Bahraini dictatorship=freedom, Rupert Murdoch says

This video is called Torturing detainees in Bahrain.

It is not the first time that the absolute monarchy of Bahrain, which keeps torturing and gassing its own people, gets high marks for “freedom”. Not freedom from being tortured. Not freedom from poisonous tear gas. Not freedom from being shot. Not freedom for doctors and nurses from being jailed for caring for wounded people.

It is about “economic freedom”. As interpreted by the “Chicago boys”/Margaret Thatcher school in economics.

As this blog mentioned earlier:

And now, quotes from the Kuwait News Agency, linked to the dictatorial regime in Kuwait. I don’t often quote from such sources. But now I will do so, to show how the slogan “Slavery is freedom” is not just in George’s Orwell’s novel 1984, but also in present day propaganda.

So, from the Kuwait News Agency:

Bahrain, UAE most economically free Arab countries – report

23/11/2012 | 03:36 PM

BERLIN, Nov 23 (KUNA) — Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are home to the highest levels of economic freedom among Arab nations, a specialized international economic report has unveiled.

The annual Economic Freedom of the Arab World report is compiled by German Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty (FNF), the International Research Foundation (IRF) of Oman and the Fraser Institute, Canada’s leading public policy think-tank.

The propaganda mouthpiece for the Kuwaiti princely autocracy forgets to mention that these three organizations are linked to the German small neo-conservative FDP political party, the absolute monarchy of Oman, and the Canadian conservative party, respectively. No objective economic science at all.

Bahrain, which ranked first last year, improved its overall score to 8.1 out of 10 from 8.0. The UAE also scored 8.1, tying with Bahrain after ranking second overall in 2011 with a score of 7.9. Jordan moved into the third spot from eighth overall, improving its score to 7.9 from 7.4 last year, showed the report.

The people of Bahrain, the UAE, and Jordan do not think that their score for freedom is that good. But the Kuwaiti princely propaganda agency does:

Research shows that individuals living in countries with high levels of economic freedom enjoy higher levels of prosperity, greater individual freedoms, and longer life spans.

Supposedly more freedom to inhale lethal teargas. And life spans may be relatively long, as long as the regime does not torture one to death.

However, CEOs of multinational corporations will not have that kind of problems in Kuwait, the UAE, Bahrain, Jordan or Saudi Arabia. They count, according to the German Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty, the International Research Foundation (IRF) of Oman and the Fraser Institute in Canada. The local people in those dictatorships don’t count.

And today, the Bahrain dictatorship gets praise for “economic freedom” again. This time, the sycophants are the Wall Street Journal, aka the War Street Journal, owned by phone hacking, police bribing tycoon Rupert Murdoch. And the neo-conservative Heritage (which heritage?) Foundation in the USA.

These two had so much praise for the Bahraini royal dynasty last year as well.

Economic freedom in Bahrain? They don’t mean freedom from forced prostitution in Bahrain, an international center for trafficking in women. Economic freedom for the pimps: yes. They don’t mean economic freedom for immigrant workers, who suffer from slave labour and who burn to death from lack of fire safety. They don’t mean economic freedom for native Bahraini workers, sacked by the thousands for joining pro-democracy demonstrations.

They don’t mean economic freedom for a local small businessman, whose business and person will suffer violent attacks by pro-royal family thugs for being critical of the regime.

And now, I will quote again from a pro-dictatorship propaganda source. This time not from Kuwait, but from Bahrain itself.

From Gulf Daily News:

Bahrain is ranked top in economic freedom

Posted on Tuesday, January 15, 2013

MANAMA: Bahrain remains the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region’s most economically free country.

It is ranked first out of 15 countries in the annual Index of Economic Freedom published by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal.

Overall, the kingdom is ranked 12th out of 177 economies worldwide, and is the only Mena country to rank in the top 20.

Bahrain’s economic freedom score of 75.5 showed year-on-year improvement and is well above the world average.

Oh yes, and the “freest economy in the world”, according to Rupert Murdoch and the Heritage Foundation, is Hong Kong.

Alex Lo comments on this:

One reason Hong Kong is so beloved of top business bosses – for whom it is a fabulous place to make money – is that the private sector and the government have worked to keep wages down. How low? The median wage has risen less than 10 per cent over the past decade, while prices have shot up by more than 30 per cent, not counting skyrocketing property prices, according to a Chinese University economist’s estimate.

For those at the top, the “freest economy” accolade from diehard right-wing think tanks like the US Heritage Foundation and the Canadian Fraser Institute is well-deserved.

For those at the bottom or even the middle, it looks more and more like exploitation and crony capitalism. So those annual think tanks’ reports are becoming more and more of a sick joke.

Related articles

• Bahrain’s oppression for people, freedom for corporations (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Bahrain dictatorship jails photographer (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Migrant workers killed in Bahrain fire (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Bahrain dictatorship and British BP oil (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Bahraini human rights activist on the USA (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Bahrain human rights woman interviewed (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Arab dictators ‘for democracy’ in Syria (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Bahrain dictatorship jails another human rights activist (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Bahrain regime detains United States journalist (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• ‘Forsaken by the West’: Obama and the Betrayal of Democracy in Bahrain (theatlantic.com)

Hong Kong airline stops shark fin transport

This video is called China: Shark fin soup off the menu.

From the New York Times in the USA:

Cathay Pacific says no to shark’s fin

04:46 AM Sep 06, 2012

HONG KONG – Cathay Pacific, responding to pressure from an array of environmental groups in Asia, has announced that it will no longer carry shark’s fin on its cargo flights.

The Hong Kong-based carrier, one of the world’s largest cargo airlines, said in a statement that it would “stop shipping unsustainably sourced sharks and shark-related products“.

Dozens of marine-protection campaign organisations had sent a joint petition to Cathay Pacific seeking the cargo ban. They cited Hong Kong government figures showing 10,500 tonnes of shark’s fin were imported into the territory last year, with Cathay alone handling as much as 650 tonnes. The airline has said that the real figure was much lower.

A Cathay spokeswoman said yesterday that the cargo ban “will not have a material impact on our business”. “We did this,” she said, “because we now have compelling evidence that the majority of shark fishing is incompatible with our position on sustainable development.”

A statement from the airline cited “the vulnerable nature of sharks, their rapidly-declining population and the impacts of overfishing for their parts and products”.

Hong Kong is the Asian hub for the trade in shark’s fin, serving as the principal transit point for fish and seafood products headed to markets in mainland China.

Shark’s fin soup is still seen as a status symbol in China, Hong Kong and ethnic Chinese communities. It remains a staple at corporate events and weddings.

The new cargo ban extends to flights on Dragonair, a Cathay subsidiary. Neither Cathay Pacific nor Dragonair will serve shark’s fin soup in-flight or at their corporate events, according to the company’s website.

Weapons made from shark teeth are completely badass, and hint at lost shark diversity: here.

Several celebrities in China, including pop singer Yu Kewei, artist Ai Weiwei, actress Sun Li, and former NBA star Yao Ming, following in the footsteps of actor Jackie Chan, have joined forces with Chinese animal welfare activists to raise awareness of animal abuse in China: here.

HSBC banksters want to kick out Occupy Hong Kong

This video is called Hong Kong’s “Occupy Central” Protest.

That the giant HSBC bank has helped drug gangsters and al-Qaida terrorists is not the only reason why they are in the news.

Today, from daily The Morning Star in Britain:

HSBC wins court bid to kick out Occupy activists in Hong Kong

Monday 13 August 2012

by Our Foreign Desk

Banking giant HSBC won a legal bid today to clear out anti-capitalist protesters from a public space below the bank‘s Asian headquarters in Hong Kong.

A judge ruled that the activists must leave by 9pm on August 27.

Occupy protesters have been living under the bank’s headquarters since October last year, when protesters in Hong Kong joined others around the world in demonstrating against corporate excess and economic inequality.

About a dozen activists are still living in the large open space on the ground floor of the HSBC building which was occupied by more than 200 protesters at the height of the movement.

The activists have made themselves at home by setting up tents, tables, sofas and chairs, bookcases, lamps and gas cookers.

They have outlasted many other Occupy encampments around the world that have been shut down by authorities and their members have vowed not to budge.

“We’ve never asked for permission from the law, we’ve never asked for permission from the courts, we’ve never asked for permission from HSBC,” said Occupy activist Nin Chan.

“From the very beginning we’ve never recognised these authorities as legitimate.”

While HSBC owns the land, it’s legally designated as a public passageway.

The judge ruled that the activists’ use of the space goes beyond the land’s designated use.

Bailiffs clear out Hong Kong Occupy camp: here.

Scandals emerging from the financial services industry on an almost daily basis point to the ongoing criminal practices of British banks. They expose the complicity of the regulators—the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the Bank of England (BoE), who famously practice “light touch” regulation—and successive governments that function as the advocates and protectors of these financial gangsters: here.

On August 6, police forcibly evicted Occupy protesters in front of the headquarters of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt-Main: here.

On August 9, the US Justice Department announced it was ending a criminal investigation into allegations that Goldman Sachs committed securities fraud in its underwriting and marketing of mortgage-backed securities in the months leading up to the Wall Street crash of September 2008. The department said it would not file charges against the bank or any of its employees: here.

Hong Kong air pollution worst ever

This video from Hong Kong says about itself:

This summer, Clean Air Network brings you a brand new public service announcement featuring popular Hong Kong movie star, Daniel Wu. The video is an ironic 1980s-style infomercial flogging a fake brand of canned air called “Fresh Air.”

At the encouragement of CAN’s pro bono advertising agency, DDB, CAN decided to adopt a different approach from its previous series of dead serious public service announcements about the health dangers of air pollution. Instead of frightening viewers, CAN seeks to enlighten viewers by taking an absurdist, sarcastic approach to the issue of health, lifestyle and air pollution.

“Clean Air Network is thrilled that Daniel Wu has decided to get publicly involved in championing clean air for Hong Kong. His personal leadership will undoubtedly influence the minds of many young people,” said Joanne Ooi, CAN’s CEO. Daniel Wu said, “I wanted to do my part to raise awareness about how air pollution is affecting everyone in Hong Kong. It is, after all, the city’s #1 public health problem.” Other celebrities appearing in the infomercial include Ana R., Cara G., and Simon Yin.

From AFP news agency today:

Hong Kong chokes under ‘worst’ air pollution

By Aaron Tam – 5 hours ago

HONG KONG — Hong Kong choked under the worst smog ever recorded in the city Thursday, with residents warned to stay indoors, away from the blanket of toxic haze, officials said.

Air pollutant readings broke records going back to 1999, except for levels reached when a natural dust storm hit the southern Chinese territory two years ago, environmental protection department spokesman Y.F. Chau said.

“This is the worst air pollution reading we’ve seen since Hong Kong started recording air pollution in 1999, except for the dust storm,” he said.

Hong Kong’s famous skyline was shrouded in a dense blanket of toxic smog and the sky looked grey, although the weather was fine and sunny.

“People with heart or respiratory illnesses, the elderly and children should reduce physical exertion and outdoor activities,” a government spokeswoman said.

Officials said the pollution had been exacerbated by the influence of Typhoon Saola, which killed four people as it lashed Taiwan some 700 kilometres (450 miles) to the east.

The storm’s outer high-pressure air mass blanketed Hong Kong, bringing strong sunshine and high temperatures that pushed up ozone levels.

The pollution was particularly bad in the Central district of downtown Hong Kong, where luxury retail brands and multinational companies pay among the highest rents in the world.

Anti-pollution activists said Hong Kong could not keep blaming the weather or factories in neighbouring mainland China for its recurring pollution problems.

“If Hong Kong did not produce air pollutants, the weather conditions would not be able to exacerbate or cause further consequences,” Clean Air Network campaign manager Erica Chan told AFP.

Emissions from local vehicles using old and dirty engines are among the main contributors to Hong Kong’s air pollution, she said.

The network said monitoring stations in the bustling shopping district of Causeway Bay on Wednesday recorded levels of the most dangerous fine particles that were three times higher than World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.

The government announced revisions to its air quality objectives for the first time in 25 years in January, after University of Hong Kong research showed pollution-related illnesses killed more than 3,000 residents a year.

The new objectives impose more stringent limits on the atmospheric concentration for seven pollutants including sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and lead.

For the first time the city has started measuring airborne particles smaller than 2.5 micrometres in diameter, known as PM2.5, which are more harmful than the larger particles.

Heavy polluting vehicles will be phased out, hybrid or electric vehicles will be promoted and more use will be made of natural gas.

But independent analysts say the measures are too little, too late, and fall short of WHO guidelines.

Chinese government banquet shark fin soup ban

This video is called Stop shark finning.

From Voice of America News:

China to Ban Shark Fin Soup from Official Events

China plans to ban shark fin soup from being served at government banquets in an attempt to protect endangered shark populations and reduce spending on lavish state functions.

The Communist Party-controlled Global Times said Tuesday it would take about three years to remove shark fins from the menus of official banquets and other government events.

The paper says the ban is part of a wider effort to limit government spending on official dinners that often feature the expensive seafood dish popular in many Asian countries.

Environmental groups say over 70 million sharks are killed primarily for their fins each year worldwide, leaving dozens of shark species threatened with near or total extinction.

Chinese state media say over 95 percent of the annual harvest of shark fin is consumed on the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The Chinese ban would not affect consumption of shark fin by the general population.

Several countries and local governments around the world have already moved to ban the sale of shark fins, which can sell for as much as $500 per pound.

July 4, 2012

From Wildlife Extra:

This monumental news comes at the peak of a massive public awareness campaign in China by conservation organization, WildAid, to “Say No to Shark Fin Soup”. In 2006, former NBA star and WildAid Ambassador Yao Ming famously committed to never eat shark fin soup again in a Public Service Announcement for WildAid, which has since been seen by hundreds of millions of people in China.

10 million kilos of shark fin imported into Hong Kong in 1 year – Where from? Here.

Shark fin soup horror video

From the Daily Mail in England:

Shocking video shows thousands of shark fins dumped on Hong Kong street to supply dubious soup industry

By Emma Reynolds

Last updated at 10:29 PM on 7th March 2012

Shark fin soup is a popular delicacy served as a status symbol by many of the rich in Asia, especially urban China.

But the broth is made through the cruel practice of hacking off a live shark‘s fin and then tossing the animal back overboard to drown.

This eye-opening video shows what happens next in the dubious industry – which is illegal in many countries – as thousands of fins are dumped on a street in Hong Kong.

See also here.

Rare spoon-billed sandpiper in Hong Kong

This video says about itself:

Spoon-billed Sandpiper, a critically endangered and unique wader. A digiscoping video using a Swarovski ATS65HD, DCA and 25x50WA Zoom Lens coupled with a Nikon Coolpix P5100. A wintering bird on the Gulf of Thailand in February 2010.

From John’s Hong Kong Birding Blog, with photos there:

4 April 2011

“Spoonie” at the boardwalk, Mai Po

A 2.2 metre tide brought a good pack of waders close to the hides at Mai Po today. The star of the show – first spotted by Annika Forsten and some other visiting Finnish birders – was a winter plumage Spoon-billed Sandpiper.

Heritage Expeditions – a BirdLife Species Champion supporting Spoon-billed Sandpiper – struck gold this week when they, and the passengers they have taken to the Russian Far East, helped discover a previously unknown breeding population of these rapidly declining waders: here.

WORLD FIRST: spoon-billed sandpiper chicks hatch in captivity: here.

Spoon-Billed Sandpiper: An Action Thriller Rescue: here.

Effects of climate change on species occupying distinct areas during their life cycle are still unclear. Moreover, although effects of climate change have widely been studied at the species level, less is known about community responses. Here, we test whether and how the composition of wader (Charadrii) assemblages, breeding in high latitude and wintering from Europe to Africa, is affected by climate change over 33 years. We calculated the temporal trend in the community temperature index (CTI), which measures the balance between cold and hot dwellers present in species assemblages. We found a steep increase in the CTI, which reflects a profound change in assemblage composition in response to recent climate change. This study provides, to our knowledge, the first evidence of a strong community response of migratory species to climate change in their wintering areas: here.