Tuesday, June 11, 2024

Science post: Whales and climate

Let's do science.  And let's start with this from the BBC.


 Inside the bodies of humpback whales are clues about how climate change is transforming Antarctica. In the rich, freezing seas off the peninsula, penguins, seals and many whales feed on Antarctic krill. These diminutive, almost unimaginably numerous, shrimp-like creatures thrive under sea ice. As the climate warms up, scientists are racing to understand what that means for this ice-dependent food supply.


And this is from Victoria Gill and  Kate Stephens (BBC NEWS) report:


Baby humpbacks spend a year nursing on their mothers’ rich milk. With a hungry, one-tonne newborn, calories are important.

“We need to find the most critical feeding habitats for whales, so we can protect them,” explains Chris.

The health of whales, he explains, shines a light on the health of the whole Antarctic ecosystem. And whales are physically necessary for a healthy ocean: Humpbacks eat krill, and krill eat microscopic plants that live in sea ice - plants that absorb planet-warming carbon as they grow. Whales then poop (in vast quantities) and fertilise the marine plants.

It’s a virtuous, productive cycle that climate change is disrupting. “These are natural processes we rely on for fresh air, food and clean water,” says Chris. “Places like this are important for all of us.”


And let's bring in a music video.




That's "Farewell to Tarwathie" and it's being sung by Judy Collins and humpback whales.  It's from her album WHALES &  NIGHTINGALES and I heard it the first time when I was a little girl and just wanted to lay on my side and listen.  My brother explained those were whales and I just found that song so comforting the first moment I heard it and to this day.  


Okay, now let's note a Tweet from the United Nations Secretary-General.



Don't you wish the leader of our country could talk like that?  And the sad reality is that I'm American but you could be from pretty much any country and make that same comment.  



"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Tuesday, June 11, 2024.  A cease-fire (or 'cease-fire') agreement passes the UN Security Council, the UN notes the Israeli government may have committed War Crimes last weekend, War Criminal Benjamin Netanyahu is eager to pollute the US with his foul stench next month, and much more.


Adla Massoud (THE NATIONAL) reports, "The UN Security Council on Monday adopted a US-drafted resolution endorsing President Joe Biden’s ceasefire plan for the Gaza Strip. The measure won 14 votes in favour, with Russia abstaining. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in the Middle East to promote the proposal."  Ana Faguy and Raffi Berg (BBC NEWS) note, "The proposal sets out conditions for a 'full and complete ceasefire', the release of hostages held by Hamas, the return of dead hostages' remains and the exchange of Palestinian prisoners."  REUTERS notes, "The UN Human Rights Office said that the civilian deaths in Gaza during the Israeli operation to secure the release of four hostages and their holding by armed groups in densely populated areas could amount to war crimes."



A cease-fire is needed.  A real one.  Instead we get ongoing War Crimes.  THE GUARDIAN notes:

The UN human rights office said on Tuesday that the civilian deaths in Gaza during the Israeli operation to secure the release of four hostages and their holding by armed groups in densely populated areas could both amount to war crimes, Reuters reports.

“Hundreds of Palestinians, many of them civilians, were reportedly killed and injured,” said Jeremy Laurence, spokesperson for the UN human rights office.

“Furthermore, by holding hostages in such densely populated areas, the armed groups doing so are putting the lives of Palestinian civilians, as well as the hostages themselves, at added risk from the hostilities. All these actions, by both parties, may amount to war crimes.”

A  meeting is taking place today, this one in Jordan, on the issue of Gaza.  ABC NEWS notes:


United Nations secretary general Antonio Guterres has been speaking at an emergency aid summit for Gaza in Jordan.

It seeks to bring together leaders and aid officials to help solve the humanitarian issues in the Gaza, with much of the territory's food, water and energy cut off.

The conference is jointly organised by the UN, Jordan and Egypt and is being attended by US secretary of state Antony Blinken.

Mr Guterres says that "the speed and scale of carnage and killing in Gaza is beyond anything in my years as secretary-general."


THE NATIONAL explains the summit is called Call for Action: Urgent Humanitarian Response for Gaza.   Shahada Abu Baqar (JORDAN TIMES) explains why Jordan is co-hosting the event and why they called for it:


Since ascending to the throne of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan twenty-five years ago, His Majesty King Abdullah has continued the approach of his father, the late King Hussein, dedicating his efforts and meetings on bilateral, regional, and international levels, warning against the international community's neglect of the inevitable need for a just and peaceful solution that guarantees the Palestinian people their legitimate right to establish an independent state on their national soil occupied by Israel since 1967.

Despite Jordan's warnings about the magnitude of the tragedy experienced by the Palestinian people due to the occupation's practices of blockade, settlement activity expansion, killing, destruction, and violation of Palestinians’ simplest rights to a free life like other peoples on the planet, global powers have not given these repeated warnings the attention they deserve.

 The absence of decisive stance by global powers has granted the far-right government in Israel more opportunities to challenge international law and all universally recognized religious, moral and human values, leading to further humiliation of the people under its occupation, expansion of its settlement projects, and increased efforts to Judaize Palestinian land and desecrate Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem and across Palestine. Israel has further intensified its oppression of a people who only seek their legitimate right to what remains of their ancestral land.

Meanwhile, the Gaza Strip has been enduring a harsh life, lacking the simplest necessities of decent living due to an Israeli blockade nearing its 18th year. This has led to the realization of what King Abdullah has warned about for 25 years, as life has become unbearably difficult for over two million people living in Gaza, barely surviving.

The Israeli government has never considered the severe suffering faced by Palestinian people and, instead, has launched its genocidal war now entering its ninth month, killing and destruction of humans, trees, stones, and everything necessary for human life in Gaza, in an effort to displace its residents, as it did in the 1948 war.


The genocidal war?  From yesterday's DEMOCRACY NOW!


AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman.

For more on the Israeli attack on the Nuseirat refugee camp that freed four Israeli hostages and killed at least 274 Palestinians, wounding over about 700 people, we’re joined by Omar Baddar, a Palestinian American political analyst, member of the National Policy Council of the Arab American Institute. He’s joining us from Washington, D.C.

If you can, overall, respond to what took place, and then, because you’re in D.C., Omar, talk about the Biden administration response?

OMAR BADDAR: Sure, Amy. There’s no question that what unfolded in that operation is a massacre. I mean, we’ve seen just the bodies of hundreds of people littered everywhere, including the bodies of children. We’ve seen absolutely horrific scenes at the hospitals of weeping parents and bloody children. I mean, to look at a death toll of this scale and then to celebrate this kind of operation as some sort of success, you would basically have to openly say that the lives of Israelis are more valuable than the lives of Palestinians. That is the message that is sent by celebrating this operation.

Now, there is no surprise at the fact that an apartheid government like Israel’s would see it that way. They’ve made very clear that they have absolutely no regard for Palestinian life, that they don’t see Palestinians as equal human beings deserving of the same dignity and rights that Israelis enjoy. But what’s really disappointing is looking at the way that the Biden administration has reacted to all this, where the massacre is reduced to a footnote while the focus is primarily on the lives of the hostages who have been rescued. That kind of contrast, this declaration from the Biden administration that the lives of Palestinians matter less than the lives of Israelis, is just absolutely outrageous and completely indefensible. It speaks to a fundamentally broken dynamic with American foreign policy towards the region for a very, very long time, in which Israel is treated like a country that is above the law and above any rules, and their lives simply matter more, and they can do whatever they want, so long as it favors Israel, at the expense of the people around them.

And that kind of approach has actually guaranteed that we’re going to be living in a situation of perpetual conflict, because any time you treat Palestinians the way Israel treats them, put them under indefinite military occupation, rob them of their rights, of their land, treat them the way Palestinians are treated day in and day out under this brutal occupation, you are creating fertile ground for conflict. And that’s why we’re in the situation that we’re in, in the first place.

AMY GOODMAN: Omar, Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, said on the Sunday talk shows, quote, “Innocent people were tragically killed in this operation. The exact number we don’t know, but innocent people were killed. And that is heartbreaking. That’s tragic.”

OMAR BADDAR: Yeah. Amy, just imagine. Imagine if it was the other way around, right? Imagine right now, as you and I are speaking, there are thousands of Palestinians who have been kidnapped out of Gaza. They’re placed in Israeli detention centers across the border. And the treatment that they are witnessing day in and day out has been absolutely horrifying. There’s a report in The New York Times from just a few days ago outlining the daily sexual abuse that these prisoners are actually undergoing, the torture. And we know for a fact that dozens of Palestinians have been killed in Israeli captivity over the past several months, since October 7th to this day. And if you were to imagine a scenario right now in which Hamas conducts an operation, kills several hundred Israelis and then rescues four Palestinians from Israeli detention, would anybody even know the names of those four Palestinians who had been rescued, or would the entire world and our discourse be condemning the massacre that had taken place? Would that be what’s dominating the headlines? We know the answer to that. And we know that we would not be reducing the massacre to nothing, had it been the other way around.

So, yes, maybe Jake Sullivan can talk about how tragic it is that people are dying, but when push comes to shove, the United States is providing the military funding that is allowing for these casualties to occur on a regular basis. At this point, every major human rights organization in the world is describing Israeli conduct in Gaza as war crimes. They are describing the deliberate starving of children. Several of them have died of starvation, as well. We are witnessing that the International Court of Justice effectively has found that Israel is plausibly committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. And in light of all this, for the Biden administration to continue providing unlimited and unconditional military funding for Israel to carry on this genocidal slaughter in Gaza, while expressing regret at the fact that some civilians are dying in the process, I mean, just who are they fooling? They are responsible for it in a direct way. If they do find it tragic, there is a very, very easy solution to it. And that is to put an end to U.S. military funding for Israel, until Israel starts abiding by international law and stops this indiscriminate onslaught on the civilian population in Gaza.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to go to President Biden during a joint press conference with the French president, Macron, on Saturday.

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: But before I begin my remarks, I want to echo President Macron’s comments welcoming the safe rescue of four hostages that were returned to their families in Israel. We won’t stop working until all the hostages come home and a ceasefire is reached. That is essential to happen.

AMY GOODMAN: So, what about this ceasefire? What about this deal? What about Israel and Hamas? The U.S. focuses on Hamas, whether they will accept the deal. President Biden introduced it as an Israeli deal, and yet Netanyahu has not approved this deal.

OMAR BADDAR: Amy, I think it’s really important for your audience to actually understand a bit of the merits of that ceasefire proposal. There has long been tension between the Israeli position — which is effectively a temporary ceasefire, a return of all the hostages to Israel, and then a continuation of the war, of this onslaught on Gaza, that has so far killed nearly 40,000 people and just destroyed the overwhelming majority of the Gaza Strip — and the Hamas position, on the other hand. They’re saying they’re willing to give up the hostages, but they need an end to this onslaught. They want a permanent ceasefire.

And the proposal that Biden put forward effectively presents two phases. Phase one is a temporary ceasefire, and phase two is the permanent one. And in between, he’s left it vague about what needs to be negotiated in order to get to the permanent ceasefire bit. And Netanyahu — I mean, both sides are suspicious for different reasons, right? Hamas is suspicious of that kind of deal, because they’re afraid they’re going to be forced to give up nearly all the hostages at phase one, and then the war is simply going to continue. And from Netanyahu’s perspective, he’s worried that when the war is halted in that temporary ceasefire, that the U.S. is going to apply significant pressure on Netanyahu to turn it into a permanent ceasefire.

Now, Netanyahu immediately came out and effectively rejected any idea that the Biden plan is going to end the war, because he said all Israel has offered is a plan that allows us to continue this war until Hamas is completely destroyed. So he’s effectively openly rejected that deal. And the Biden administration, as it always does, then turns around and applies all the pressure that they want to on the Palestinian side. Now they’re trying to pressure Qatar into potentially throwing out Hamas, the Hamas leadership, out of Qatar if they don’t accept that deal.

So, time and again, we see this pattern where, when push comes to shove, the Biden administration is unwilling to apply any meaningful pressure on Israel. They threatened it here and there. They talk about potentially withholding some weapons. And the second there’s any bit of criticism of the Biden administration from right-wing politicians — and, frankly, some establishment mainstream ones — about how Biden is not backing Israel sufficiently, Biden immediately panics and just throws another unlimited supply of weapons in Israel and says that Israel can do whatever it wants.

That dynamic is not going to lead to anything positive. We can’t get an end to this onslaught if Biden is afraid to apply meaningful pressure on Netanyahu or on Israel. That has long been the core of the issue, by the way, not just in reference to this particular ceasefire effort, but it really is about the broader dynamic of Israel and the United States, where the impunity that Israel enjoys to continue this occupation, to entrench the occupation in the West Bank and in Gaza, and the fact that Biden has always offered unconditional diplomatic support and unconditional military support, that allows extremism to fester within the Israeli government. And that’s what pushes their policies in a more and more extreme direction, where there is no possibility right now for a genuine, long-lasting, just peace, because the Israeli government rejects that completely out of hand. And the only thing that can change that is a shift in American approach and to start saying that America will not be complicit in these kinds of atrocities, will not be complicit in entrenching apartheid and occupation, because that is not a recipe for a stable region or for any kind of long-lasting peace or justice in Gaza.

AMY GOODMAN: Omar Baddar, we want to thank you so much for being with us, Palestinian American political analyst, member of the National Policy Council of the Arab American Institute.

When we come back, we’ll be joined by two Israelis. One, near Tel Aviv, lost his parents on October 7th. He says Israel’s war is not the answer. The other, here in New York, is the head of Idealist.org. Back in 20 seconds.


On the War Crimes of Benjamin Netanyahu, let's note Liza Featherstone via ZNET:

With elections looming and the Democratic base overwhelmingly opposed to Israel’s brutal war on Gaza, Joe Biden seems at times to be feeling the heat and talking peace. On May 31, he claimed that Israel had agreed to a “permanent cease-fire.” But Biden was immediately rebuffed when Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu disgracefully rejected that idea, caving to far-right pressure from within his government.

The Democratic leadership should have seized the moment and, in a unified voice, urged the president to defund Israel’s brutal war. That would have been morally right. If successful, that action could have, most importantly, finally halted a genocide. It also could have helped Biden to defeat Donald Trump in the fall.

But that is not what the Democratic leadership did.

Instead, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives, joined Republican House speaker Mike Johnson in penning a letter inviting Netanyahu, fanatic far-right architect of a war in which Israel has been  burning people alive without impunity or shame, to address Congress.

It’s hard to imagine a worse guest for the United States right now. Netanyahu has prosecuted an utterly callous war in which more than 36,000 people have died, most of them children. His war has exposed more than a million people to catastrophic starvation. He has also done his best to eradicate Palestinian civilization, bombing all its universities.

The New York Times reports that because of Israel’s ground offensive in Rafah, more than a million Gazans forced to flee that city have no power, water, or shelter. A construction worker who fled Rafah last week told the paper, “The situation is as bad as you can imagine. We are waiting for God’s mercy.”

Netanyahu has also knowingly targeted hospitals in this war, turning hospitals, “which should be safe havens, into scenes of death, devastation and despair,” according to the World Health Organization. Even after the International Court of Justice noted “catastrophic conditions” in Gaza and warned Israel that starving civilians and obstructing humanitarian aid were war crimes, Human Rights Watch reported that the situation had only grown worse. Israel’s vicious disregard for Palestinian lives is almost matched by its contempt for the international community.


Do you invite War Criminals to your home?  I mean maybe if you're trampy Jill St. John and spreading your legs for War Criminal Henry Kissinger to drive home just how lacking in standards and common sense you are, maybe then you invite a War Criminal into your home.  But people that are the same disgusting trash that smears a man's name (Lance Reventlow) in a divorce action ("extreme cruelty") only to show up nearly ten years later (and one marriage and divorce later -- to singer Jack Jones) and start calling the same man your "late husband" and acting like a widow when, in fact, Cheryl Holdridge (Cheryl from THE MICKEY MOUSE CLUB) is the widow and had been married to Lance eight years. Jill St. John's not just a joke, she's a dirty joke. And she's the type who would invite a War Criminal (or wife killer) into her own home. 


Jeremy Laurence, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has stated:

 

We are profoundly shocked at the impact on civilians of the Israeli forces’ operation in An Nuseirat at the weekend to secure the release of four hostages. Hundreds of Palestinians, many of them civilians, were reportedly killed and injured. The manner in which the raid was conducted in such a densely populated area seriously calls into question whether the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution - as set out under the laws of war - were respected by the Israeli forces.

Our Office is also deeply distressed that Palestinian armed groups continue to hold many hostages, most of them civilians, which is prohibited by international humanitarian law. Furthermore, by holding hostages in such densely populated areas, the armed groups doing so are putting the lives of Palestinian civilians, as well as the hostages themselves, at added risk from the hostilities.

All these actions, by both parties, may amount to war crimes.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, welcomes Security Council Resolution 2735 calling for a "full and complete ceasefire", the release of hostages held by Palestinian armed groups, the return of the remains of dead hostages, and the exchange of Palestinian prisoners. An immediate priority must be to ensure the full and unfettered flow of humanitarian aid to the desperate population of Gaza.

The High Commissioner calls on all parties as well as third States, in particular those with influence over the parties to the conflict, to also maximise efforts to work towards the goal whereby Israelis and Palestinians can fully enjoy all human rights and live side by side, in peace.


Full human rights.  That would include access to food and water.  But instead, the government of Israel attempts to starve the people of Gaza.  They've burned down universities and schools, they've bombed hospitals, it's been one War Crime after another.  ALJAZEERA notes:


More than month after Israeli forces began operating in Rafah, which was previously Gaza’s main declared safe zone, almost all displaced people have fled the area, leaving fewer than 100,000 still left, according to the UNRWA.

As a result, there are now 1.7 million displaced people in Gaza – more than 70 percent of the population – with many of the displaced having been forced to move multiple times, the UNRWA said in its latest situation update.


Gaza remains under assault. Day 249 of  the assault in the wave that began in October.  Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out, "Bloodletting as form; murder as fashion.  The ongoing campaign in Gaza by Israel’s Defence Forces continues without stalling and restriction.  But the burgeoning number of corpses is starting to become a challenge for the propaganda outlets:  How to justify it?  Fortunately for Israel, the United States, its unqualified defender, is happy to provide cover for murder covered in the sheath of self-defence."   CNN has explained, "The Gaza Strip is 'the most dangerous place' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund."  ABC NEWS quotes UNICEF's December 9th statement, ""The Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child. Scores of children are reportedly being killed and injured on a daily basis. Entire neighborhoods, where children used to play and go to school have been turned into stacks of rubble, with no life in them."  NBC NEWS notes, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, according to the latest national NBC News poll. The erosion is most pronounced among Democrats, a majority of whom believe Israel has gone too far in its military action in Gaza."  The slaughter continues.  It has displaced over 1 million people per the US Congressional Research Service.  Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have condemned the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide."   The death toll of Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher.  United Nations Women noted, "More than 1.9 million people -- 85 per cent of the total population of Gaza -- have been displaced, including what UN Women estimates to be nearly 1 million women and girls. The entire population of Gaza -- roughly 2.2 million people -- are in crisis levels of acute food insecurity or worse."  THE NATIONAL notes, "Gaza death toll reaches 37,164 with 84,832 injured."   Months ago,  AP  noted, "About 4,000 people are reported missing."  February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained on DEMOCRACY NOW! that "there’s an estimated 7,000 or 8,000 Palestinians missing, many of them in graves that are the rubble of their former home."  February 5th, the United Nations' Phillipe Lazzarini Tweeted:

  



April 11th, Sharon Zhang (TRUTHOUT) reported, "In addition to the over 34,000 Palestinians who have been counted as killed in Israel’s genocidal assault so far, there are 13,000 Palestinians in Gaza who are missing, a humanitarian aid group has estimated, either buried in rubble or mass graves or disappeared into Israeli prisons.  In a report released Thursday, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said that the estimate is based on initial reports and that the actual number of people missing is likely even higher."
 

As for the area itself?  Isabele Debre (AP) reveals, "Israel’s military offensive has turned much of northern Gaza into an uninhabitable moonscape. Whole neighborhoods have been erased. Homes, schools and hospitals have been blasted by airstrikes and scorched by tank fire. Some buildings are still standing, but most are battered shells."  Kieron Monks (I NEWS) reports, "More than 40 per cent of the buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to a new study of satellite imagery by US researchers Jamon Van Den Hoek from Oregon State University and Corey Scher at the City University of New York. The UN gave a figure of 45 per cent of housing destroyed or damaged across the strip in less than six weeks. The rate of destruction is among the highest of any conflict since the Second World War."


The following sites updated:


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