United States Vice President Biden apologizes for honesty on Turkey and ISIS

Posted on October 5, 2014 by petrel41

This video is called [United States Vice President] Biden blames allies for ISIS rise.

After a German President sacked for honesty about the economic aims of the Afghan war, now a United States Vice President ashamed about his honesty about ISIS.

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

Biden apologises for blaming Turkey for growth of Isis

Sunday 5th October 2014

Vice-President ‘sorry’ for rare moment of honesty

A FURIOUSLY backtracking US Vice-President Joe Biden apologised to Turkey at the weekend after making surprisingly frank remarks about the growth of jihadist group Isis.

Mr Biden told Harvard University students last week that Middle Eastern US allies such as Turkey and the United Arab Emirates had inadvertently strengthened extremist groups in their bid to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

He said the states had supplied anyone willing to fight Mr Assad with millions of dollars and thousands of tonnes of weapons.

“Except that the people who were being supplied were al-Nusra and al-Qaida and the extremist elements of jihadis coming from other parts of the world.

“We could not convince our colleagues to stop supplying them,” he said.

But Mr Biden irked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by telling students that his “old friend” had told him: “You were right. We let too many people through. Now they are trying to seal their border.”

The Turkish leader denied ever making such comments, saying that the US Vice-President “will be history for me if he has indeed used such expressions.”

Mr Erdogan added: “Foreign fighters have never entered Syria from our country. They may come to our country as tourists and cross into Syria, but no one can say that they cross in with their arms.”

Turkey has prevented 6,000 suspected jihadis from entering the country and deported another 1,000, he claimed.

Mr Biden phoned up his chum and “apologised for any implication that Turkey or other allies and partners in the region had intentionally supplied or facilitated the growth of Isis,” the White House said on Saturday.

Turkish MPs voted on Thursday to expand military operations in Iraq and Syria and allow foreign forces to launch attacks from the country.

Many have accused Turkey of collaborating with and supplying the militants.

Mikail Cicek, who lives on the Turkish side of the border, told Etkin News agency that a convoy of 10 large military vehicles crossed into Syria on Saturday evening, driving towards Isis positions before returning half an hour later.

Speaking to students at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy Forum Thursday, US Vice President Joseph Biden committed what the US media characterizes as a “gaffe.” In other words, he told an embarrassing truth about US government policy, one that is usually obfuscated in the remarks of government officials and the commentaries of media pundits: here.

Turkey fighting to the last Kurd: here.

US, Turkey at odds over Syria intervention: here.

TURKEY – U.S. FRIENDSHIP TESTED “The increasingly hostile divergence of views between Turkey and the United States over Syria is testing the durability of their 60-year alliance, to the point where some are starting to question whether the two countries still can be considered allies at all. Turkey’s refusal to allow the United States to use its bases to launch attacks against the Islamic State, quarrels over how to manage the battle raging in the Syrian border town of Kobane and the harsh tone of the anti-American rhetoric used by top Turkish officials to denounce U.S. policy have served to illuminate the vast gulf that divides the two nations as they scramble to address the menace posed by the extremists.” [WaPo]

Monarch butterflies’ ancestry, new research

Posted on October 5, 2014 by petrel41

This video is about monarch butterfly migration.

From Science News:

Monarch butterflies’ ancestors migrated

The insects originated in North America, genetics study finds

BY Kate Baggaley

5:06pm, October 1, 2014

The earliest monarch butterflies arose in North America and were migratory, contrary to what scientists believed. Over time, the butterflies evolved populations in other locations, some of which stay put year-round, scientists conclude October 1 in Nature.

Because many of the monarch’s closest butterfly relatives live in the tropics and do not migrate, “the thought was that the butterflies [came] from South and Central America and became migratory from resident populations,” says Tyler Flockhart, a conservation biologist who concentrates on monarchs at the University of Guelph in Canada. “But that doesn’t seem to be the case.”

Islamophobic advertisements removed after James Foley’s family protested

Posted on October 5, 2014 by petrel41

Pamela Geller and Anders Breivik

This picture is about United States extreme rightist Pamela Geller, an influence on mass murderer Anders Breivik.

By Isaac Finn in the USA:

Anti-Muslim ads removed from New York buses after protest from James Foley‘s family

4 October 2014

An anti-Muslim advertisement featuring a photo of American journalist James Foley, taken immediately before his brutal execution at the hands of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), will be removed from New York City buses and subway stations.

The American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), a rabidly anti-Muslim group founded by right-wing blogger Pamela Geller, agreed to remove James Foley’s photo from one of their advertisements after an impassioned protest from Foley’s family. His parents insisted that Foley’s life and views were completely antithetical to the fascistic ravings of Geller and her group.

J. Patrick Rowan, the lawyer representing the family, in a letter to Geller, stated, “The use of Mr. Foley’s photo in your advertisement will cause profound distress to the Foley family.” The letter continued, “Having lived in and reported from communities in which nearly everyone was of Muslim faith, he had great respect for the religion and those who practiced it. The advertisement you are preparing to run seems to convey the message that ordinary practitioners of Islam are a dangerous threat. This message is entirely inconsistent with Mr. Foley’s reporting and his beliefs.”

Foley had stated opposition to US war, and had taken a critical attitude to the practice of embedded journalism—in which journalists are attached to US military units—because he believed it encouraged biased reporting.

The Foley family also criticized US actions in the Middle East, including how the government handled Foley’s kidnapping. Family members reported that the US government had threatened to prosecute them for “material support” for terrorism if they sought to raise a ransom of roughly $132 million demanded by the ISIS in order to free Foley.

Diana Foley, James Foley’s mother, in an interview with CNN in early September, said, “We’re dealing with very difficult people when we talk about ISIS. Their hate for us is great. And yet, some of our response to them has only increased the hate.”

The AFDI’s original advertisement included a photo of Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, Foley’s alleged executioner, next to a picture of Foley immediately before his execution. Text above the photos read, “Yesterday’s Moderate is Today’s Headline.”

David Yerushalmi, Geller’s lawyer, told the Agence France-Presse that a modified version of the advertisement will be released, with the photo of Foley replaced by a picture of a masked fighter holding a digitally blurred severed head.

The now modified advertisement is one of six posters made by the AFDI, in order to show, according to the group, “the uselessness of the distinction between ‘moderate’ and ‘extremist’ Muslims.” Geller and the AFDI have paid $100,000 to the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to have these posters put on 100 buses and two subway stops for four weeks.

Geller is described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as “the anti-Muslim movement’s most visible and influential figurehead” and a “self-avowed Zionist,” who “has mingled with European racists and fascists.” Last year, she was barred from entering Britain, where she had intended to speak on the platform of the fascistic and racist English Defense League. The Home Office found that her statements “may foster hatred which might lead to inter-community violence in the UK.”

Geller and her organization are currently suing the MTA, for blocking another one of her advertisements. This one features the phrase “Killing Jews is Worship that draws us close to Allah,” next to a masked face, attributing the quote to the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas.

The MTA said it rejected the ad as inappropriate for covering the back of city buses because it could be interpreted as “urging direct, violent attacks on Jews.”

White-fronted geese autumn migration

Posted on October 5, 2014 by petrel41

This video from England is called European White-fronted Goose at RSPB Saltholme.

Translated from the Dutch SOVON ornithologists:

Friday, October 3, 2014

On October 2, the first wave of white-fronted geese arrived in the Netherlands. At bird counting sites more than 90,000 flying individuals were total counted. The geese are slightly later than last year, but still very early. The last decade on average white-fronted geese arrive earlier and earlier.

United States Army in Africa, against Ebola or for militarism?

Posted on October 5, 2014 by petrel41

This 12 September 2014 video is called Cuba answers WHO’s call for more Ebola help.

By Niles Williamson in the USA:

US exploiting West Africa Ebola outbreak to establish military foothold

4 October 2014

Under the guise of a humanitarian mission aimed at containing the spread of the Ebola virus, the Obama administration is exploiting the outbreak to establish a solid military footing on the African continent. West Africa continues to be ravaged by the worst outbreak of Ebola since the first case was identified in northern Democratic Republic of Congo in 1976.

According to a report by the World Health Organization, as of October 1 there were 7,437 suspected, probable and confirmed cases of Ebola in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone and 3,338 deaths. A separate outbreak of a different strain of the virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo has to date killed 43 people including eight health care workers.

Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone have been the hardest hit by the epidemic, accounting for 99.6 percent of cases and 99.8 percent of deaths. UNICEF reported last week that at least 3,700 children have been orphaned by the epidemic. The already limited health systems of Liberia and Sierra Leone have essentially collapsed under the impact of the outbreak.

The US plan for containing the epidemic, codenamed Operation United Assistance, is being overseen by the US Armed Forces Africa Command (AFRICOM) and is expected to cost $1 billion over the next six months. So far the US government has contributed $111 million to the effort, a paltry sum compared with the $1 billion the US has already spent in two months of airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq, recently extended to Syria.

AFRICOM plans to oversee the deployment of 3,200 troops, most from the 101st Airborne Division, to assist in the construction of emergency Ebola treatment units.

Last week US airmen from the Air Force’s 633rd Medical Group, working with employees from the US Public Health Service, set up a 25-bed Expeditionary Medical Support System (EMEDS) hospital for health care workers who contract the deadly virus.

A 300-bed Ebola treatment unit is currently under construction in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, on the grounds of an abandoned Ministry of Defense building built prior to the civil wars that devastated the country in the 1990s. The treatment facility and others like it are not expected to be ready to receive patients for a number of weeks.

AFRICOM has no plans to staff these Ebola treatment centers with its own doctors or nurses; instead it will be left to the US Agency for International Development and the Liberian government to properly staff them. USAID and the US State Department have pledged $10 million towards the training and deployment of 100 volunteer health care workers from African Union member states.

Because they come into regular contact with patients’ bodily fluids, the doctors and nurses who tend to those stricken by Ebola are at great risk of contracting the disease themselves. The WHO reports that as of September 28, at least 216 health care workers have been killed by the virus. Two American health care workers successfully recovered after they were flown to US hospitals where they were quarantined and treated.

The main purpose of this military operation is not to halt the spread of Ebola or restore health to those that have been infected. Rather the United States is seeking to exploit the crisis to establish a firm footing on the African continent for AFRICOM, which was established in 2008 in order to oversee US imperialist operations in the region. AFRICOM currently operates from Kelley Barracks in Stuttgart, Germany, thousands of miles from the nearest African country.

Liberia is the only country in Africa which has previously expressed interest in hosting AFRICOM headquarters. The Ebola epidemic provides a convenient excuse for the deployment of thousands of US troops and establishing a permanent presence.

US President Barack Obama announced on September 16 that a Joint Force Command Headquarters (JFCH) would be established in Liberia to coordinate and oversee Operation United Assistance. The JFCH would be the first significant base operated by AFRICOM on the continent.

Liberia is the latest in a long line of African countries where the United States has sent American military personnel and equipment in the last decade. American troops have been deployed to Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Chad, Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, Uganda, and South Sudan. AFRICOM’s first significant operation on the African continent was the US-NATO bombing of Libya in 2011, which resulted in the overthrow and murder of Muammar Gaddafi.

The longer the epidemic goes on, the greater the chance that the disease will spread to countries beyond West Africa. This is illustrated quite clearly by the spread of the virus to the United States, which demonstrates that even the health system in an advanced country is vulnerable—to say nothing of the gaps created by long-term cutbacks in health services, particularly in public health systems.

The first confirmed case of Ebola in the US was in a man who exhibited symptoms after traveling to Dallas, Texas from Liberia, where he had helped transport another person suffering from the virus to the hospital. Thomas Eric Duncan was sent home after his initial examination, the result of an apparent computer error, further exposing his friends and family to the virus. The apartment complex where he lived has been quarantined and those he came into contact with are being monitored for symptoms.

Hospitals in the US have been proceeding with extreme caution, quarantining anyone exhibiting Ebola symptoms, including two people in Kentucky and a child in Utah who were eventually cleared. It was reported on Friday that two individuals in Washington, D.C. were being treated under quarantine for Ebola-like symptoms.

In the week since Duncan was diagnosed, the American media has focused largely on sensationalized reporting around his case, hyping the dangers to the public as a means of justifying tighter security measures against immigrants and visitors from Africa. Meanwhile, relatively little attention is being given to the affected region in Africa, where dozens are dying every day.

EBOLA UPDATES: CUBA UNLIKELY BEFELLOW IN FIGHT AGAINST DEADLY VIRUS Cuba has stepped up in the fight against Ebola. Drugmakers are struggling to bring their experimental drugs to scale in the fight against such a widespread outbreak. This is what happens to a baby when her mother dies of Ebola. The Texas Sheriff’s deputy who was feared to have contracted the virus has been cleared. And don’t joke you have Ebola on a plane, or else you’ll be escorted off by workers in hazmat suits.

Alors que les Africains ont besoin de médecins pour lutter contre la fièvre hémorragique à virus Ebola, Washington a, contre toute attente et à la surprise générale, décidé d’installer un centre de commandement militaire au Liberia (l’un des pays les plus touchés par Ebola). Ce centre est placé sous les ordres du général Darryl Williams et sera composé de 3 000 militaires étasuniens. Les USA sont prêts à tout pour s’accaparer des ressources africaines: here.

Three bears rescued from poachers in Nepal

Posted on October 5, 2014 by petrel41

This video is called Close encounter with a Sloth Bear – Yala National Park – Sri Lanka.

From Wildlife Extra:

Three bears rescued from poachers are doing well

After being rescued from poachers in Nepal by Wildlife SOS and International Animal Resuce (IAR) in December 2013, three sloth bears are reported to be doing well.

The bears had been kept by poachers until they had grown large enough for sale, and when they were old enough had been taken to India in an attempt to sell them to the Kalandar community, who had traditionally used bears for dancing. However, the practice of keeping dancing bears was made illegal in India in 1972, and in 2009 all dancing bears in the country were liberated. The poachers found that, as the Kalandar community no longer maintains the dancing bear tradition, they could not sell them the bears. As a result, the animals were taken back to Nepal, where it is believed they would have been sold to make bear paw soup.

They were fortunately apprehended by Wildlife SOS and local police from the forestry department. The bears, named Bean, Bintha, and Bobby, were moved to Bhagwan Birsa Biological Park in Ranchi for care, before being relocated to the Wildlife SOS Sanctuary where they are being cared for and rehabilitated with help from International Animal Rescue (IAR).

The oldest bear, Bean, was three-years-old when he was rescued from the poachers. He was found with a rope pierced through his nose, and his canines had been removed, most likely without anesthetic. Vets removed the rope from his nose and treated him for pain.

Bintha, who was 11-months-old at the time of rescue, also had her nose pierced and harnessed with a rope, and although it has healed, she still bears the scars.

According to Wildlife SOS, Bobby is the more reserved of the three. After he has spent time learning the basics of being a wild sloth bear in the sanctuary’s socialisation enclosure, he will be given access to a free-roaming area where he can live like a wild bear, but with the added security of having the Wildlife SOS team on-hand. All the bears now have a clean bill of health and continue to improve, socialising with the other bears at the sanctuary.

Sloth bears, which are found in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka (the Sri Lankan sloth bear), have been traditionally used as dancing bears. They are classified as vulnerable by the IUCN, with currently about 20,000 alive in the wild.

London government starving Scottish disabled people

Posted on October 5, 2014 by petrel41

This 2012 video is called UK benefit cuts to affect the disabled.

From daily News Line in Britain:

Saturday, 4 October 2014

TORIES STARVE THE DISABLED!

DISABLED people in Scotland are being starved by the Tory government, with some people waiting as long as 15 months without receiving a single penny benefit.

According to the report by Citizens Advice Scotland, the average waiting time that disabled people have to endure before receiving their Personal Independence Payment (PIP) … is six months.

However, the report found that some have reported delays of 13, 14 or 15 months.

The report spells out the that these delays are leaving many people without enough money to eat, travel, or heat their home.

Scottish National Party (SNP) MSP Jamie Hepburn said the report was ‘damning evidence of the devastating consequences Westminster’s welfare cuts are having on thousands of sick and disabled people in Scotland’.

He added: ‘The Tory conference last week has only reaffirmed their commitment to a shameless and sustained attack on the poor.’

PIP has been introduced in Scotland over the past year. It is part of wider welfare reforms by the UK government, and has replaced the Disability Living Allowance (DLA) as the main benefit that helps disabled people meet the costs of their basic daily living.

Citizens Advice compiled the report on the implementation of PIP using evidence gathered from its Citizens Advice Bureau staff.

More than half of the advisers said the delays have caused the disabled people ‘severe hardship’.

Citizens Advice Scotland’s head of policy, Susan McPhee, said the basic cost of living is generally higher for sick and disabled people than for the average citizen.

This is because of the additional costs of special food, medicines or equipment they might need, extra heating and lighting costs for those who need to stay at home longer, or transport costs for those who are less mobile.

She added: ‘These extra costs are not luxuries. They are essential to leading a basic life of dignity and any civilised society should make it a priority to see that people who need this help get it without fuss.

‘The evidence we are publishing here shows that, under the new Personal Independence Payment, too many disabled people are not getting that support and many are falling into poverty as a result.’

She called on the government to urgently address these problems ‘as they are causing great detriment to some very vulnerable citizens and their families’.

In June, the Public Accounts Committee at Westminster warned that the PIP scheme had been ‘rushed’ through, with a ‘shocking’ impact on claimants.

Meanwhile, the government has launched four pilot schemes to ‘help’ unemployed people with mental health problems to ‘find work’.

The scheme, which is currently ‘voluntary’, will see people on Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) being ‘offered employment support’ and ‘psychiatric help’.

The £2m pilots, all in England, will run for six months. Ministers insist they are not a precursor to forcing unemployed people with mental health problems to seek help in order to kick them off their benefits.

Good British rare freshwater fish news

Posted on October 5, 2014 by petrel41

This video from England says about itself:

12 April 2011

A rare species of fish has been moved to higher ground to try to protect it from rising water temperatures.

Llamas were used to transport the endangered vendace 500m up mountain paths to a tarn in the Lake District.

From Wildlife Extra:

Britain’s rarest freshwater fish could be making a comeback

Two adult vendace, a fish that is a relic from the last ice age, have been found in Bassenthwaite Lake in northwest England after more than a decade of being declared ‘locally extinct’.

The finding was the result of an annual fish survey of the Bassenthwaite Lake led by Dr Ian Winfield from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, which has been monitoring the fish community in the lake since 1995, first in collaboration with Environment Agency and now with United Utilities.

During the 2013 fish survey, a single young vendace was recorded. Dr Winfield says this is good news for wildlife in the lake: “Finding adult vendace in 2014 following the recording of a young fish in 2013 is excellent news giving great encouragement to everyone involved in the restoration of Bassenthwaite Lake and its fantastic wildlife.”

Prior to 2013, the last vendace recorded in the lake was in 2001, and the fish remains rare. Only four native populations have been found in the UK, including two lochs in southwest Scotland, and Bassenthwaite Lake and Derwent Water in northwest England.

There are some theories about where the fish came from and how they returned. One theory is that they survived in the lake below the limit of detection for past decade and could be on the increase. The second is that they might recently have arrived there by travelling down River Derwent from the population in Derwent Water.

“The news for Bassenthwaite Lake is about as big as it gets for rare fish,” explains Dr Winfield. “I am certain that other adults remain in the lake. I also think that such fish will spawn this winter, but I’m unsure of how egg incubation will go given persistent sediment problems at the lake.”

Freshwater fish spread plant seeds: here.