Saturday, January 16, 2016

How much of a burden is a woman expected to shoulder?

January 17, 2016
Celine Dion's brother Daniel (click here) has died aged 59 after losing his battle with cancer, just two days after the singer's husband also passed away.
Daniel Dion died this morning, just a day after his family revealed that they believed he had just hours to live.
Celine's husband René Angélil died from throat cancer aged 73 on Thursday.
Pop singer Celine Dion's representative said Friday that Dion's brother had cancer and didn't have long to live, even as funeral arrangements were announced for Dion's husband, who died a day earlier.
Kim Jakwerth confirmed reports on the prognosis of Dion's brother Daniel....

There are many sanctions to be repealed.

This is a very proud day for the people of Iran in electing President Rouhani to lead the country out of nuclear proliferation. There was no other leader in Iran that could accomplish what President Rouhani has.

There are real changes in Iran to comply with the agreement. The attorney with the ACLU has every reason to tout this accomplishment of peace initiatives.

Everyone conducted great work.


Iran's defense ministry inaugurated this carbon-fiber plant, seen in 2011, after international sanctions blocked the dual-use material's import. (Photo: Ho New/Reuters)

The United States, (click here) United Nations, and European Union have levied multiple sanctions on Iran for its nuclear program since the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA), the UN's nuclear watchdog, found in September 2005 that Tehran was not compliant with its international obligations. The United States spearheaded international efforts to financially isolate Tehran and block its oil exports to raise the cost of Iran's efforts to develop a potential nuclear-weapons capability and to bring its government to the negotiating table....

People complain the charges against countries like Iran only occur when they break UN resolutions. That would be correct. But, that is no a minor achievement.
Ted Cruz shouldn't feel bad about unemployment in New York State because fracking is viewed as dangerous to air and water; there aren't that many jobs in the first place. It is not like the petroleum industry is hungry for labor. I am sure the ones left don't pay what they used to.

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Does anyone have an idea what the unemployment rate would be like AGAIN if the USA was dependent on the petroleum industry to infuse the income of US citizens? No, thank you. We'll take the alternative energies any day of the week. 

OMG, FOX will say anything. There are people in the USA trying to end gun violence and this is what FOX states regarding gun statistices, "...90 people are dead in the USA since San Bernardino simply because people are saying "I don't want to go to Syria.""

That is outrageous and gross malpractice of journalism. The most I listen to FOX the more evident how bad they are at journalism. 

Often people complain the IAEA only catches countries that break resolutions after the fact. That would be correct, but, it is nothing to complain about.

The Americans returning home were not hostages. They were charged with breaking Iranian law.

The right wing media in the USA is so grossly outside the bounds of professional reporting they are almost their own story.

January 16, 2016
By Sam Levine

Several Republican presidential candidates (click here) criticized the Obama administration's decision to swap seven Iranian prisoners for The Washington Post's reporter Jason Rezaian and three other Americans on Saturday.
Some of them, including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), accused the administration of not pushing hard enough for the American prisoners' release when the United States negotiated a deal with Iran last year. A group of 21 senators, led by Rubio and Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry last year to demand the prisoners' unconditional release. Kerry has said that he repeatedly pushed for the men's release during negotiations.
On Saturday, Republicans said that Obama should not have given up Iranian prisoners because it made the United States look weak and that the U.S. prisoners should have been released without condition....

The American people are being misinformed by the right wing media. The people released by Iran today were held for trial. That is not at all the same as hostages. Hostages are innocent people held because they mean something politically to another country.

The right wing defends their propaganda by stating the US Government is playing with semantics. I suppose everyone in the country are simpletons and can't sort out the facts. 

Pope Francis did address the detention of a Christian on a national stage, a joint session of the US Congress.

September 24, 2015
By Jay Sekulow

Saturday (click here) marks the third anniversary of American Pastor Saeed Abedini’s imprisonment in Iran because of his Christian faith. During the last three years, there have been extensive efforts made to secure his freedom.
But now – in the days ahead – represents perhaps the most unique and important opportunity to raise Pastor Saeed’s plight on a global stage.
As part of his visit to America, Pope Francis – a champion of religious liberty and often a voice for suffering Christians – addresses a joint session of Congress and meets with the United Nations General Assembly.
Pastor Saeed’s wife, Naghmeh, is attending the pope’s address to Congress as a guest of Rep. Robert Pittenger, R-N.C. There are news reports that President Obama may ask the Pope to intercede with Iranian officials on behalf of Pastor Saeed and the other Americans imprisoned in Iran.
Iran should act now because the world is watching. And there’s no better time for Iran to release Pastor Saeed – to make a statement to the world – a humanitarian gesture of goodwill....

What Americans don't appreciate about journalists jailed in other countries, including entertainers such as "Pussy Riot," is that they actually did break the law. Journalists are often viewed the equivalent of spies. Countries are very different about CIVIL LIBERTIES. The USA has an amendment to it's constitution providing for freedom of speech, that includes the press. That is not the case in other countries.  

Investigative journalism is part of American life. We are appreciative of the truth telling and view it as a PROTECTION to life and to American values and freedom. Other countries see journalism as a form of treason. 

When Americans travel they need to realize how influential they are simply by being American. That status is not always welcome by the government of the country they are visiting. It gets them in trouble.

Americans always hope to bring about reform when it comes to civil liberties and freedom. There isn't anything wrong with that, but, it does put them in harms way. 

Americans should not tour a country expecting to be a mover and a shaker. Tourism is about appreciating the country, it's culture and natural areas. Americans need to walk softly while abroad. Their brevity in other countries can be dangerous to themselves.

There are some countries around the world that have a designated favored religion. That makes tourism all the much more worrisome. Other countries are allowed to have an official religion.

Where the interface of other countries meet up with Americans is a sensitive front and should be respected as such. To keep in mind, the judicial systems of other countries do not always bring the justice Americans are used to. Bringing Americans home when arrested or detained is not unusual. I am happy this is such a great day for the people returning and their families. 

No one speaking about the Iranians given clemency today are speaking in context of their legal status, in the USA or in Iran.

When wagging peace, it has costs and today we have witnessed clemency of people in the USA that have broken sanctions. That is all part of building trust and policy between countries.

No all those jailed around the world are Americans.

New York
January 15, 2016
Officials in Djibouti (click here) should immediately release two journalists arrested this week, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Police arrested Kadar Abdi Ibrahim on Thursday, and arrested Mohamed Ibrahim Waiss on Monday, but have yet to charge either, according to the Facebook page of a local publication.
Kadar Abdi Ibrahim, a writer and the co-director of the monthly Aurore (Dawn), was arrested at his home on Thursday, US-based Djiboutian scholar Abdourahman Waberi told CPJ. Aurore is a publication of the country's opposition party, the Union Pour Le Salut National (USN). Police arrested Ibrahim immediately after the paper's most recent edition was published, Waberi said. 
"Journalists should not be jailed for reporting or commentating on events as they see them, even if they are deemed to work for politically aligned publications," said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Sue Valentine. "Djibouti authorities must either explain why these journalists are detained or immediately release them."...

There is no doubt there are human rights in some of the prisons foreigners find themselves. But, that was exploited by Cheney in CIA Black sites. Enough already. If the USA is going to play the purist of countries, then earn it. 

January 15, 2016

Jailed Turkish journalist Can Dündar (click here) has sent the Italian prime minister an open letter arguing the rapprochement between Turkey and the European Union over refugees should not overshadow violations of fundamental rights and freedoms in Turkey during the country’s EU accession process.

Daily Cumhuriyet editor-in-chief Dündar and Ankara bureau chief Erdem Gül were arrested on terrorism charges on Nov. 26 last year over a story on state-owned trucks purportedly carrying weapons to Syria that was published on daily Cumhuriyet in early 2014.

The trucks owned by the National Intelligence Agency (MİT), Turkey’s state intelligence agency, were stopped and searched in the southern province of Hatay in January 2014, which had been highlighted on the daily’s front page at the time. The story resulted in the imprisonment of the journalists over their reporting....


13 January 2016
By Roy Greenslade

Turkey’s main opposition party (click here) has spoken up on behalf of the 32 journalists held in the country’s prisons. The Republican People’s Party (CHP) also pointed out that 156 journalists were arrested in Turkey during 2015 while 484 legal actions were launched against journalists.
And more than 770 journalists were fired for reasons related to their work, said CHP’s deputy chair, Sezgin Tanrikulu. He said seven Turkish media companies came under investigation in 2015 and that the government is using anti-terrorism laws in order to stifle press freedom.
He was speaking after a rally in Ankara by Turkish journalists in which they demanded the release of jailed reporters and editors.
And on Monday an inquiry began into alleged “terrorist propaganda” by Beyazit Ozturk, a TV presenter who has run a popular show for 20 years.
His so-called “crime” was to allow a woman to say that “children are dying” under curfew in the city of Diyarbakir, which has a Kurdish majority. Ozturk apologised following social media pressure....

Journalists can hope to count on their Facebook followers to bring about their release. Whether that is a fact is anyone's guess. I am not aware of a journalist having been released because of Facebook.

13 January 2016
By AFP

Palestinian journalist (click here) detained by Hamas for over a week described on Wednesday his "torture" at the hands of the Islamist group.
Ayman al-Alul, a 44-year-old journalist with the Arab Now news agency, was detained by security services in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip on January 3 and released on Monday.
Alul, whose arrest had drawn protests from journalists and rights groups, said he was detained for comments made on his Facebook page where he has more than 30,000 followers....

Do releases in Iran incentivize other countries to carry out hostage taking? No more than before?

12 January 2016

Anjan Sundaram (click here) has authored a book - Bad News: Last Journalists in a Dictatorship - that is full of things about Rwanda and its leadership which not only bear very little resemblance to facts on the ground, but are outright fictions and distortions. Sam Gody Nshimiyimana who is one of the supposedly harassed Rwandan journalists frequently mentioned in the book as 'Moses' and who knows Sundaram and his wife very well refutes the many allegations in "Bad News"....

How is this dissuaded in the future?

I don't believe this will ever end. Journalists in the Free World are viewed frequently with esteem unless one is a Republican.

January 12, 2016

Can Dündar, (click here) the Cumhuriyet daily's imprisoned editor-in-chief, has accused the EU of remaining silent in the face of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's repressive policies in exchange for Turkey stopping Syrian refugees from crossing into Europe.
In an article published on Tuesday in French Le Monde, Dündar wrote that Erdoğan managed to secure 50 percent of the total vote in the Nov. 1, 2015 general election thanks to an intense propaganda campaign and an environment in which voters were deprived of the right to access information due to silenced media groups.
"The result has given Erdoğan the authority to wipe out what remains of free media. The EU prefers to turn a blind eye to his oppression in return for Turkey blocking the influx of Syrian refugees into its territory. I am currently observing the direction the EU is heading in from behind bars in my solitary confinement, and it is very dark," Dündar wrote.
Defining his article as a cry for press freedom emanating from a prison in the east of Europe, Dündar went on to say: "This piece is a call for help from hell, for media which was bottled up and thrown out to sea. It is a hand extended in solidarity to all colleagues in the world of journalism from a journalist who was arrested for reporting the news."...

But, for many countries, including USA allies the journalism industry is frowned on.  This countries see it as a matter of maintaining order and civil peace. If I were the President of one billion people or more I'd worry, too.

Senator Durbin backed the Iranian Nuclear Agreement. He is reading a statement about inflammatory propaganda,

Published on Jul 21, 2015
U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today spoke on the United States Senate Floor to announce his support for the Iran Nuclear Agreement.

I have wondered how so many Americans watching FOX News are so misinformed.

Today, FOX News is stating billions upon billions are going to be coming to Iran as the sanctions are lifted. What does FOX think this is? Christmas.

Iran owes a lot of money to other countries. FOX News is not a good source of information. They exploit every topic and fact for political purposes. Today was simply astounding.

The USA has stated the individuals held are related to sanctions violations. If the violations are lifted there is no basis for the prosecution of those individuals. I suppose the USA could insist prosecution no matter what, but, that is hardly an understanding the USA wants with the global community. The clemency and extradition to Iran of these people are relieved because it is good international practice of the US State Department.

The article below is from:
The Reading Eagle (click here)
March 13, 2007


It is incredible the half-truths and blatant lies FOX News puts out within the span of 30 to 60 minues.

The ten American sailors did not fall under the Geneva Conventions. The USA and Iran are not at war.

Geneva Conventions, a series of international treaties concluded in Geneva between 1864 and 1949 for the purpose of ameliorating the effects of war on soldiers and civilians. Two additional protocols to the 1949 agreement were approved in 1977.
The development of the Geneva Conventions was closely associated with the Red Cross, whose founder, Henri Dunant, initiated international negotiations that produced the Convention for the Amelioration of the Wounded in Time of War in 1864. This convention provided for (1) the immunity from capture and destruction of all establishments for the treatment of wounded and sick soldiers and their personnel, (2) the impartial reception and treatment of all combatants, (3) the protection of civilians providing aid to the wounded, and (4) the recognition of the Red Cross symbol as a means of identifying persons and equipment covered by the agreement....

The USA does not have direct rights to inspections. The IAEA does well developed inspections.

However, Iran’s ability (click here) to break out or sneak out of its non-proliferation obligations is hampered by an inspection regime that keeps extremely close track of Iranian uranium enrichment facilities.
Herman Nackaerts, the deputy director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and head of its Department of Safeguards, told Al-Monitor during a visit to Washington that “we would know within a week” whether Iran was diverting uranium from declared sites and seeking to enrich it to weapons’ grade level.
There are two to six IAEA inspectors on the ground in Iran every day, Nackaerts said, covering 16 Iranian facilities. On average, he said, that means that an inspector visits Iran’s enrichment plants at Natanz and Fordow once a week. If there are suspicions about any improper activities, they can go more often, he added.
It is always possible that Iran is secretly enriching uranium somewhere not known to the IAEA. But most experts believe that if Iran were to decide to make weapons, it would use its declared facilities and known stockpile of partly enriched uranium.

I wonder how a well established news agency can survive by breeding lies, but, they instill their half-truths and lies as part of a breaking news alert. So, FOX News engages in some of the worst possible journalism as the event is realized. They have an automatic EXCUSE to misdirect the facts. They put the lies and half-truths right at the beginning of the news alert and claim the facts were not clear in the beginning. That is the biggest pile of nonsense I have ever heard in my life.

IT IS WIDELY BELIEVED.

There it is. FOX must have their own union that widely believes any nonsense the networks spews. Absolutely amazing. There are lives hanging in the balance and FOX will say anything to promote their politics. FOX doesn't practice ethics. They have decided ethics gets in the way of political exploitation.

The Iranian Nuclear Agreement is an international document. The Americans coming home are a national occurrence. They are not at all related.


FOX wants everyone to believe the USA has control over every aspect of the world's condition. That is a very dangerous perspective. That is the ultimate lie. The USA does not have control of sovereign countries, including Iran. The Obama State Department has had an ambitious agenda to bring about open channels with countries that were not only slammed shut behind a door, but, that was locked under "W." The release of these Americans are all part of the US State Department's hard work.


I find myself wanting to wait until their feet are on the ground of allies.

Today is a happy day. Thank you Secretary Kerry. There is no relationship between the Iranian Nuclear Agreement and the release of these prisoners. President and Secretary Kerry are bringing all their efforts to a close by the end of the President's term. This has been a long time in coming.

The Washington Post has a timeline. (click here)

Jason Rezaian's wife was taken at the same time as he, however, she is an Iranian citizen and was provided bail.

January 16, 2016
By Carol Morello and William Braigin

Iran (click here) released Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian and three other detained Iranian Americans on Saturday in exchange for seven people imprisoned or charged in the United States, U.S. and Iranian officials said, a swap linked to the imminent implementation of a landmark nuclear deal between Tehran and six world powers....

...Secretary of State John F. Kerry flew from London to Vienna in the early afternoon local time. He went immediately into a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif at the Coburg Palace Hotel, the scene of months-long final negotiations last summer that led to the deal between Iran and the world powers....