asia

UN Human Rights Commissioner Points to Genocide of Rohingya in Myanmar

NOVANEWS “You cannot rule out the possibility that acts of genocide have been committed,” says United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein. by teleSUR The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, says “You cannot rule out the possibility that acts of genocide have been committed” against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. Around 650,000 have fled Myanmar into Bangladesh since August where most have no other option than to remain in refugee camps at the Bangladesh border, these religious refugees have been labeled “stateless”. Despite the Myanmar government claiming otherwise, Human Rights Watch, HRW, reports that Myanmar forces have burned nearly 354 villages in the Rakhine state since August in its “clearance operations.”...
South Asia

Red Cross says life has ‘stopped’ in Myanmar’s Rakhine

NOVANEWS The International Committee of the Red Cross says life has “stopped” in Rakhine state due to the fear of violence, nearly four months after a new wave of crackdown by the government erupted against the persecuted Rohingya Muslims. The ICRC director of operations, Dominik Stillhart, said Wednesday that tensions between the Muslims and the dominant Buddhist community were preventing Muslim traders from reopening shops and markets. “The situation in the northern Rakhine has definitely stabilized, there are very sporadic incidents, but tensions are huge between the communities,” Stillhart said after a three-day mission to the remote area. “You get a sense, especially of the two main communities being deeply scared of each other.” He visited the towns of Maungdaw, Buthidaung and ...