Michael's Politics

thepoliticalnotebook:

RISC (Reporters Instructed in Saving Colleagues) is a new organization put together by noted journalist Sebastian Junger to provide freelance journalists with needed emergency medical training. Set up because Junger believes that the shrapnel wound that killed his friend and noted photojournalist Tim Hetherington last April did not have to be fatal. He writes on the site:

It is my hope that soon, first aid training and preparedness will be the industry norm, like having a flak jacket and helmet. It is only a matter of time until another journalist receives a wound like Tim’s, and I want to do everything I can to spare others what his friends and family endured last April.

The training sessions are three days long and there is an upcoming one in NYC in April, one in London this fall and one in Beirut next winter. Check out the registration process on the website if this is something that would be useful to you.

[RISC]

(Source: risctraining.org)

thepoliticalnotebook:

The International Criminal Court has just this morning handed down it’s first ever verdict, finding Thomas Lubanga guilty of conscripting child soldiers. Lubanga was the leader of the Union of Congolese Patriots and stands accused of being the military authority behind the abduction of children as young as eleven to serve the Patriotic Forces of the Liberation of Congo in the 1998-2003 war. Lubanga was handed over in 2006, the first suspect to be detained by the ICC, and has been on trial since 2009. 

This guilty verdict is great for the DR Congo and wonderful for the International Criminal Court. Last year former Nuremberg prosecutor Benjamin Ferencz told ICC judges: “Let the voice and the verdict of this esteemed global court now speak for the awakened conscience of the world.”

Photo: Ed Oudenaarden/AP.

[AJ English Twitter; Al Jazeera; AP]

europeanvoice:

MONEY TALKS Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, addresses the World Economic Forum in Davos. Merkel warned against unrealistic expectations about what Germany can do to solve the eurozone crisis.

thepoliticalnotebook:

Happy 10th Birthday to the Euro. Although in the midst of economic crisis and political integration debates, nobody’s celebrating it much right now… most EU countries are marking the event with minimal celebrations, many simply circulating a commemorative coin. 

Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty.

[via]

thedailywhat:

RIP: Václav Havel, Czech playwright, politician, and iconic pro-democracy dissident, passed away today in his home village of Hrádeček. He was 75.

“Vaclav Havel left us today,” read a short statement from Havel’s assistant, Sabina Tancevova, on his website.

A staunch anti-communist activist and co-author of the Charter 77 manifesto (inspired by the arrest of an underground rock band), Havel’s unwavering opposition to the oppressive regime that ruled Czechoslovakia for forty years eventually led to the non-violent Velvet Revolution that overthrew the regime he referred to as “Absurdistan.”

Soon after he became his country’s first democratically elected president, as well as its last: Havel oversaw the 1993 breakup of Czechoslovakia into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

He was elected again, this time as his own nation’s first President. He served two terms over 10 years, remaining popular both at home and abroad throughout his presidency.

Asked in an interview a few years back if he would prefer to be remembered for his contributions as a playwright or politician, Havel responded: “I would like it to say that I was a playwright who acted as a citizen, and thanks to that he later spent a part of his life in a political position.” 

[theatlantic / ap / cnn.]

barackobama:

inothernews:

CASING THE COLORS   Eight years after it began, the United States military officially declared an end to its mission in Iraq on Thursday.  Defense Secretary Leon Panetta was on hand for the handover ceremony, formally called “Casing the Colors,” in a fortified concrete courtyard at the airport in Baghdad on Thursday.  More than one million U.S. soldiers have served in Iraq; 4,487 have died, with another 32,226 wounded in action.  The U.S. still has two bases in Iraq, comprising about 4,000 troops.  (Photo: Michael Kamber / The New York Times; caption via the Times)

What does the end of the war in Iraq mean to you?

aljazeera:

The Syrian armed forces hold militiary practice, testing their ability to confront an attack as international pressure grows.

This is a handout photo released by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) [EPA]

theeconomist:

Daily chart: corrosive corruption. The use of public office for private gain benefits a powerful few while imposing costs on large swathes of society. This graph combining data from Transparency International and the UN shows a correlation between corruption and development.

A good, informative graph. I can’t help thinking, however, that Russia should be as close to 0 on the Corruption Perceptions Index as possible.

nationaljournal:

“Democrats have accomplished the rare feat of convincing more women than men to run in leading Senate races next year.”

                                                 - Josh Kraushaar on the democrats aggressive push for female candidates. 

newsflick:

Iranian protesters break into British Embassy in Tehran

A protester walks with a poster from the British embassy in Tehran Nov. 29, 2011. Dozens of young Iranian men entered buildings inside the British embassy compound in Tehran on Tuesday, throwing rocks, petrol bombs and burning documents looted from offices, Iranian news agencies reported. (Reuters)

See also: BBC News “Iran Protesters storm UK embassy in Tehran”

thepoliticalnotebook:

Today in Syria…. There are reports that the Syrian Free Army (comprised of defectors from Assad’s army), has attacked the notorious Air Force intelligence base in Harasta (near Damascus) and army checkpoints in various suburbs. There were also reports of shelling in the city of Homs, where activists say seven civilians have been killed this morning.

Above, a boy throws a rock at a burning tank in Deraa. Still from amateur unverified video via Ugarit News.

Stay tuned at the Guardian’s live blog.