Posted April 18, 2014

by Jerry Alatalo

Germany television’s equivalent to American TV’s “60 Minutes” last week aired a report which contradicts the Barack Obama and new Ukrainian administrations’ claims that ousted President Viktor Yanukovych is responsible for the sniper murder of over 100 Ukrainian citizens and police officers in late February 2014.

The story has become front page news in Europe and Russia, but for some reason has yet to be reported on any media outlet to the American people. There are two reasons men and women have a very legitimate questioning stance on this German report. Number one is that there has been a great deal of language coming out of Americans’ television sets which paints Russia as the aggressor who needs to become stopped, and the possibility of Russia going ahead to annex more land in Ukraine and other areas in the region.

There is the perception that Viktor Yanukovych is…

(Winds flowing north from just west of Hawaii, through the Bering Strait, over the North Pole and on into the North Atlantic as seen by NOAA’s GFS model and imaged by Earth Nullschool.)

This is a very odd pattern for global surface winds.

In the central Pacific, along a band above 20 North Latitude and about 500 miles west of Hawaii, a broad stream of easterly winds yesterday took a turn toward the north. The wind field was then pulled into a long frontal boundary spinning out from a large low pressure system off Irkutsk, Russian and driven on toward the Western Aleutian Island Chain.

The winds continued their sprint northward through the Bering Strait before being again captured by a low, this time over the East Siberian Sea. Sped on by this second nudge, the winds, running at 15-25 mph, spilled over the North Pole and into a…

CCCCC Deputy Director and Science Advisor Dr Ulric Troz with the USF delegation

Christy Prouty, a Ph.D. student in Environmental Engineering at the University of South Florida, reflects on her  Her area of research includes systems dynamics modeling which is used to understand the behavior of complex systems over time.  She also enjoys internationally-focused research in water and sanitation

Climate change, sea level rise, community perceptions, drinking water, sanitation, coastal erosion, water quality monitoring, coral reef degradation, nutrient management, STEM education, and community capacity building— these were some of the topics discussed last month (June 6, 2014) during a meeting between the Caribbean Community Climate Change Center (5Cs) and a team of researchers affiliated with the University of South Florida’s Partnership for International Research and Education (USF PIRE) grant. During the introductions, the 5Cs shared insights about their field data and the ways it informed climate change models for predicting…

Here is a glimpse of a great man of Hunza (Gulmit-Gojal) who served people with broken limbs.  In the present day Hunza, we may say what is the need for this rudimentary sought of treatment, but hundreds of people and thier families know the worth and importance of this great healer of broken limbs, when there were not hospitals let alone specialist orthopedics the hope was this man. However, in Hunza and overall in Gilgit-Baltistan still there is not any medical facility which serves the dire need of people to treat patients with broken legs, hands or other body parts. Each year people of Gilgit-Baltistan spend millions of rupees for treatment in the downtown Hospitals of Punjab and Karachi.

We salute this great man who single handedly keep on serving till now the people of Gilgit-Baltistan.

Courtes: Arbab Sadoon

[Prefatory Note: “Palestine’s Dilemma: To Go or Not to Go to the International Criminal Court” was published on July 13, 2014 on the website of Middle East Eye, a site I strong recommend to all those with an interest in Middle East issues; this post represents a somewhat revised text, but within the framework of the original; the political plausibility of invoking the Inteernational Criminal Court to investigate allegations of criminality directed at Israel increases with each passing day.)

Ever since this latest Israeli major military operation against Gaza started on July 8, there have been frequent suggestions that Israel is guilty of war crimes, and that Palestine should do its best to activate the International Criminal Court (ICC) on its behalf. The evidence overwhelmingly supports basic Palestinian allegations—Israel is guilty either of aggression in violation of the UN Charter or is in flagrant violation of its obligations as the…

Read at : Google Alert – desertification

http://agriit.wordpress.com/2014/07/20/how-to-combat-desertification-and-the-effects-of-climate-change-while-feeding-people/

How to combat desertification and the effects of climate change while feeding people

Rubanzayo Wa Mpiira

We live in a world where two thirds of its land is turning into a desert (most of this proportion has already turned into desert) and the world has to feed an increasing number of mouths that are growing towards 10 billion.

Fossil fuels – carbon, coal and gas – are by no means the only thing that is causing climate change and desertification. Desertification occurs only when we create too much bare ground. When rain falls on a bare ground, some of it keeps on the ground as flood while the remainder soaks into the soil. But because the ground is bare, water evaporates as fast as possible and the soil also releases carbon into the atmosphere.

We are told over and over repeatedly that desertification…

[Prefatory note: This is an interview with a knowledgeable Greek journalist covering a range of issues associated with the Gaza ordeal]

“Blood on American Hands”: Richard Falk on Palestine

Monday, 21 July 2014 13:03

By CJ Polychroniou, Truthout | Interview

A man holds the body of a child during a burial for a family of seven people killed yesterday in an Israeli attack in the Shajaiya neighborhood of Gaza City, July 21, 2014. As the bloody conflict entered its 14th day amid diplomatic pressure for a cease-fire, the Palestinian death toll reached 500, and thousands of people streamed toward Gaza City from the north Monday. (Photo: Tyler Hicks / The New York Times)

For over 20 years, Israel and the United States have been working to separate Gaza from the West Bank, in violation of the Oslo Accords they had just signed declaring them to be an indivisible territorial…

Palestinians told to evacuate their homes as the Israeli offensive claims more than 200 people and injures 1500 others.

Residents Zeitoun were seen walking in the streets, carrying their belongings as they tried to evacuate [AP]

Gaza City – The Israeli army intensified its bombing of Gaza on Wednesday, hitting the homes of senior Hamas leaders and carrying out more than 50 airstrikes in a heavily-populated area in the northern strip. The death toll climbed to 220 people, according to Palestinian medical officials, including 47 children. On Wednesday, four children were killed by naval shelling on a beach. More than 1,500 people have been injured. One in five of those killed so far have been children, the NGO Save the Children said on Wednesday, and the vast majority were civilians, according to the United Nations. The army also bombed the houses of several senior Hamas leaders, including Mahmoud al-Zahar. Some…