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China Blocks Telegram Messenger for ‘Aiding Rights Advocates’ · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

Telegram is seemingly joining other Internet services blocked by China. Images mixed by Tetyana Lokot.
The Telegram messaging app has been blocked in China amid accusations of allegedly aiding Chinese human-rights lawyers in their everyday work and organizing. The block follows a massive cyber attack against the company’s Asia-Pacific servers earlier this month.
Hong Kong Free Press first reported the block on July 13. According to blockedinchina.net, access to Telegram’s web-version has been blocked from servers located in Beijing, Shenzhen, Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang and Yunnan provinces in China.
Screenshot from blockedinchina.net from July 20, showing the Telegram web interface block in China.
On July 12, Chinese state-run newspaper People's Daily published an article accusing Telegram of aiding human-rights lawyers and advocates, who allegedly used the app and its “Secret Chat” mode (which allows messages to self-destruct after a period of time) to engage in “attacks on the [Communist] Party and government.” These accusations are the latest in a series of attacks on human rights advocates in China, with 23 individuals already arrested, and over a 100 others facing pressure from the state. Some human rights lawyers, like Pu Zhiqiang, have also faced persecution for their messages on Chinese microblogging website Weibo.
Telegram, run by a Berlin-based non-profit, was founded by Russian Internet entrepreneur Pavel Durov, who is also the founder of Russia's biggest social network, VK (often dubbed “Russia's Facebook”). After facing pressure from the Kremlin to share personal data about the VK community organizers of Euromaidan groups and to shut down a Russian anti-corruption group, among other things, Durov sold his share of VK, was forced out of a leading role in the company, and left Russia in search of new beginnings.
On July 10, Telegram reported a massive DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack on its Asia-Pacific servers. Founder Pavel Durov wrote about the cyber attack on Twitter.
@aavst Глобальный DDoS на все датацентры Telegram. Кто-то недоволен.
— Pavel Durov (@durov) July 10, 2015
A global DDoS on all Telegram data centers. Someone's unhappy.
In a blog post on its official site, Telegram speculated the attack could have been initiated by its Korean competitors, Kakao Talk and Line, whose users moved to Telegram en masse in 2014 because of censorship.
By now we know that the attack is being coordinated from East Asia.
We've noticed a three-fold increase in signups from South Korea in the last two weeks. The last time we were hit by a massive DDoS was in late September, 2014, in the wake of the South Korean privacy scandal when signups from that country spiked as well.
We've also heard that some companies are unhappy with our new platform that allows artists to create free custom stickers for the users. Two weeks after its launch we were hit by a lesser DDoS, also aimed specifically at the Asia Pacific cluster.
While there has been online speculation that the Chinese government could also be responsible for the DDoS attack, Telegram has not offered any official versions about the source of the attack, but did say it came from South-East Asia.
@xoclate @telegram We're on it 24 hours a day. Managed to be online for 95% of users. The attack is coming and is coordinated from SE Asia.
— Pavel Durov (@durov) July 12, 2015
When asked about reports of the China block, Durov told TechCrunch that he didn't think Telegram was “completely blocked in China,” but said the traffic from the region had decreased. “[But] if we do get completely blocked in China, we’re not going to play cat and mouse with their government at this stage. Let them block,” Durov reportedly said.
Durov's native Russia has also been considering a crack-down of sorts on messenger apps like Telegram. In July, Ivan Tavrin, the president of MegaFon, Russia’s third largest telecom operator, asked the Russian government to consider introducing new regulations for the messaging services WhatsApp, Viber, and Skype. Apart from the apps being in competition with traditional SMS services offered by telecom providers, Tavrin took issue with the security of the messengers, claiming they put dangerous power in the hands of terrorists and spammers.


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Eid in the Time of War in Yemen · Global Voices
Noon Arabia

“Eid Mubarak but this man has no eid all of his family's members killed by KSA regime Muhamasheen area in Sanaa #Yemen,” tweets Fatik Al-Rodaini (@Fatikr)
Yemenis marked Eid with more airstrikes and bloodshed.
The country has been witnessing an all front war since March 25, 2015, when Saudi led airstrikes hit the capital Sanaa, to fight the Houthi takeover of the capital and most of Yemen. Even the Holy month of Ramadan didn't bring about the urgently needed humanitarian ceasefire in war torn Yemen.
News of the “liberation” of Yemen's second largest city Aden after four months of devastating fighting between Houthi and former Yemeni president Ali Abdulla Saleh militias aggression and the Southern popular resistance defending the city, was a joyful news to welcome Eid Al Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan.
Journalist Mojahed alsallaly commended Adenis heroism in liberating their city:
#عدن وأبطالها وحدهم من يستحقون أن يفرحوا في هذا العيد .. شكرا لهم فلولا انتصارهم وبطولاتهم لكان عيدنا هذا العام مليئ بالماسي والهموم! #اليمن
— مجاهدالسّلالي #اليمن (@m_alsallaly) July 17, 2015
Aden and its heroes are the only ones who deserve to be happy in this Eid. Thanks to them, if not for their victory and heroism, our Eid this year would have been full of misery and anxiety! #Yemen
A cartoon was circulating on social media depicting the popular resistance ridding Yemen of rodents during Eid.
#كاريكاتير | إستعدادت اليمن لإستقبال العيد .. بريشة: د.علاء اللقطه http://t.co/ETxI3cxNT4 pic.twitter.com/Wl2nNiydHL
— #اليمن الآن (@YmnNow) July 18, 2015
Cartoon: Preparations for receiving Eid in Yemen | Depicted by Dr. Alaa Allakta
Haykal Bafana, who lives in Sanaa, made a wish that many Yemeni hoped would make the Eid special.
If only the Houthis would do Yemenis the favour of withdrawing from Taiz, Sanaa, Marib, etc : what a great Eid Al Fitr it would be in Yemen.
— Haykal Bafana (@BaFana3) July 14, 2015
Yet the Saudi airstrikes and Houthi and Saleh militia aggression continued across Yemen even during the Eid celebration as noted by many tweeps.
Nadwa reports heavy shelling in Taiz:
On the even of Eid, end of fasting celebration, Taiz is under heavy shelling by #Houthi and Saleh forces. #Yemen https://t.co/VEKLnbHmTJ
— Nadwa (@Ndawsari) July 17, 2015
Hisham Al-Omeisy tweets about airstrikes on Sana'a:
Seriously KSA! Airstrikes now in Sana'a! On EID! While masses on street for Eid morning prayers! #Yemen
— Hisham Al-Omeisy (@omeisy) July 17, 2015
Abdulkader Alguneid says worshippers performed Eid prayers to the sound of shelling:
صلاة العيد، في#تعز، في ساحة الحرية، وأصوات مدافع #صالح و #الحوثي، لا تنقطع #اليمن #Taiz pic.twitter.com/Bzka8asyZh
— abdulkader alguneid (@alguneid) July 17, 2015
Eid prayer in Taiz, at Freedom Square, with the non-stop sound of shelling from tanks
Back in Sana'a, Haykal Bafana reports jets overhead as the Eid prayers continued in mosques:
Eid Al Fitr in #Yemen capital Sanaa : #Saudi jets scream overhead even as Eid prayers on in mosques. Saudi pilots don't pray, apparently.
— Haykal Bafana (@BaFana3) July 17, 2015
And Ammar Al-Aulaqi shares this photograph, which he says sums up the Eid spirit:
Well…I guess the picture says it all. Eid Mubarak from war-torn, really tired Yemen! pic.twitter.com/z0j7O7YrDb
— Ammar Al-Aulaqi (@ammar82) July 17, 2015
Oxfam shared a blog post by one of its staff members in Yemen, Hind M. Aleryani:
Eid is upon us. But it doesn’t feel like Eid in #Yemen. http://t.co/bbeDzEl6Fh Oxfam staff blog from #YemenCrisis pic.twitter.com/a7d47PBNKv
— Oxfam International (@Oxfam) July 16, 2015
Hind M. Aleryani wrote in her blog post:
Eid is upon us. But it doesn’t feel like Eid. Fighting in Yemen has not ceased throughout the month of Ramadan – in fact it intensified. The upcoming holiday is meant to encourage forgiveness, charity, remembrance of God and generosity to ones neighbors. It’s also an opportunity to get members of the family together in celebration. This year is different.
Airstrikes and fighting have become staples of everyday life in Yemen.
She also offered solutions to put an end to the conflict:
So how are we going to get out of this mess? A permanent ceasefire would be a good start, one that all sides adhere to. We also need an arms embargo to stop the flow of weapons into Yemen. Fighting will inevitably cease when all parties in the current conflict run out of arms and ammunition.
Also, restrictions on imports need to be lifted, otherwise more people could die as a result of the lack of supplies than from the bullets and bombs….we should put our differences aside and work towards the common good, through negotiations, reconciliations and compromises.
Despite the war, some Yemenis still managed to go on with their routine and celebrate the Eid as usual.
Fatik Al-Rodaini says the war did not hamper some Yemenis from celebrating:
Despite the KSA war,Yemenis heading 2 mosques,celebrating eid with freinds& visiting relatives.Eid Mubarak Ali #Yemen pic.twitter.com/3v3wjhhwkq
— Fatik Al-Rodaini (@Fatikr) July 17, 2015
And Nasser Arrabyee shares a selfie with his wife:
Happy selfy in happy Eid with my wife Radhia despite Saudi aggression on our country Yemen! pic.twitter.com/Hs7Xfx3PPm
— Nasser Arrabyee (@narrabyee) July 18, 2015
Sadly, Yemen's children had a new role game to play during this Eid, mimicking the fighting they had been living through for the past four months.
العيد والطفولة، في #تعز #اليمن s Eid & Childhood, in #Taiz #Yemen pic.twitter.com/Ard3LxZRel
— abdulkader alguneid (@alguneid) July 18, 2015
Journalist Mohammed Jamjoom reflected on what Yemen needs most this Eid.
You know what would help make it a Happy Eid in #Yemen? Some peace for a population desperately in need of humanitarian relief #AidforEid
— Mohammed Jamjoom (@MIJamjoom) July 16, 2015
What would help make it a Happy #Eid in #Yemen? if more than 1 million people displaced by conflict could return to their homes #AidforEid
— Mohammed Jamjoom (@MIJamjoom) July 16, 2015
Correspondent Jane Ferguson urged prayers for Yemen during Eid:
Imagine how hard #Eid is today for families in #Yemen. No electricity, food, water, little hope. Say a prayer for Yemenis. #Sanaa #Aden
— Jane Ferguson (@JaneFerguson5) July 17, 2015
A group of Yemeni youth made a powerful video, directed by Maha Elaghil, to send out a message that despite the killing and violence Yemen will still be celebrating Eid.
#عيدنا_لن_يموت ! عمل فني يستحق المشاهدة .. http://t.co/uaclw7jcyE
— TaizCity – مدينة تعز (@taizcity) July 17, 2015
Yet the real Eid as Alaa Isam noted is when peace and development prevail in Yemen:
The real Eid is when peace prevails all Yemen and everyone involved in the process of sustainable development #Yemen #Aden
— AlaaIsam (@AlaaIsam) July 16, 2015

source: news-globalvoices

license: Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

author: Noon Arabia


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Global Voices Checkdesk Training Workshop to be held in Beirut on July 29 · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Investigative journalists and people interested in social media in Lebanon are in for a treat at the end of this month.
Global Voices Online and Meedan are teaming up to present a workshop on ‘Fact-checking for the Web’ at AltCity, Hamra, Beirut, on July 29.
The hands-on training will take place from 2pm to 6pm and covers topics related to the emergence and development of citizen journalism in the MENA region, reporting for the Web and online media verification.
Launched in March 2015, Global Voices Checkdesk is powered by the globally minded team at Meedan; working from San Francisco, Cairo, Vancouver, London and Beirut. It is a multi-year project combining research and open curriculum development with our University partner Birmingham City University, open curriculum development and training with a set of community media initiatives, and content creation through a growing network of regional media partners.
GV Checkdesk is run by Global Voices Lebanese author Joey Ayoub and Global Voices Bahrain author Faten Bushehri, who, along with a team of volunteers, have been tracking citizen media reports on breaking news across the Middle East and North Africa region. The goal is to collect witness accounts and other reports under one platform, and then verify the news, before it is used as part of our coverage at Global Voices Online. To join our GV Checkdesk team, please sign up here.
To find out how Checkdesk works, sign up here for the workshop. Hurry up as seating is limited.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Now Playing on GV Radio in July · Global Voices
GV Radio

Global Voices Radio image by Kevin Rothrock
In May, we officially launched Global Voices Radio as a way to highlight interesting audio content from the GV community and from our partners around the world. This streaming Internet station, which you can access on your computer or mobile device, offers interviews, world music, and audio features. While we are still exploring various programming possibilities and the addition of new audio partners, we would like to draw your attention to some of the new programs curated for the month of July.
GV Radio will continue to feature previous Global Voices podcasts that provide insight into our extended community's work. We are also highlighting audio from featured GV Face episodes, such as a conversation with our co-founders Rebecca MacKinnon and Ethan Zuckerman to celebrate Global Voices’ 10th Anniversary. In addition, there is an Advox discussion with members of the Tor community called “Demystifying the Onion Router.”
Programming includes the second episode of Africa Cheza, an African music podcast curated by community member James Propa in Uganda, and an interview conducted by a member of the GV Latin America community, Robert Valencia, who spoke with Monica Carrillo about the current state of Afro-Peruvian rights.
We will continue to feature partner content introduced in our initial post. And thanks to recommendations from members of the GV community, we are pleased to add new partners, such as Loa Podcast from Vietnam:
Loa is a podcast that explores events, ideas, and stories that shape Vietnam today. Join us as we journey into the issues of the day through thoughtful commentaries, insightful features, intimate interviews and more, all brought to life through sound and sight.
We invite you to take a look at the schedule for the coming week, which will be updated regularly with new programming. Look for tweets from the Global Voices Twitter account (@globalvoices) and with the hashtag #GVRadio announcing what is now playing. You can listen through the player widget above or directly on the GV Radio landing page. Thanks for listening to GV Radio.

author: GV Radio


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Top Bahraini Student Goes to Jail Instead of Medical School · Global Voices
Faten Bushehri

Mustafa Mohammed Ismael, right, with his brother Ali, at his graduation ceremony
It's the time of the year when high school students graduate and prepare to go to the university of their choice. But for some students in Bahrain, specifically Shiites, activists and government opponents, the path that awaits them is not so bright.
One of these ill fated students is Mustafa Mohammed Ismael who is in jail instead of pursuing his dream of studying medicine. Mustafa graduated top of his class from high school with grades averaging 98.8 percent.
@HusaainMinus shares Mustafa's ordeal on Twitter:
الطالب مصطفى حاز على مرتبة الشرف بنسبة 99% وبما إنه #شيعي فقد نال بعثة إلى السجن ف #البحرين @bhvoice @Prisoner149 pic.twitter.com/Z25QthQ3VQ
— ➖ мínυѕ ➖ (@HussainMinus) July 10, 2015
Student Mustafa earned the honors with a GPA of 99 % and since he is a Shia he was granted a scholarship to prison in Bahrain
On August 15, 2013, Mustafa, who is now 18, was walking out of his grandfather's house in Nuwaidrat when he was stopped by security patrol. He was charged with illegal gathering and initially sentenced to six months. The court of appeal later reduced the sentence to three months and released him on bail 24 days later.
Mustafa's family told Al Wasat daily newspaper, that his lawyer Mohammed Al-Muttawa attempted several times to convince authorities to reduce the charges to a fine, so he would be able to continue his education, but failed.
His high school certificates show outstanding performance in all subjects over three years with no marks less than 93.5% out of 100%. The photographs below details Mustafa's grades.
He decided to turn himself in on July 10 to complete the remaining time of his sentence (two months and six days) during the summer holidays, expecting to be released on September 16. In a letter he wrote before he entered prison, he said: “In prison I spend my night and day … a product of my success and academic excellence.” He continued expressing how desperate he felt when he was first arrested, and then the glimpse of hope he regained after being released, explaining he continued to work hard to reach his goal. Yet his dream to become a doctor and serve his country is rewarded with imprisonment.
Mustafa, right, kissing his mother's forehead at the end of his graduation ceremony. His brother Ali, far left.
Mustafa's decision to turn himself in was encouraged by his family members, his brother Ali told Global Voices Online, to avoid future complications and the risk to be arrested any minute while he is in the middle of his university studies. Ali says if his brother hadn't turned himself in he would have faced difficulties going anywhere or passing check points as there is an arrest warrant for him. Their reasoning was the earlier he went to prison, the earlier he got out and resumed his life.
“During high school, Mustafa felt so disappointed and unmotivated. His GPA dropped a few points, but family support helped him get through it. He was always at home avoiding to go out so he could complete his high school diploma without interruption or being arrested.”
Mustafa is not the only one arrested from his family. His brother Qasim, also a student, was arrested on January 1, 2012, and is serving a five-year term in jail in the case of “Rayat Alezz”. His father Mohamed Ali is a political activist serving 15 years in jail since March 24, 2011, on charges of “plotting to overthrow the regime”. He is one of the 13 prominent leaders remaining in prison for their role during Bahrain's popular uprising in February 2011.
Mustafa is now detained at the Dry Dock prison waiting for his brother to update him on his scholarship news, and news of admission to universities abroad, keeping in mind that his mother is the only breadwinner in his family at the moment.
Bahraini top student Mustafa Mohammed Ismael delivering a speech at his graduation ceremony
He was a candidate for the Crown Prince's International Scholarship Program (CPISP) and reached to the final stages but didn't get it. The scholarship programme serves the vision of the Crown Prince Sheikh Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa as it is stated on the programme's website “to develop young Bahrainis from all walks of life to take key positions in Bahrain's public and private sectors in the future.”
Despite his academic excellence and qualifications, his options are limited, given that should he complete his sentence, he will be released a bit too late for some universities’ starting date. Mustafa has to look for options he could take after his release in mid September.
His brother Ali explained to Global Voices that Mustafa was offered another scholarship by the Ministry of Education, except it was in mechanical engineering, far from general medicine.
“Once he is released, hopefully before he has to complete his sentence, he will try to switch the scholarship to a stipend and use the money towards studying what he wants. However, we are worried he will be banned from travel after his release.”
Mustafa is not alone when it comes to what many have described as the “discriminatory process” of distributing scholarships in Bahrain. A heated debate is taking place in Bahrain about the criteria for the selection of scholarship recipients. According to activists and Bahraini citizens, the government's track record suggests discrimination against the Shiite students when granting scholarships, especially those who have expressed opposing views to those of the government. Their views and frustrations were compiled on an active Twitter hashtag in Arabic that translates to “the massacre of scholarships“.
According to the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) statistics from February of this year, there are about 400 children in Bahraini prisons being held for politically motivated charges. Most of them have been subjected to ill treatment and torture.

author: Faten Bushehri


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High-Profile Arrests Ahead of Elections Raise Tempers and Eyebrows in Trinidad and Tobago · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The insignia of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service. Photo by Mark Morgan, CC 2.0.
People in Trinidad and Tobago had to wait more than a year for it, but police finally arrested suspects in the murder of Senior Counsel Dana Seetahal, who was gunned down in a carefully orchestrated hit on May 4, 2014. There has been tremendous public pressure on detectives to solve this high-profile murder case and today the police produced a name.
Yasin Abu Bakr, the mastermind behind the July 1990 coup attempt in Trinidad and Tobago, which left 24 people dead, is the man accused of murdering Seetahal. Police reportedly raided Bakr's home and mosque, detaining him and nine others for questioning.
Bakr and members of his Jamaat al Muslimeen surrendered to the authorities after signing an amnesty agreement. While the local courts upheld the amnesty, it was later invalidated by the Privy Council, though the insurgents were never re-arrested. The official reason was that too much time had elapsed, but some speculate it was in fact because of the considerable political influence wielded by Bakr and the Jamaat.
With Trinidad and Tobago's September 7 general elections less than two months away, the timing of the detentions is noteworthy. After Seetahal's murder last year, police were suggesting that the shooting could have been connected to her work as a prosecutor in the controversial murder trial of businesswoman Vindra Naipaul-Coolman. Seven years earlier, three members of the Jamaat al Muslimeen confessed to being involved in Naipaul-Coolman's murder.
Reacting to the Bakr arrest, 96.1 WEFM‘s Facebook page posted the following update:
#BreakingNewsPolice searched the home of Imam Yasin Abu Bakr on Monday morning and detained the Imam for questioning…
Posted by 96.1 WEFM on Monday, July 20, 2015
Other Facebook users made quips about stocking up on batteries, candles, and food supplies, which was necessary after the attempted coup in 1990, when the country instituted a national curfew. One post on the Facebook group Johnnie Walker Talks questioned the motives behind the Bakr arrest:
Word to the wise in Trinidad and Tobago. Why arrest Abu just after Eid and not before? […] This government has something to hide by arresting this man presently just before Jack [Warner] speaks tomorrow. The motives has (sic) to be threefold.
1. Quiet him based on what Warner has to say.
2. Create panic and distraction and
3. Provoke civil unrest by citizens in order to effect another SOE [State of Emergency] since they know their business is extremely dirty.
People of Trinidad and Tobago read the signs. […] Let us all keep our eyes focussed on September 7th. DO NOT give this government what they desire – social unrest. […] Think about it. There is massive corruption, extremely slow police response to government alleged cases and absolutely no input from our excuse for a President. Our nation is in tatters and total disarray. These are the darkest days of our nation's history.
Comments on various other Facebook users also expressed skepticism about the arrests. Kendall Tidd noted:
Anything to enrage the population postpone elections and hold on to the power they not sure to have after Sept 7
Some users asserted that every year close to the anniversary of the coup on July 27 the police seem to “dig up something to detain” Bakr, while another felt that the current government needed to be “locked up,” instead. Keshav D. Ramnath suggested that the commentary was misfocused, asking:
Why so many of you saying the police looking for someone to pin it on? As if you are defending a man who was frankly a terrorist. Plus if the police arrested him after carrying out the search warrant then clearly they found something illegal. If the didn't then they'll have no case against him, simple.
Thomas Archbold Bingham felt that many people seemed “emotionally charged” with regard to the pending election, and put forward his own “conspiracy theory” about Bakr and Seetahal:
We need to do some legal background checks on both the Imam and Dana Seetahal S.C. They both have their legal history, which is public knowledge. Seetahal was bold and brave to challenge and put the Jamaat Al Muslimeen and Imam's properties up for sale to pay legal costs / damages to the state. Abu Bakr was never pleased about what Seetahal did. He felt insulted and disrespected and such is public knowledge.
A few netizens felt that no matter what the police do, they can't seem to win. Public confidence in the Trinidad and Tobago police force—and by extension, the judiciary—has steadily eroded as violent crime in the country has increased alongside abysmally low convictions rates.
Justin Abraham asks:
You know what I can't understand? Everyone asking how far the investigation reach and they want an outcome. The police doing their work and trying to solve it and look at the comments. Hmm
Meanwhile, the Ministry of National Security has issued a press release assuring citizens that the rumours about impending social unrest are untrue:
…In the event of any threat to the safety and security of our people, the Ministry of National Security will issue immediate alerts and guidelines to ensure the preservation of order and overall security.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Who Wants to Be Merkel? Click and Laugh With This Random Austerity Measure Generator · Global Voices
Elaine Rigas

Screenshot from Random Austerity Measures game.
Laughter is the best medicine for pain and this new online game, which appeared just a few days ago, cleverly parodies the austerity measures which have dominated politics in Athens and across Europe in recent weeks.
The official Facebook page of the Random Austerity Measure Generator game gathered more than 2,200 likes during its first day on July 15 and continues to grow. The creators of the game have chosen to remain anonymous, but left readers with the following message:
… made for fun. Help Greek people overcome the crisis by enjoying a nice coffee on the Greek islands!
Participants are asked to click and see what extra actions Greek Prime Minister Tsipras, Athens’ former Finance Minister Varoufakis, and even debt-troubled Italy and Portugal have to take to please German Chancellor Merkel and the EU's most controversial proponent of austerity, German Finance Minister Schaeuble.
Once in play they can make “Tsipras listen to Justin Bieber for 69 hours while on heavy drugs”, or have Italy “give 11 iPhones to 4% of its kids while leaving the others with old mobiles to create jealousy and envy”, while Spain must “have its prime minister to stand on his one foot for 42 hours”. Another options forces “Varoufakis to dance and sing ‘My Anaconda’ 14 times in front of Merkel.”
Global Voices authors tested the game — for research purposes, of course — and came up with some hilarious results:
My random #Austerity measure. What's yours? http://t.co/g9yOdfiLFW #ThisIsACoup pic.twitter.com/84VeigoG8l
— Joey Ayoub جووي أيوب (@joeyayoub) July 17, 2015
that's pure evil! http://t.co/ZZwW9OpZqs #austerity pic.twitter.com/fYeJqDl1zR
— Elaine R. (@Elaine_Rigas) July 18, 2015
Screenshot from Random Austerity Measures game. Possible Greek response: “But that's like removing cheese from pizza!!”
The results aren't the only humorous aspect of the game. The loading bar also features some sarcastic commentary on recent events and actions taken by Eurozone and EU leaders during the Eurogroup with Greece's fate hanging in the balance. These include “bringing democracy”, “closing some banks”, “deciding for you”, “bringing some coups”, “discussing stuff”, “seem serious and caring”, “voting stuff” and the personal favourite of this author:
Screenshot from Random Austerity Measures game.
The game provides an opportunity to find moments of laughter amid gloomy talk of creditors, bailouts, ‘Grexit’ and austerity. Give it a shot and let us know what you got!

author: Elaine Rigas


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Bahrain’s Government Accused of ‘Gambling With the Future of Its Youth’ by Refusing Scholarships for Its Brightest Students · Global Voices
Faten Bushehri

Many Bahraini graduates complain that they are being denied government scholarships to study medicine and other specialisations of their choice just because of their religious sect. Photo credit: Wikipedia, used under CC BY-SA 3.0
The Bahraini government is being accused of “gambling with the future of its youth.” The allegations follow the announcement of government scholarships, which many students, their parents and observers have described as “discriminatory” against the country's Shiite high school graduates, many of whom come from unprivileged families and who need funding to afford higher education and a better future.
A heated debate is taking place in Bahrain about the criteria for the selection of scholarship recipients. In addition to accounting for their overall grades, the Ministry of Education has set aside 40 per cent of the scholarship assessment to a personal interview, in which some students have complained they were asked about their religious sect and political affiliations.
According to activists and Bahraini citizens, the government's track record suggests discrimination against the Shiite students when granting scholarships, especially those who expressed opposing views to those of the government. Their views and frustrations were compiled on an active Twitter hashtag in Arabic that translates to “the massacre of scholarships” which details how many of the country's brightest students have been deprived from scholarships or given specialisations they have no interest in. Most top students want to study medicine and engineering, which they cannot afford to study without scholarships.
According to Suad Al Khawaja, more than 12,000 tweets were unleashed on Twitter under the hashtag, with no favourable reaction from the government:
أكثر من ١٢ ألف تغريدة حول #مجزرة_البعثات ولاحياة لمن تنادي وبعدين استنكروا بيان منظمة حقوقية او جمعية سياسية!! pic.twitter.com/P2qG4vNCik
— Suad Alkhawaja (@SuadAK) July 19, 2015
More than 12,000 tweets under the massacre of scholarships hashtag and no reaction from those it addresses. And then they [the government] will condemn the statement of a rights movement or a political society
Free Prisoner, a prominent account on Twitter, tweeted to his 17.3K followers:
وزارة الداخلية و قوة الدفاع كانوا و لازالوا يرفضون اعطاء اي بعثة او وظيفة لشيعة!! وفي السنوات الاخيرة انضمت لهم وزارة التربية #مجزرة_البعثات
— Freeprisoner (@freedoctors84) July 20, 2015
The Interior Ministry and the Defence Force were and still are refusing to give any scholarships or a position to the Shiites. And in recent years, the Ministry of Education joined them.
Former member of parliament for Alwefaq National Islamic Society Ali Alaswad tweeted a photograph of a recently published report by Salam for Democracy and Human Rights, an NGO operating in Sweden and the UK.
صورة من تقرير @SALAM_DHR التمييز في البعثات هو إحدى الكوارث التي تقوم بها السلطة في #البحرين حيث تغيب الشفافية pic.twitter.com/zrhxY378he
— Ex MP Ali Alaswad (@am_aswad) July 19, 2015
An image of @SALAM_DHR's report. Discrimination in scholarships is one of the disasters by the authorities in Bahrain, where transparency is absent.
The report confirms people's speculations about systematic government discrimination. It states that despite the large numbers of Shiite students and educated graduates, most high positions at the Ministry of Education are held by Sunnis, and a very small number is given to the Shiites. The report also states that Shiites are not only being excluded from scholarship programs, but are subjected to obstacles and difficulties when trying to continue their higher education. The report refers to the University of Bahrain (UOB) giving opportunities and paving the way for their Sunni employees, while complicating the same opportunities for their Shiite employees to earn a Master degree abroad. This is also reflected in executive positions at UOB, where they are filled with Sunni employees rather than Shiites, according to the report.
@SayedJSA tweeted:
#مجزرة_البعثات هي واحدة من عشرات الانتهاكات الانسانية الممنهجة ضد الطائفة الشيعية في #البحرين
— Sayed (@SayedJSA) July 19, 2015
The massacre of scholarships is one of dozens of humanitarian systematic abuses against the Shiite community in Bahrain
He continues to speak on behalf of students explaining:
شباب ثابروا واجتهدوا وضحوا طيلة اثنى عشر سنة ، ولما اتى موعد الاستحقاق نحروا مستقبلهم لانهم #شيعة #مجزرة_البعثات في #البحرين
— Sayed (@SayedJSA) July 19, 2015
Young students worked hard and sacrificed 12 years of their lives, and when the time came for them to reap the fruit of their hard work, their future was slaughtered because they are Shiites in Bahrain
The last group of the Crown Prince's International Scholarship Program (CPISP) recipients are a total of 10, five of whom come from private schools, and the other five are public school students. Three of the public school students are from Sunni areas in Bahrain, and the other two are graduates of somewhat neutral schools that have both Sunnis and Shiites. CPISP is not the only grantee of scholarships in Bahrain, but criticism of the selection criteria is applicable on all programs and offers by the state.
Some people are claiming that scholarships in Bahrain are often given to students who come from families who can afford to send their children abroad, and exclude those who are qualified but cannot afford it. When less privileged students are rewarded for their hard work and high marks, it is by offering them scholarships for their last preferred field, sometimes an unrelated major and at other times they only get stipends.
Alwefaq issued a statement emphasizing the phenomenon, saying there is a wave of anger and resentment among a large number of Bahraini families because of the deprivation of scholarships for their children who excelled in their studies, due to sectarian persecution imposed by authorities.
Bahraini students and activists share some personal experiences on social media. Ba7raniah tweets:
أليس التفوق برهان على الانتماء وحب الوطن؟!لماذا تستجوبني في المقابلات الشخصية وتستفزني؟!ماذا سيفيدك سؤال انت شيعي لو انت سني؟#مجزرة_البعثات
— بحرانية (@ba7raniah) July 20, 2015
Is my academic excellence not proof of my belonging and patriotism?! Why do you interrogate me during personal interviews and provoke me?! What will you gain out of asking me are you Sunni or Shiite?
SaydoO adds:
بعثة شنو؟ انا كنت ابي ادرس و على حسابي في جامعة ” وطني ” الحكومية و ما رضوا يعطوني التخصص الي ابيه!! مو بعثة بعد!!!! #مجزرة_البعثات
— سيد حسين  (@SaydoO_) July 19, 2015
What scholarship? I wanted to study at my own expense at the state university and they refused to let me study the specialization of my choice let alone award me a scholarship!
Member of Alwefaq Sayed Ahmed Alalawi tweets the story of another student:
اني طالبة اسمي مريم عيسى الحايكي حصلت 97.6% وعطوني بعثه تمريض الرغبة ٦😢 #مجزرة_البعثات #تمييز_البعثات #البحرين
— Sayed Ahmed Alalawi (@SAalalawi) July 19, 2015
I am a student My name is Maryam Isa Al-Hayki
My GPA was 97.6 % and I got my 6th choice, nursing.
Another Twitter account @NAlhadi tweets a different story:
الطالبة عبير المؤمن:نسبتي ٩٦٪ وحصلت على الرغبة التاسعه!رغم ان رغبتي الاولى صيدلة والأقل مني مجموع يحصل على رغبتي الأولى #مجزرة_البعثات !
— رآية العِز ١٤فبراير (@NAlhadi) July 19, 2015
Student Abeer Almomen: My GPA is 96% and I got my ninth choice! My first choice is pharmacy, and students with GPAs lower than mine are being offered my first choice.
Free Shawqi Radhi tweeted to his over 7,000 followers:
سيد مرتضى اعتقل خمسة أشهر ورغم ذلك اجتهد وحصل نسبة 94.4% وكل طلبه بعثة لجامعة البحرين كومبيوتر وبعد حرموه!! #مجزرة_البعثات @S_murtadha98
— Free Shawqi Radhi (@FreedomPrayers) July 19, 2015
Sayed Murtadha was detained for five months, despite that he worked hard and earned 94.4% and all he wanted was a scholarship to the University of Bahrain to study computer science, and they still deprived him.
Government opponents seem to prefer depriving people of their rights as a punishment for demanding their rights to begin with. They have expressed on Twitter disagreement with offering Shiites scholarships. Bahraini Muharraqi says:
ناس تحارب #النظام وهم في #البحرين شلون تعطيهم الحكومة بعثات عشان يشتغلون عليها عدل في الخارج! محد يطز عينه بيده يا حكومة #مجزره_البعثات
— بحريني محرقي (@BahMq) July 19, 2015
People are fighting the regime while in Bahrain, how do they give them scholarships so they preach against it abroad.
No one pokes their eye with their own finger (speaking to the government).
Shawazen1 wants to exclude those who oppose the government and questions their loyalty:
البعثات لشرفاء الوطن وليس للموالين لايران #مجزرة_البعثات #البحرين https://t.co/bUhap0BDPz
— shawazen1 (@OfGulf) July 20, 2015
Scholarships are for the country's honorable people and not for Iran's loyalists
@GccTraveller believes it's a conspiracy by the Shiites:
الشيعة يريدون السيطرة علي التعليم كتمهيد للسيطرة على مؤسسات الدولة تمهيدا الانقلاب والاستحواذ على البلد #مجزرة_البعثات
— مسافر (@GccTraveller) July 20, 2015
Shiites want to control education to pave the way for controlling state institutions in preparation for a coup and taking over the country.
Such a discourse does not come as a surprise in Bahrain, where many government loyalists have been fed with illusions that they are under threat by the Shiites who plan to take over and should therefore be deprived from their rights, as a measure to thwart any attempts by them. In fact, many see it as a government strategy that has been ongoing for decades and which has helped fuel the sectarian tensions the country is currently witnessing.
Moderate people have called for equal and fair distribution of scholarships and the treatment of students based on their qualifications and grades rather than their family's affiliation and political preference.
Ahmed A.Ameer confirms:
الشفافية، الكفاءة، المهنية، الحيادية، المساواة معايير مطلوبة عند التعامل مع موضوع البعثات. #مجزرة_البعثات #البحرين
— Ahmed A.Ameer (@Ahmdradhi) July 19, 2015
Transparency, efficiency, professionalism, impartiality and equality are required standards when dealing with the subject of scholarships
A “Bahraini dreaming of a better Bahrain” Mohammed Alsalman echoes Ahmed:
لا أحد يريد توزيع البعثات حسب الإنتماء أو المحاصصة الطائفية ، فقط حسب مجهود كل طالب ومعدله درجاته، لا أكثر ولا أقل ، صعبة ؟ #مجزرة_البعثات
— محمد السلمان (@MohdAlSalman1) July 19, 2015
No one wants the distribution of scholarships by affiliation or sectarian quotas, only by the effort of each student and his average grades, no more, no less. Is that difficult?
Abdulla Aljalahma also calls for a fair distribution away from taking sects into consideration:
هذا ليس عدلاً ولا منطق فلا نريد للبعثات لا لسنة ولا لشيعة .. البعثات للأكفأ والأجدر فقط من الطلبة #مجزرة_البعثات https://t.co/16icbEPcd2
— عبدالله الجلاهمة (@Aljalhemi) July 20, 2015
This is not fair nor logical, we do not want scholarships for Sunnis or Shiites.. Scholarships are for the most efficient and deserving of the students
The solutions proposed by many on Twitter are transparency and publishing the results of the personal interviews as well as information about each student. Some explain that the reason there is an opposition in Bahrain is because of the unfair measures the government takes against its own people. Others called on the Minister of Education to respond to the allegations and provide explanations for the unfair process of scholarship distributions, yet he remains silent.
@orgbahraini thinks the minister should take serious action in response to the wave of anger:
في الدول التي تحترم نفسها عندما يتحدث الناس عن #مجزرة_البعثات كما حدث في البحرين يستقيل الوزير أو يقوم بالتحقيق مباشرة #وزير التربية صامت!
— orgbahraini (@orgbahraini) July 20, 2015
In countries that have self respect, when people talk about a massacre of scholarships like in Bahrain, the Minister resigns or starts an investigation immediately. The Minister of Education is silent
In addition to scholarships offered by the state, other scholarships are available for Bahraini students from universities or organizations abroad like University of Bath and the University of Sheffield in the UK. Some NGOs also offer scholarships in the United States and Europe, but are very competitive.
According to the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) statistics from February of this year, there are about 400 children in Bahraini prisons being held for politically motivated charges. Most of them have been subjected to ill treatment and torture.


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Blame Game Follows Horrific Violence in Eastern Turkey · Global Voices
Ece Basay

Ankara, Yuksel street. The toys that were supposed to be sent to Kobane lie on the ground after the terrible attack that killed 32 people in Suruc. Photo shared on The Federation of Socialist Youth's Facebook page.
Turkey is recovering from one of the bloodiest suicide attacks in its history after a blast on Monday left 32 people dead and 103 people wounded in Suruc, a small city on the border with the conflict-stricken Syrian town of Kobane. But that hasn't stopped politicians and social media users alike trading bitter invective in the aftermath of the attack.
The bombing, which Turkey's under-fire officials admit is probably the work of the ISIS radical group their harshest critics accuse them of empowering, took place in front of the Amara Cultural Center in Suruc. Many young activists had gathered there to help rebuild the war-torn city of Kobane, which has witnessed fierce fighting between ISIS and Kurdish fighters the Turkish government strongly opposes.
Yetimlere, Öksüzlere Oyuncak Götüren O Koca Kalpli Çocukları Tabutlara Gönderdiniz… #SuructaKatliamVar pic.twitter.com/xwYjJXj5mb
— Heisenberg (@Heisinbergg) July 20, 2015
You have sent those big hearted children into coffins while they were only carrying toys for orphans…
#MassacreinSuruc
ISIS has been a controversial topic in the country for some time, with many claiming the government, while accepting thousands of refugees from Syria, has not been doing enough to counter the group's presence on the border with its Kurdish-populated eastern regions. The most critical voices have even said the government is happy for ISIS to grow sufficiently strong so as to counterbalance the potential for an independent Kurdish state in the Middle East.
Cartoon drawn by Carlos Latuff after the Suruc attack. Widely shared.
While non-ISIS links are also being taken into consideration, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Tuesday that there was a “high probability” of the group's involvement in the blast and added that the suspected bomber's connections were being investigated.
Meanwhile the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) that upset the dominant Justice and Development Party (AKP) of Davutoğlu and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan by cruising into the parliament in Turkey's recent general election blamed AKP for the tragedy.
In a statement headed “Damning the Suruc Massacre”, the party blasted:
…IŞİD ve benzeri tecavüz ordularının destek aldığı bütün ülkeler ve rejimleri bu barbarlığın ortağıdırlar. IŞİD'e karşı sus pus olanlar, sesini bile yükseltmeye cesaret edemeyenler, HDP'ye bile her gün tehdit savurup IŞİD'in başını okşayan Ankara'daki yöneticiler bu barbarlığın suç ortağıdırlar…
… Every country and regime that supports ISIS and ISIS-like rape armies are parts of this barbarism. The ones who are silent against ISIS, the ones who do not even have the courage to raise their voices, the executives in Ankara who threaten HDP everyday while caressing ISIS’ head are partners of this barbarism…
The other two of the four parliamentary parties, the Republican People's Party's (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party's (MHP) leaders also made statements regarding the attack.
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, leader of CHP, damned attacks on civilians and everyone supporting such actions. Devlet Bahçeli, leader of MHP, made a similar statement, but in true nationalist fashion criticised the people and institutions offering help to the Kurdish-populated town of Kobane.
On social media, ordinary citizens vented against the government:
Adını bilmediğimiz Suudi kral öldü yas ilan ettiniz, Demirel öldü yas ilan ettiniz. 31 insan öldü hala ses yok! #SuruçtaKatliamVar
— zuhal siran (@zuhalsiran) July 21, 2015
You declared a mourning day when the Saudi king, whose name we do not even know [died], you declared a mourning day after [former Turkish President] Demirel's death. Here 31 people [later confirmed as 32] have died and you are still silent! #MassacreinSuruc
Günün özeti:Aynı Sivas katliamı gibi! Orda da gerçek katillerin etrafında dolaşılmış,saldırı ülkeye yapılmış vs denmişti. #SuructaKatliamVar
— Selami İnce (@selamiince) July 20, 2015
Summary of the day: It is just like the Sivas Massacre. There, they also said that the attack was against the whole country, and they tried to avoid mention of the real murderers. #MassacreinSuruc
Protests in many cities
The bombing attack targeted activists who had gathered in Suruc at the invitation of The Federation of Socialist Youth (SGDF). After the deadly explosion protests took place in many cities including Istanbul, Ankara, Diyarbakır, and Eskişehir.
The hashtags #SuructaKatliamVar (Massacre in Suruc), #SurucunKatiliniBiliyoruz (We know the murderer of Suruc), and #İyiolmayacağım (I won't be Okay – referring to the social media messages of Loren Elva, one of the victims) have gathered force on social media.
Bu ülkede gerçek katiller yakalanıncaya, katillere kol kanat gerenler cezalarını buluncaya, gerçek barış gelinceye kadar #iyiolmayacağım
— Ahmet Ümit (@baskomsernevzat) July 21, 2015
#IWontBeOkay until the real murderers are caught, the people who protect the murderers are punished and until real peace arrives.
20.07.2015 tarihine bir not düşün suruç'ta insanlık katledildi.Yetti artık.Katledilen insanlarımız adına haykırıyoruz.#SuructaKatliamVar
— sertaç fındıklı (@sertacfndkl) July 21, 2015
Write down the date 20.07.2015. On that day, humanity was massacred in Suruc. #SuructaKatliamVar
Building tensions
The attack took place on the same day as a clash between militants from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Turkish army, also in the east, which resulted in one soldier dying.
PM Davutoğlu called the soldier a “martyr” and chided that “HDP officials should respond to the PKK attack in the same way they responded to the [Suruç] attack.”
Nationalists relayed the same message only more bluntly:
#SuructaKatliamVar mış Bunlar Genç Değilmiydi Lan? Hayallerini kahpece söndürüp her ŞEHİT haberinde zılgıt çektiniz.. pic.twitter.com/b2i8p3GsxH — Ziya Onar (@zyaonr17) July 21, 2015
They are saying there was #MassacreinSuruc. Are these [soldiers] not young people? You [Kurdish separatists] have put off their dreams brutally and celebrated the death of every MARTYR.
On Ekşisözlük, one of Turkey's most widely used interactive forums, one user named “time isnt on my side” sums up the conflicting atmosphere regarding the separate attacks in Turkey:
herkesin karşı tarafa suç attığı, kimin yaptığı belli olmayan patlama. bu ortadoğu denilen yer öyle bir bataklık ki herkes kendinden olmayanı katletme hakkını kendinde buluyor. olan yine gencecik insanlara oluyor…sonra birileri kalkıp ‘ama onlar kürttü’, ‘ama onlar teröristmiş’,… , ‘ama onlar aleviymiş’ vs. şeyler söylemeye başlıyorlar. ölenler insandı, sadece insan! bu kadar zor mu bir insana sadece insan olduğu için değer vermek, sadece en temel hakkı olan yaşama hakkı olduğu için değer vermek bu kadar zor mu… ne için savaşıyoruz? niye dünyayı birbirimize cehenneme çeviriyoruz? niye yani niye? allah kahretsin.
This explosion, which everyone has accused the other of, but for which nobody knows who is responsible. This place called the Middle East, which is such a swamp, in which everyone finds the right to massacre people they believe they do not belong together with. Young people suffer the most… then someone comes along and says things like ‘but they were Kurds’, ‘but they were terrorists’, ‘but they were Alevis’ etc. The people who died were humans, is it this hard to value people only by knowing that they have the fundamental right to life… Why are we fighting? Why are we turning this world into a hell for each other? Why? God damn it.
Against this highly charged background, the victims of the suicide attack were buried Tuesday. The people they left behind are still waiting on more details and information about the attacker.

author: Ece Basay


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Indonesians in Taiwan Find a More Welcoming Atmosphere on Eid al-Fitr Than in Years Past · Global Voices
I-fan Lin

An Indonesian mother brought her son to join the Eid al-Fitr celebration in front to Taipei Station. Photo from 4-Way Voice's Facebook page
During the weekend of July 18 and 19, many Indonesians residing in Taiwan observed Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday that marks the end of the holy month of fasting called Ramadan. They held celebrations in public areas including Taipei Railway Station and 228 Memorial Park as well as in major mosques across the country.
Many Taiwanese enjoyed the colorful festival scene, something that would be difficult to imagine only a few years ago.
In 2012, the Taiwan Railways Administration surrounded the Indonesians who were celebrating the Eid al-Fitr inside the Taipei Railway Station and urged them to disperse with loudspeakers. Rather than speaking up for the minority group, most mainstream media outlets condemned what they called an abusive use of public space. The Indonesian community felt discriminated against.
Several NGOs that provide support for migrant workers protested against the Taiwan Railways Administration, hoping that authorities would show more respect for Indonesian Muslims. Yet, the same conflict happened again in 2013.
The situation improved in 2014 as the new chief of Taipei Railway Station worked hand-in-hand with NGOs and the Indonesian community to prepare for the festival. Not only was Eid al-Fitr celebrated without controversy, the event also served to educate Taiwanese on understanding their Muslim friends’ religion and culture.
Currently, about 250,000 Indonesians live in Taiwan. About 230,000 are staying for their work, while 20,000 have immigrated permanently to Taiwan.
This year, in addition to the Taipei Railway Station, there were more well-prepared festival sites. The Department of Labor in Taipei prepared the event venue in nearby 228 Memorial Park, and five major mosques across Taiwan also hosted Eid al-Fitr celebration .
4-Way Voice, a newspaper devoted to migrant workers from Southeast Asia, reported on the celebration at Taipei station:
許多印尼移工在活動結束又得匆匆趕回去工作，有更多移工因為交通、工作關係，無法前來一起來和同鄉過新年；不論身在何方，四方報也祝所有穆斯林讀者開齋節快樂！Selamat Hari Raya Idul Fitri！
Many Indonesian workers needed to return to their work after the event in a hurry. More could not celebrate the new year with their fellow Indonesians either because transportation or work. However, no matter where our Muslim readers are, 4-way Voice wishes all our readers have a happy Eid al-Fitr. Selamat Hari Raya Idul Fitri.
The temporary clean water station prepared for Muslims who attended the celebration. Image from 4-Way Voice.
Tien-Wan Chang, who employs an Indonesian domestic helper, took the opportunity to thank her on Facebook:
祝福所有印尼辛苦的移工們快樂。[…]她們撐起台灣長照缺口，沒有她們，台灣48萬長期臥床老人家庭一定崩盤。
我們家這些年也幸運有個天使，從照顧我開刀，復元到照顧公公離世，婆婆生病的繁重工作，翻身、胃管，洗浴都靠她。[…]今天開齋節，希望她們好好玩。謝謝她們。
Hope all Indonesian workers who work very hard have a good day. […] They play an important role in the caring service sector in Taiwan. Without them, 480,000 families with bedridden elderly could not survive. We are also lucky to have an angel in our family in recent years: she took care of me after I received a surgery, she took care of my father-in-law until he passed away, and she takes care of my bedridden mother-in-law. She helps my mother-in-law to turn around in bed, takes care of her nasogastric tube, and bathes her.[…] Today is Eid al-Fitr. I hope they enjoy the holiday, and I want to thank them.
Chih-An Chen, who also employs an Indonesian domestic helper, described how she celebrated Eid al-Fitr with her helper:
全球穆斯林齋戒月從6/18-7/17,我家阿婷也不例外,她從日出後就不行吃東西,連水也不能喝,她說一直到晚上18:50才可以開始吃東西,這一個月來酷熱難耐,坐著不動都直冒汗,難為她一三五早上要坐復康車帶我爸去復健,二四六要推他去散步,齋戒月馬上就要結束了,馬上就是開齋節,等於是印尼的新年,是穆斯林重要的節日,今天(7/16)下午她說要買新衣服,我帶她去街上並修剪一下頭髮
Ramadan this year is from 6/18 to 7/17 for Muslims worldwide, and there is no exception for A-Ting, the helper in our family. She could not eat or drink after sunrise. She told us that she cannot eat before 18:50. It has been very hot in this month, and we kept sweating even without moving around. It is hard work for her to bring my father to receive rehabilitation by the rehabilitation bus on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and bring him to stroll around on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. It is close to the end of Ramadan, and soon they will have Eid al-Fitr, the new year in Indonesia and an important holiday for Muslims. Today (7/16) she said she wants to buy new clothes, so I went shopping with her and she had a haircut.
The traditional Indonesian food to celebrate Eid al-fitr. Image from Spice-up Tasat
Spice-up Tasat, a group of non-Taiwanese spouses from different Southeast Asian countries, hold regular gatherings to share different cuisines from their hometowns. They prepared ketupat, the traditional Indonesian food for Eid al-Fitr, on July 17:
ketupat是印尼傳統的食物。用新綠的椰子葉編成菱形，裝入白米，直接用水煮，讓白米在嫩葉的包裹中逐漸膨脹、飽滿、擠壓而後緊密結合。吃的時候會切成一塊一塊，搭配沙嗲、咖哩或soto ayam一類湯品作為主食。
雖然平時都會吃，但在開齋節時，許多傳統穆斯林特別會做ketupat送人。
有人說，ketupat的爪哇語kupat有承認錯誤的意思，因此在開齋節送ketupat，多少有些反省、和好的意味。
「也許更重要的是人和人的親近吧。ketupat繁複的編摺，就像不同的人們一同形成美麗的整體。」Lili說。
在一個有一萬三千多座島，超過三百六十個種族，七百一十九種方言的國家。不論叫Ketupat、 Kupat還是Tipat，不論它代表了什麼，也許都不那樣重要。
重要的是，齋戒結束，新的一年和初生的月亮一同重新開始了。
Ketupat is a traditional Indonesian cuisine. We weave fresh green coconut leaves into a diamond shape. Then we put rice into it and broil it. The rice will expand gradually and bind together closely after being pressed. When we eat it, we cut it into pieces and eat with sate, curry, or soup like soto ayam.
Although we eat at ordinary times, many traditional Muslims make special ketupat as gifts in Eid al-Fitr.
Some people said that the Javanese of ketupat is kupat, which means admitting the mistake, so it may be meant to reflect on ourselves and forgive others if we give ketupat as gifts to others in Eid al-Fitr.
“Maybe what is more important is bringing people together. The complicated weaving of ketupat represents how different people are integrated together beautifully,” Lily said.
In a country with more than 13,000 islands, 360 ethnic groups and 719 dialects, it does not matter so much if we call it ketupat, kupat, or tipat or what their meaning is.
What matters is that Ramadan is finished, and the new year begins with the crescent moon.

author: I-fan Lin


text:
Laundering Russian Money in London: Undercover Reporters Show You How It’s Done · Global Voices
Will Wright

Screencap of the documentary's title sequence. Image from Roman Borisovich on Twitter.
The new hard-hitting exposé From Russia With Cash shows how dirty money from Russia and elsewhere is being laundered through London's high-end real estate market. Since debuting July 8 on Britain's Channel 4, the documentary has already sparked an international campaign to reform U.K. property laws.
The exposé follows a team of undercover reporters shopping for multi-million dollar apartments in London. Russian anti-corruption campaigner Roman Borisovich plays “Boris,” who claims to be a senior official from Russia's Health Ministry. Ukrainian investigative reporter Natalie Sedletska (of YanukovychLeaks fame) plays his mistress, “Nastya.”
Selfie made during secret filming at the London luxury apartment for Channel4 film #FromRussiaWithCash @danreed1000 pic.twitter.com/0PwWMbnIHZ
— Natalie Sedletska (@natasedletska) July 8, 2015
In the course of viewing five apartments, ranging in price from approximately $4.5 to $23.5 million, the couple meets with a series of real estate agents from top London firms, and secretly records the encounters.
At each showing, “Nastya” first pretends to fall in love with the space. Next, “Boris” pulls the estate agent aside to say that he would like to purchase the property, but needs the deal to proceed anonymously. Boris explains that he will be buying the property with money pilfered from the state budget and doesn't want anyone in Moscow connecting a hole in the budget with the purchase. “Every [Health Ministry] contract brings a little bit to my pocket,” Boris tells each estate agent, following the planned script. “Needless to say, the money for this flat comes out of the government budget. [Therefore] discretion is the absolute priority.”
In every instance filmed, the estate agents appear willing to continue with the sales, which could net them commissions ranging from $100,000 to $500,000. Some of the agents even recommend law firms that specialize in hiding a buyer's identity and coach “Boris” on how to avoid potential legal problems. In the U.K., estate agents are required by law to submit “suspicious activity reports” to the National Crime Agency if they have concerns that the money being used to purchase properties might have been obtained through criminal means.
British journalist Ben Judah, one of the people behind the film, spoke to RuNet Echo about the project. “I came up with the idea for [From Russia With Cash] on a London night bus with producer Tom Costello. We were sadly not surprised [to find not even one clean estate agent]: we'd been researching money laundering in London property for months. With at least £57 billion ($88.7 billion) worth of money laundering taking place in London and the U.K. a year—or 3.6% of GDP—dusty Victorian bricks have become the reserve currency of global corruption.”
Chido Dunn of the anticorruption group Global Witness explains the logic of money laundering through upmarket property. “Stolen billions don’t fit under mattresses—people only steal them if there is somewhere safe to put them and the U.K.’s property market is providing that safe haven,” says Dunn in the film. “London is, in effect, the money-laundering capital of the world.” Global Witness has previously called attention to this issue, such as in the report Blood Red Carpet. It highlights the case of a $5.5 million Surrey mansion believed to be owned by a former Kyrgyz President's son, who was convicted of corruption and the attempted murder of a U.K. citizen after fleeing his homeland in 2010.
As intended by its creators, From Russia With Cash has generated a lot of discussion about how London is enabling corruption around the world, and has also helped launch a campaign to reform U.K. property laws. After the initial airing of the documentary, the hashtag #FromRussiaWithCash became a trending topic on Twitter. An Early Day Motion (EDM) inspired by the film has been introduced in Britain's lower house of Parliament. An EDM is a formal motion that Parliament members can table to draw attention to a cause. 30 MPs have already signed on to EDM 275:
Early day motion 275: MONEY LAUNDERING THROUGH LONDON PROPERTY MARKET
That this House notes the recent screening of From Russia with Cash on Channel 4; expresses its concern that the proceeds of corruption are being laundered through the London property market via the use of anonymous offshore companies; and recommends that corporate transparency become a Land Registry requirement so that any foreign company intending to hold a property title in the UK is held to the same standards of transparency required of UK registered companies, so preventing London or other locations from becoming a safe haven for the corrupt.
Russians have also joined the campaign to clean up London's property market, and, by doing so, address corruption in Russia itself. Opposition politician Alexey Navalny published an online appeal calling on Russians to tweet at British Parliament members, urging them to support EDM 275. In the post, Navalny's anti-corruption team also highlights two anonymously owned, multi-million dollar London apartments, which they say belong to the sons of two powerful members of President Putin's inner circle, Vladimir Yakunin and Boris Rotenberg.
Будет очень полезно, если вы напишите пару вежливых твитов членам британского парламента. Вроде таких. pic.twitter.com/FWQIaz1FyZ
— Alexey Navalny (@navalny) July 17, 2015
It will be very useful if you write several polite tweets to British Parliament members. Like these.
“We were delighted that Navalny joined the campaign,” Ben Judah told RuNet Echo. “One of the most effective tools a campaigner has at his disposal is shaming—and having an icon of the Russian opposition tweeting at British MPs that there are ‘Blood Mansions’ in their constituencies is a super-effective tool. The MPs tweeted at by him are unlikely to forget it. We think it works as every little nudge like that cements the idea in the MPs’ heads this is a live issue. It's a blunt way to illustrate to them money laundering is making many Russians angry at London's role in the corruption ‘looting-machine.'”
Judah said the makers of the documentary were keen to “keep up the activism” and push a set of targeted policy recommendations that they developed in collaboration with Global Witness and Transparency International. “Our one key objective is to end the ability to anonymously buy UK property: a device that allows budget-plunderers in Krasnoyarsk and Donetsk to turn their dirty black cash into pretty white assets in London stucco,” Judah said. He added that British Prime Minister David Cameron's aides have seen the policy proposal and are now considering it.

author: Will Wright


text:
Mexican Army Accused of Shooting Civilians During Operation in Michoacán · Global Voices
Elizabeth Rivera

Image shared by several media. Shows the Mexican Army in Santa María de Ostula. Independent press and local sources denounced attacks to civilians during an operation. This and other photos have come forward during the coverage that has captured Internet users’ attention in Mexico.
According to various independent media outlets in Mexico, the National Army allegedly opened fired against civilians in the indigenous community of Santa María Ostula, in the municipality of Aquila, Michoacán, during an operation to arrest one of the state's self-defense leaders.
The total number of victims remains unclear, but according to the website Desinformémonos there was at least one death — that of a 12-year-old boy — and four injured. At the time of writing, the Michoacán Coordination Group, under the command of the military, confirmed that there had been an attack by an unidentified armed group that opened fire against residents and vowed to find the perpetrators.
The Cooperativa de Medios (Media Cooperative) Facebook page published a bulletin signed by “the team of support and solidarity with the indigenous community of Santa María Ostula”:
El día de hoy aproximadamente a las 10 hrs un pelotón del ejército mexicano se presentó en los parajes de El Duín y Xayakalan, en la comunidad indígena de Santa María Ostula, Municipio de Aquila, Michoacán. […] Los miembros de ejército impactaron sus vehículos contra los puestos de vigilancia y realizaron disparos…
Today, at approximately 10 a.m. a Mexican Army squad showed up at El Duín and Xayakalan lands in the indigenous community of Santa María Ostula, Municipality of Aquila, Michoacán […] Members of the Army crashed their vehicles against the inspection posts and started shooting…
In the same note, they reported the arrest of one of the commanders of the town's Community Police, who is also responsible for the General Self-Defense Coordination of Aquila, Coahuayana and Chinicuila municipalities:
De manera paralela otro grupo del ejército mexicano detuvo a Cemeí Verdía Zepeda […] en el poblado de La Placita. En ambas acciones los miembros de ejército no presentaron órdenes de aprehensión y se desconoce los delitos de los que acusan a los detenidos. Cabe mencionar que hasta el momento no han sido presentados ante ninguna agencia del ministerio público y se ignora su paradero.
In a parallel operation, another Mexican Army group arrested Cemeí Verdía Zepeda […] in the community of La Placita. In both actions, the soldiers didn't present arrest warrants or mention the crimes with which they accuse the detainees.
Finally, the bulletin also mentioned the response by the local community forces:
Ante las acciones emprendidas por las fuerzas federales la comunidad de Santa María Ostula se movilizó y en estos momentos mantiene retenidos a  miembros del ejercito mexicano que participaron en las agresiones. Se debe advertir que se está viviendo una situación de tensión extrema en la región.
Given the actions by the federal forces, the community of Santa María Ostula organized and detained the members of the Mexican Army who participated in the attack. It should be warned that the region is experiencing a current state of extreme tension.
Information about the incident started spreading online, even during the operation. Photos of wounded children together with accusations against the army went viral. César Vázquez, of the independent news website Revolución 3.0, published:
“Al escuchar el escándalo que se generó después de la agresión niños se asomaron desde las ventanas de sus casas llamados por la curiosidad, los cobardes elementos del Ejército Mexicano les dispararon a mansalva”, asegura testigo que presenció la escena.
El resto de los niños tienen balas incrustadas en el vientre, en los pies y en varias partes de sus cuerpos, aunque no estaban asomados por las ventanas […] las [casas] de madera no fueron capaces de detener las balas de loe elementos castrenses, por eso se reportan infantes heridos y asesinados.
“Given all the fuss made after the aggression, some children peered out their windows out of curiosity. The Mexican Army cowards shot at them openly,” said a witness of the scene.
The rest of the kids have bullets embedded in their abdomen, in their feet and various parts of their bodies, even though they were not looking out their windows […] the wooden houses were not able to stop the soldiers’ bullets, that's why there are reports of injured and murdered children.
The same website also reported that José Luis Arteaga Olivares, mayor of Aquila, denounced the aggression carried out by the Mexican Army during the operation. The mayor asked for help and stated that the Army “is killing our people”:
Ya nos están matando a la gente, el Ejercito; me lleno de impotencia por la forma en que matan a su pueblo. Ojalá puedan hacer algo, ocupamos ambulancias hay muchos heridos.
They are already killing the people, the Army; the way they murder their people leaves me helpless. Hopefully something can be done, we need ambulances, there are many injured.
On Twitter, the hashtag #Ostula became a national trending topic in a few hours. Most of the reactions were of rejection, disgust and despair.
#Ostula un paraíso en recursos naturales, atacado por el ejército que debería de defenderlo #ParaEPNpidoCastigopic.twitter.com/K7KQ6zVfsK
— Guadalupe Lizarraga (@gpelizarraga) July 20, 2015
#Ostula a paradise of natural resources, attacked by the Army that should be defending it
En #Ostula un crimen de lesa humanidad cometido una vez más por el Ejército mexicano. Las víctimas; un niño asesinado y dos pequeños heridos
— Jesús Robles Maloof (@roblesmaloof) July 20, 2011
A crime against humanity in Ostula, this time committed by the Mexican Army. The victims; a murdered kid and two injured children
no murió, lo asesinó el ejército mexicano #Ostula
— Miss partes (@misspartes) July 20, 2015
He didn't die, he was murdered by the Mexican Army
Si el Estado pone las balas y nosotros los muertos, no hay enfrentamientos, hay ejecuciones. #Ostula
— Bicha Analco (@BichaAnalco) July 20, 2015
If the state has the bullets and we have the dead, there are no clashes, there are executions.
Some questioned what they imagined the official version of the story would be:
¿Y vendrán de nuevo con la historia del fuego cruzado? #Ostula
— Arturo Cano (@ArturoCanoMx) July 20, 2015
Will they come out again with the story of crossfire?
While others pointed out the lack of coverage by traditional media, given that at the same time the news broke on social media, the Gold Cup football match Mexico vs. Costa Rica was on:
OJO: Mientras todos estamos en el partido en Michoacán militares atacan a indígenas de #Ostulahttp://t.co/vANyfyffFSpic.twitter.com/9lZtzUGc6i — Sopitas (@sopitas) July 20, 2015
ATTENTION: While we are all watching the game, in Michoacán soldiers attack indigenous people of Ostula
Ya que termino el partido. Podemos tener la maldita atención en los hechos de #Ostula ¡Lametable! Una crisis más de agravio a los DDHH
— Oscar Perever (@VerdejaOscar) July 20, 2015
Now that the match is over. Can we turn our damn attention to the events of Ostula. Shameful! Another human rights grievance.
No official declarations have been given regarding the number of dead civilians, but the government has confirmed the arrest of the leader Cemeí Verdia for allegedly violating the Federal Fire Weapons and Explosives Law.
Seguimos sin comunicado/declaración sobre #Ostula. Otra vez se enteran tarde y no reaccionan @EPN@osoriochonghttps://t.co/ae1Os6pVcJ
— Jordy M.Y. (@jordy_my) July 20, 2015
Still without a bulletin/declaration about Ostula. Again, they [President and Secretary of Interior] find out late what's going on and don't react
At the end of 2012 and beginnings of 2013, self-defense groups from Michoacan took over the control of several municipalities to kick out criminal organizations such as the Templar Knights. Aquila is one of the three municipalities bordering Michoacan's Pacific coastline, an area used by this cartel and other drug organizations to receive cocaine shipments from South America.
For more context on the situation in Ostula community and its participation in the self-defense movement, watch the video below (with English subtitles) by Los Tejemedios:

author: Elizabeth Rivera


text:
Did the Honduras Government Remove Protesters on Hunger Strike to Save Face? · Global Voices
Helen Ocampo

Police dismantle a site where demonstrators on a hunger strike protested against corruption in Honduras. Photo by Helen Ocampo.
Their hunger strike continued for two weeks before police moved in on July 7, 2015, and dispersed the demonstrators outside Casa Presidencial, the Honduran President's home in Tegucigalpa. Law enforcement say the intervention was necessary to “relocate” the protesters ahead of a visit by Organization of American States (OAS) delegates and United Nations officials.
Representatives of the UN and OAS came to Honduras with the goal of facilitating a dialogue to bring to an end the weeks-long protests against the government of Juan Orlando Hernandez, who is accused of corruption.
#Honduras Protests against corruption: hunger strike reaches its fifteenth day http://t.co/AhmBucJuzT pic.twitter.com/YlePAT61Ot
— Nodal (@InfoNodal) July 7, 2015
Protests against corruption: hunger strike reaches its fifteenth day
The demonstrations began as a result of the corruption scandal at the Social Security Institute for $200 million graft bust. A group of young people, referred to on social media as los indignados (the outraged), were able to mobilize hundreds of people in the so-called “March of the Torches.”
The removal of protesters was preceded by a midnight visit from a self-proclaimed member of FUSINA (an elite Honduran security force), who threatened to clear them out. FUSINA was created by the current government in order to reduce organized gang violence, but has also been accused of intimidating civilians on behalf of the government.
Just before the demonstrators were dispersed, attorney Sagrario Prudoth, a human rights adviser to the Honduran Security Ministry, visited the crowd to assure everyone that they would not be removed. While this was happening, more than a hundred military and national guard troops proceeded to dismantle security fences and damage or destroy tents and other materials used by groups in support of the strike.
#Honduras: Imminent removal of more protesters on hunger strike by riot police pic.twitter.com/z7LcvIeDcj
— Giorgio Trucchi (@nicaraguaymas) June 28, 2015
Imminent removal of more protesters on hunger strike by riot police
Right now in the capital of #Honduras Juan Orlando Hernandez removes protesters on hunger strike. All this has done is awaken the people and they won't go back to sleep. These actions have simply motivated people to march and DEMAND justice for this country http://t.co/MbkdoxjL0M
— Outraged Honduras (@HIndignada) July 7, 2015
Right now in the capital of #Honduras Juan Orlando Hernandez removes protesters on hunger strike. All this has done is awaken the people and they won't go back to sleep. These actions have simply motivated people to march and DEMAND justice for this country http://t.co/MbkdoxjL0M
For German Ayala, one of the protesters, clearing out the protesters was “a desperate move by the government in order to fix up the street which they closed off in front of the Casa Presidencial so that we can't set up anywhere near it in order to create a certain image for international delegations.”
Tolupan indigenous leader José María Pineda, on his hunger strike for eight days, assured that the “protests are peaceful. Violence creates more violence and this government is violent. We will however stay on a hunger strike and we will not move until they pay attention to our demands.”
The protesters are calling for the removal of the attorney general, the deputy prosecutor, and the prosecutor coordinator, as well as the resignation of the head of state and for the establishment of an international commission against impunity for Honduras, similar to the CICIG in neighboring Guatemala.

author: Helen Ocampo


text:
Rewriting the History of Plan Colombia · Global Voices
NACLA

Afiche en contra del Plan Colombia. Foto tomada de la cuenta en Flickr de Daniel Lobo bajo licencia Creative Commons.
This article by Steven Cohen was originally published on NACLA's website and is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
It's probably a good thing that United States Army General John F. Kelly's May op-ed in the Miami Herald went largely unperceived, but recent developments have rendered the cynicism that informed it too blaring to ignore.
Ostensibly, General Kelly’s editorial seeks to extrapolate salient lessons from the Colombian government's military campaign against the country’s leftist guerrilla insurgency. Specifically, Kelly contends that Plan Colombia, the $9 billion U.S. military aid package passed in 2000, has “shown us the way” to defeat ISIS, which he claims poses a similarly “daunting challenge for the United States and its allies.”
On first read, the article is a relatively straightforward parade of banality and adulation, remarkable only because the individual leading it is the commander of U.S. Southern Command (Southcom). Sure, the content consists almost entirely of lies, half-truths, and meaningless platitudes, but nothing that ventures too far from the official Washington line.
Alex Lee, the deputy assistant secretary of state for South America and Cuba, and Bernie Aronson, the U.S. special envoy to Colombia's ongoing peace talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), gave similarly glowing appraisals to the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee just last month. And the Obama administration in general has not been adverse to overlooking human rights issues and overstating economic progress in Colombia–especially when it comes to the increasingly awful U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, which Mr. Obama strongly opposed in his 2008 campaign but has supported as president.
The United States’ relationship with Colombia is, as Kelly says, a “special” one. Outside the so-called Greater Middle East, no country has received more U.S. military aid and training in the past three decades. So while most Colombians wouldn’t be as quick describe theirs as “a strong, accountable government that protects its citizens, upholds the rule of law, combats corruption, and expands economic opportunity for all,” a certain amount of favorable PR spin is to be expected. Kelly’s editorial is neither the first nor the most egregious example. Former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Vélez has been credibly accused of everything from crimes against humanity to dishing out piloting licenses to the Medellín Cartel. And in 2008, George W. Bush gave him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Kelly never gets around to backing up his opening premise, but that's not surprising, either. If we do indeed “know how to win” the fight against the Islamic State–and anyone who's listened to the clown car of neo-cons and geopolitical fantasists that is the Republican presidential primary field would be hard-pressed to say “we” do–we definitely didn't figure it out studying a conflict that's dragged on for more than half a century in the jungles of South America. The article's very headline, “Colombia's resolve merits support,” seems like a concession that Kelly is interested in carrying water for one of our “strongest friends and most steadfast allies,” not sharing tactical insights with the American public.
That brings us to Kelly’s real mission, which the general lets slip following a run of particularly tired cliches. Colombia, he writes, has “taught us that the battle for the narrative is perhaps the most important fight of all.” It's the closest he comes to acknowledging his editorial for the ceaseless barrage of willful misinformation it is.
Last month, Human Rights Watch (HRW) published “On their Watch,” a 95-page report that should eliminate any doubt as to the maliciousness of Kelly's intentions. Having reviewed months of in-depth interviews and research, the report's authors concluded, “There is abundant evidence indicating that numerous senior army officers bear responsibility” for the widespread Colombian military practice known as “false positives.”
False positives is a euphemism, an innocuous technical-sounding shield for a phenomenon HRW Americas Director Jose Miguel Vivanco has characterized as “one of the worst episodes of mass atrocity in the Western Hemisphere in recent years.” That it has stuck, and that even people who understand what it means still use it, is just one testament to the extent to which Kelly and company have been able to dictate the terms of the narrative “battle.”
What false positives actually entails is the systematic cold-blooded murder of civilians for profit and political gamesmanship, a coherent military strategy to inflate statistics by passing off executed civilians as rebels killed in combat. Often, units involved in the practice–and virtually every brigade in the Colombian Army has been–targeted the most vulnerable elements of society: the poor, drug-addicted, and mentally handicapped. In some cases, soldiers received fresh corpses from right-wing death squads and dressed them in rebel fatigues. This barbaric enterprise was, at the very least, condoned by the highest levels of the military and executive office and explicitly incentivized with bonuses, paid vacations, and promotions.
No one has ever accused Colombian justice of being among the “strong institutions” Kelly claims to admire, and false positives offers a fairly representative case study. According to HRW, prosecutors are assessing some 3,000 alleged false positive extrajudicial executions committed between 2002 and 2008. (In 2014, an authoritative report from the Fellowship of Reconciliation recorded 5,763 alleged cases between 2000 and 2010.) Of the roughly 800 soldiers thus far convicted, none rise above the rank of colonel. The Colombian Attorney General recently announced that 22 generals are under investigation for their role in the killings, but no general has been so much as indicted to date, and there is little reason to expect one will be soon.
This skepticism stems partly from the fact that three of the five brigade commanders who oversaw the largest numbers of false positives have gone on to become commander general of the Colombian Army, including General Jaime Lasprilla Villamizar, who quietly retired last month. Alvaro Uribe, the hardline former president who formalized the false positive incentive structure and lit the political flame under the Army's results-based offensive, is now a sitting senator and the leader of a prominent opposition party that has likened the investigation of military war crimes to political terrorism. Juan Manuel Santos, whose term as defense minister coincided with the most dramatic spike in incidents, is now the president of the country.
Undermanned and overworked, the Attorney General's Office has mismanaged its resources and failed to coordinate its false positives investigations. Prosecutors contend with the obstruction of a recalcitrant military, which believes itself to be the victim of “judicial warfare,” a vast conspiracy of rebel-infiltrators and terrorist-sympathizing NGOs and journalists working to undo the laudable achievements of the Uribe years. And soldiers who do speak out face threats and violent reprisals–presumably from those isolated, rogue elements within the military that have not, as Kelly puts it, “embraced human-rights training.” The Santos administration has dealt with these impediments by repeatedly pushing “reforms” that would cede jurisdiction over false positives to the military court system, where they have been met with utter impunity.
The only conclusion to be drawn from this sad state of affairs is that the Colombian government lacks the ability or political will to reign in the fanatical criminality the United States has spent the last several decades empowering. Following the transparent sham of the demobilization they negotiated with the Uribe government in 2006, Colombia’s paramilitaries have reformed into splinter groups that continue to terrorize labor organizers, journalists, and community leaders in much of the country. The “para-political” nexus of moneyed interests, mafiosos, and reactionary extremists that backed Mr. Uribe’s militant rise to the presidency remains largely in-tact. And Mr. Santos’ Victim’s Law has done more to legitimize the largest land grab in Colombian history than it has to repair Colombia’s more than six million internal victims of forced displacement, the second largest such population in the world.
Much of the evidence presented by HRW was previously unpublished, but the broad strokes detailed in the report have been apparent for years now. Which means that, unless this all fits Kelly's definition of a “professional military that is committed to protecting human rights and supporting a just and equal peace,” the U.S. commander immediately responsible for Latin America is functioning as a propaganda mouthpiece for some of the most heinous war criminals in the region.
Plan Colombia, of course, has been a protracted exercise in just this sort of complicity and deliberate falseness. Originally sold, in 2000, as an anti-drug initiative and later re-branded as the western front in the Bush administration’s global war on terror, the $9 billion-plus military aid package has been counterinsurgency from start to drawn-out finish, a cheap excuse to pump new life into an expensive and lethal vestige of the Cold War. It's failed predictably at each of its stated goals–Plan Colombia has not, for instance, affected the price or availability of cocaine in the United States–but that hasn't stopped US officials from clinging to all its worst elements or touting the operation on the whole as a great regional success story. (“Miracle” was the word Kelly used in an interview last year.)
To hear Kelly and company tell it, you'd think the sole aim from the get-go was to “force a committed adversary to the negotiating table.” That committed adversary, Kelly said in the 2014 interview, has been “the biggest human rights violators on the planet” for “the last 25 years.”
Lost somewhere in the narrative battle is the fact that, during the last 25 years, the FARC has not even been the biggest human rights violator in Colombia. Moreover, the consensus among serious analysts is that Plan Colombia was one of the major factors in the breakdown of the government's previous negotiations with the rebels. If Kelly understood his mission as “charting the path to peace,” he wouldn't have published his incendiary op-ed when he did: at a moment when the two-and-a-half-year peace process was faltering and talks were preparing to broach the subject of transitional justice, for FARC rebels who “displaced innocents and destroyed livelihoods across Colombia” and for members of the Colombian military who did the same, only on a larger scale.
Essential to this final re-casting of Plan Colombia as a beacon of peace is the depiction of false positives–when they’re mentioned at all–as an aberration, rather than a centralized military tactic indicative of a far more pervasive total war logic. But embassy cables reveal that U.S. officials were aware of the Colombian military's “body count mentalities” as early as 1994, long before the massive surge in aid and training that came with Plan Colombia. Within a limited but revealing sample, commanders who spent time at the U.S. Army’s infamous School of the Americas (SOA, now the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation–WHINSEC) have been shown to be significantly more likely to preside over multiple false positives killings.
At any rate, the first major revelations of false positives were not enough to bring the State Department to freeze aid to the Colombian military on human rights grounds. Neither were the persistent and well-documented reports of collaboration between the military and right-wing death squads, an alliance that might as well have been official policy throughout most of Plan Colombia’s originally prescribed lifespan.
According to an earlier HRW report, it was the CIA's 1991 reorganization of Colombian intelligence that “resulted in the creation of killer networks that identified and killed civilians suspected of supporting guerrillas.” Over the next 15 years, these state-sanctioned paramilitary groups would murder, rape, torture, and disappear tens of thousands and forcibly displace hundreds of thousands more. By the time Plan Colombia was being put into effect, they were so thoroughly integrated into Colombia’s military apparatus, they effectively constituted a sixth division of the Army, to borrow a phrase from yet another HRW report. According to the School of the Americas Watch, that Army included more SOA graduates than any in Latin America.
This is all highly reminiscent of the United States’ role in fostering Operation Condor, the secret cross-border rendition, torture, and assassination program implemented among the Southern Cone military dictatorships of the 1970s. And no one familiar with the Reagan administration's cocaine adventures in Central America will be shocked to learn that these same Colombian paramilitary groups assumed control over key facets of the Colombian drug trade, after helping the United States track and kill Pablo Escobar.
“Narcoterrorism,” Plan Colombia's casus belli, was itself a product of the Reagan messaging machine, a secret and dubiously-legal public-private alliance to manipulate U.S. public opinion. As Greg Grandin explains in Empire’s Workshop, the New American Right sought the “reduction of foreign policy to a series of emotionally laden talking points,” the likes of which are strewn across General Kelly’s op-ed like leftovers at a Heritage Foundation fundraiser. Toward this end, the Reagan administration enlisted a network of fundamentalist Christians, economic charlatans, and conservative policy chop shops into a coordinated campaign of psychological warfare against the American citizenry, starting with its media.
In 1944, in his regular column for London's Tribune, George Orwell wrote that “history is written by the winners,” a now-banal adage saved by the witty assertion that “our only claim to victory is that if we win the war we shall tell less lies about it than our adversaries.” As Grandin has convincingly argued, Ronald Reagan's most enduring contribution to US foreign policy, and conservative politics in general, has been the codification of the opposite principle.
The Reagan administration understood, as the Bush administration did in the buildup to the invasion of Iraq and as General Kelly does now, that history is not a prize hanging amorphously over the battlefield. It is its own arena of conflict, tied to but not wholly determined by the bloody realities of war. Losing the military struggle does not necessarily entail surrendering the intellectual territory it was fought over. (Just ask the Sons of Confederate Veterans.) Often, the outcome of a given war is decided by which adversary can tell more lies about it, more consistently.
The Colombian narrative matters not simply because the United States has a moral obligation to rectify, as much as possible, the damage it has wrought on the country. It matters because the facts never have, because Colombia is just another stepping stone on the road to empire, and the groundwork that has been laid there is already leading the way to new conquest.
Anyone hoping to sell the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement on the basis of human rights or environmental provisions should have to explain why the Labor Action Plan was all-but discarded as soon as the Colombian Free Trade Agreement came into effect. But they won’t. And they won’t for the same reasons that narcoterrorism, a term coined by a government that that sold missiles to Iranian mullahs and ran cocaine for the Nicaraguan “freedom fighters,” could be used a decade later as a serious justification for major US military intervention abroad. For the same reasons that Plan Colombia has since been held up as a model for the disastrous privatized drug war in Afghanistan and the disastrous proxy drug war in Mexico and Central America.
This is what happens when truth loses out in the “battle for the narrative.” You get the United States paying for Colombian troops to serve as surrogate trainers to corrupt and abusive forces in Latin America and elsewhere. You get a situation in which a military that has always been better at murdering peasants than defeating enemies on the battlefield now harbors the realistic expectation of a broader role in “international peacekeeping” going forward, as General Kelly says.
The U.S. military mission in Colombia has been winding down for some years now, but the war for the narrative has never been more vital. And if history is any indicator, the truth won't survive on its own.
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Steven Cohen is a reporter-researcher at The New Republic. A former freelance journalist and editor at Colombia Reports, his work on Colombia has appeared in ThinkProgress, The Nation, The New Republic, Vice, and others. You can follow him on twitter @SD_Cohen.

author: NACLA


text:
The Kremlin’s Favorite Pundit Is Waging War on Facebook · Global Voices
Darina Gribova

Dmitry Kiselyov declares war on Facebook and Instagram. Image edited by Kevin Rothrock.
This past weekend, Russian news anchor Dmitry Kiselyov, famous for his vociferously pro-Kremlin punditry, was uncommonly active online. He started with launching his own page on Facebook, in order “to be with those who want to know more.” After registering, Kiselyov wrote his first post, expressing readiness to to discuss everything from “radioactive dust” to “the severities of being LGBT” (referring to infamous comments he’s made in the past about Russia’s ability to visit nuclear destruction on the United States and the need to burn and bury the organs of gays who die in car accidents). Kiselyov’s account was online for all of four hours, before it disappeared without any explanation.
At first, the public largely assumed that Kiselyov had deleted the account himself, after receiving hundreds of insulting comments. According to him, however, it was the website’s moderators who deleted the page. “Facebook keeps practicing selective political correctness,” Kiselyov wrote on Vkontakte, Russia’s leading online social network, where he quickly created another account. “But I'm in the network already,” he added, “and I'm not going to leave this space so easily.”
Russian photographer and liberal blogger Rustem Adagamov, who helped draw attention to Kiselyov’s Facebook scandal, supposed that the website might actually have blocked the account. (Adagamov has faced his own problems with censorship on Facebook.)
Видимо, ФБ Киселева был закрыт администрацией сервиса по чьей-то жалобе на поддельный аккаунт. Так что, джедай еще вернется, думаю :-)
— Рустем Адагамов (@adagamov) July 18, 2015
Apparently, moderators closed Kiselyov’s [Facebook], based on complaints about it being fake. So, the Jedi will return, I guess :-)
As it turns out, the Jedi has returned. Kiselyov's Facebook page is once again accessible, though he’s already sworn not to use the foreign network, having opted for Russia’s homegrown services, after the bad treatment.
Kiselyov's problems extend to Instagram, as well, where his account hosts just two photographs, 169 subscribers, and dozens of hateful comments. Why his Instagram account was blocked is even less clear, as users banned or suspended on Facebook aren’t usually blocked on this service also.
Meanwhile, on Vkontakte, Kiselyov has managed to attract more than 17,500 subscribers, and the number is still growing. Kiselyov undoubtedly owes some of his online popularity to his television celebrity, but the hysteria in the media surrounding his arrival at Vkontakte suggests that his social media misadventures were perhaps a scheme to excite the public and convert some users back to Russia’s number one network.
The administrators at Vkontakte wasted no time verifying Kiselyov’s account, and he promptly uploaded a video selfie, proving that the account belongs to him personally. Unlike his accounts on Facebook and Instagram, where the user base is generally more Western-leaning and liberal, Kiselyov’s readers on Vkontakte have left mostly positive comments, as well as obsequious questions (see below). Kiselyov says there’s nobody but him running his Vkontakte page.
Один вопрос: чей Крым?
Ответ: Крым наш.
There is only one question: whose land is Crimea?
Answer: Crimea is ours.
Kiselyov’s problems on Facebook and Instagram have even attracted the attention of various public officials and lawmakers. Alexander Brod, a member of the presidential council on human rights, says censorship like this should be treated as a violation of free speech.
Duma deputy Alexander Yuschenko warned that Facebook has become “a political network for coordinating various forces who work to destabilize and stir up trouble.” Yuschenko told the newspaper Izvestia that the near instantaneousness with which Facebook blocked Kiselyov indicates that the website set out to “demonize” him in advance.
Given the apparent orchestration of Kiselyov’s exit from Facebook and warm welcome at Vkontakte, Yuschenko isn’t the only one with questions about who planned what in advance of this curious fiasco.

author: Darina Gribova