When Saddam Hussein massacred George Bush in his last mid-term elections nobody was surprised due to the fact that the GOP-Bush-Cheney melange had sold the ideals of America's Founding Fathers down the river, making the USA synonymous with torture, war crimes and mass murder. President Obama therefore deserves no such humiliation; Americans have the duty to stand behind a President who wants to build bridges.

The media circus has got bored with Pakistan's floods and has moved on. Today's breaking news is allegations about Wayne Rooney's lurid private life, strikes in France and the New Zealand Earthquake which fortunately did not leave any fatalities. Not so Pakistan, where 17 million people have been affected by serious flooding which has covered one fifth of the country.

Floods and the media circus are incompatible because the attention span of the public spotlight is six days. Impact: Breaking News! Music with a strong drumbeat, red images flashing on the screen, huge pictures placed on the left-hand side of the page to appeal to the right eye (emotional processing), catchy headlines on the right to appeal to the left eye (information processing). Top Story with ever-worsening images feeding the wow! factor among viewers/readers and then as people start to get restless, the attention turns to the western international aid agencies (carefully selected, no mention of Russian aid of course) and then the ahhh! factor, as a smiling child grips the hand of a blonde blue-eyed European or American "who is just doing his/her little bit to help". Brings tears to the eyes...

Carefully positioned in the background, USAID packages along with piles of rice bags, the stars n' stripes printed and displayed so brazenly on top.

As the yawns start to appear among the bloated viewers lying around on comfortable sofas, these are picked up by the machines which tell the programming directors that people are zapping over to watch Barney belching at Moe's in the Simpsons and the media circus moves on to some prostitute in a hotel. Spanking Sarah stories until another disaster can be uncovered.

Two weeks later, ask someone in the street about the situation in Pakistan, and (s)he will say the floods are over, the aid moved in, the waters have receded and it's back to normal (sniff). Sorry, I have a train to catch, have to take the hamster to the vet.

And meanwhile the funding stops and millions of people are left to face the consequences of this callous disregard for human life funded by wow! and ah! factor reporting in the controlled media.

The UN reports that conditions in the camps for displaced persons are "desperate" and far from being over, the crisis is worsening in Balochistan (South West Pakistan), where two million people have been seriously affected by waterborne diseases, scant food supplies and lack of shelter. UNHCR representative to Pakistan Mengesha Kebede stated at a news conference in Islamabad yesterday that Balochistan is facing a "humanitarian tragedy" and that if activities are not scaled up "we are heading for a major humanitarian disaster there".

"To be honest I had never seen a situation as devastating as I saw in Balochistan"

These are the words of the experienced UNHCR representative Kebede, who has worked in emergency humanitarian situations around the globe. 80 per cent of those forced from their villages have not returned and those who have, did so to protect their possessions; thousands of families live on the streets in southern Sindh province, with no water or sanitation

"Urgent donor support is vital for the agency to accelerate its deliveries of special food for infants and young children, as well as to airlift supplies to hard-to-reach areas" (Source: UNO).

With the needs of the victims outpacing the capacity of the aid agencies, what is the reaction of the international community? It is to provide a pitiful 63 per cent of the funding (291 million of the 460 million USD needed) and the media to be more interested in the private life of some soccer player than the millions of children at risk of starving to death in Pakistan.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY

PRAVDA.Ru

The latest UN report on Latin America and the Caribbean forecasts that exports from this region are set to skyrocket in 2010, up 21.4 per cent, due to the regularization of demand from the USA and an increase in orders from Asia. But not only for these reasons.

The latest UN report on Latin America and the Caribbean forecasts that exports from this region are set to skyrocket in 2010, up 21.4 per cent, due to the regularization of demand from the USA and an increase in orders from Asia. The PR China was the main destination for the exports, responsible for an increase of 44.8 per cent in 2010, after a decrease of 2.2% in the previous twelve months.

The study, produced by the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) "Latin America and the Caribbean in the World Economy 2009-2010: A crisis generated in the centre and a recovery driven by the emerging economies" declares that exports from Latin America and Caribbean countries are showing a dramatic upturn in 2010, being forecast to rise 21.4 per cent after a decline of 22.6 per cent in 2009.

The report indicates also that there are variations within the region under study: ECLAC forecasts an increase of 29.5 per cent for the Andean Community (Bolivia, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru) Chile is expected to see a jump of 32.6 per cent and 23.4 per cent is forecast for exports from Mercosur countries (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay), whereas the rise expected in Mexico is 16 per cent and in the Central American Common Market (El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua) is far lower, at 10.8 per cent. For Panama, the figure is 10.1 per cent.

As for the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) a marked increase in exports is expected for 2010 (23.7%) after a fall of 43.6 per cent in 2009.

The reasons for this disparity in results, according to the report, are that there was greater demand for natural resources than for basic commodities and those engaging in exporting products from the mining, agricultural and livestock sectors had far better performances than those relying on remittances from emigrants or revenues from tourism. The raw materials exported from South America therefore had a greater impact than the manufactured products and services from Central America. Raw materials represented 26.7 per cent of exports from the region in 1999, a figure which had jumped to 38.8 per cent ten years later.

The result of this shift was translated in a corresponding decrease in the importance of Mexico in the region's exports, falling from 40 per cent in 2000 to 30 per cent in 2009. Brazil, on the other hand, increased from 13 per cent to 20 per cent. However, the increase in the exports of raw materials does not in itself justify the growth.

Another factor driving the improvement in exports was the greater penetration of marketing strategies in the international marketplace coupled with the increased insertion of the region in the international economy.

"Export diversification, a strong boost to competitiveness and innovation and a greater regional cooperation should enable Latin America and the Caribbean to improve the quality of its insertion in the global economy, closing productivity gaps and taking advantage of global trade opportunities to grow with equality", said Cepal's Secretary General Alicia Bárcena in the presentation of the report in Chile.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY

PRAVDA.Ru

Who would dream of an attacking lozenge composed by Ibrahimovic, Alexandre Pato, Ronaldinho Gaúcho and Robinho? AC Milan. And they have it. The departure of Robinho from Manchester City FC is yet another tale of Brazilian stars not fulfilling their potential in the English Premier League, specially at City...Elano was another.

Robinho's record-breaking transfer to Manchester City in 2008 brought high hopes, dashed by under-performance after an astonishing start. After his 32.5 million-pound move, he scored 12 goals in 19 games, went on to score 4 more in 29 games then lost form after injury and was sent back to Brazil on loan to Santos, where he won the Paulista Championship and the Brazilian Cup. His 4-year signing by AC Milan brings him a substantial reduction in salary, but hopes of a resurgent career in Europe.

The worst weather on record coupled with the practice of speculation in the commodities markets are set to send food prices skyrocketing, bringing misery and starvation to large swathes of the world's population. Are we set to see food riots this winter?

In the USA, Walmart has already announced a price hike of 5.8% on average for a 31-item basic basket for this Autumn. The long-term rise, however, is far more frightening, with the UNO predicting an increase of 60 per cent by 2030.

What is happening?

When there is a massive price spike, such as the case in recent years, followed by more price rises (as is the case today) the markets panic and speculative buying sends the prices through the roof. The market economy system is indeed not all about supply and demand but is also, and fundamentally, fuelled by speculative trading, with spot buyers buying future positions of commodities. When they are scarce, and the more so when the market senses that a scarcity exists, the price goes up.

This is what is happening today. September corn is up by 3.6% a bushel, wheat by 34 cents. In July the price of wheat shot up by the highest quantity in the last 50 years: 42 per cent. This in turn will push up prices of pasta, bread and cereals in the near future.

Prices set to rise for 12 to 18 months

Analysts predict upward trends in wheat, corn, soybeans, bean oil and bean meal and the general feeling is a continued rising trend over the next 12 to 18 months. As usual, no mechanisms have been activated to protect the world's poorer populations from the dramatic effects of supply issues and the resulting speculation in prices.

Global production downturn

Russia reports a drop in production of around 20 per cent due to dry weather conditions. Drought has also affected Ukraine (where maximum production is set to reach just 66% of domestic demand) and Kazakhstan, while floods have affected 13 million acres of cereals in Canada and have wiped out a large part of China's harvest. Germany's wheat production is ten to twenty per cent down on 2009; in Argentina dry conditions mean that only 80% of the arable land for cereals has been planted.

The S word: Speculation

In today's market economy system, what drives the prices is not only supply and demand but also the S word: Speculation, where a handful of players push prices sky high and way beyond the reaches of the pockets of the average consumer. If the system were based upon supply and demand then the price of soybean would be bearish (top-down attack, falling), because the main producers (Brazil, Argentina and the USA), have had a good harvest.  Then why is the price of soybean bullish (bottom-up attack, rising)?

Because cash premiums are forcing the soybean futures rates higher as a process of over-consumption of soybean is noticed in the marketplace (soybean is present these days in most foodstuffs and other consumable items). So much so, that the price of soybean would have to rise a further 50 to 80% to curb the current demand.

And it makes sense for this to happen...and that is going to affect the price of everything we eat.

Couple this with the rising cost of transportation (crude and natural gas prices are set to rise from September) and we see our comfortable little monetarist-oriented market economy system has engendered another fine crisis looming on the horizon. Watch this space.

Vast swathes of the planet are set to go hungry. Those who were previously hungry may starve. It is the Doomsday Scenario and it is upon us. And it is caused not by the lack of supply or scarcity of abundance. It is caused by this manic, inhumane system, the S-word, Speculation.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY

PRAVDA.Ru

The body of premature baby Jamie Ogg, weighing just two pounds, was handed to his mother to hold with the words "He didn't make it, sorry". Yet Kate Ogg took Jamie from the blanket and held him next to her skin, talked to him, gave him some milk from her breast...and he held her finger.

It's called "Kangaroo Care", a mother cuddling a newborn baby in close skin-to-skin contact, bonding mother and baby as the child gets used to the scent and taste of the parent. In this case, however, in a hospital in Sydney, Australia, the baby was delivered to the mother with the words "We've lost Jamie, he didn't make it, sorry".

Kate Ogg told Channel 7's Today Tonight Program that her twin babies, a girl and a boy, were delivered prematurely at just 27 weeks, weighing two pounds each. After the delivery, the doctors took the babies away and declared that the girl, Emily, was fine but informed the parents that after fighting to save his life for twenty minutes, he had stopped breathing. Asking Kate and her husband David if they had a name for the boy, she said "Yes, Jamie" and gave her the baby to hold.

"I unwrapped Jamie from his blanket, he was very limp. I took my gown off and arranged him on my chest with his head over my arm and just held him," Kate Ogg told Channel 7. "We just started talking to him, we told him what his name was and that he had a sister, we told him the things we wanted to do with him throughout his life".

The occasional gasps for air were written off by the doctors as "a reflex action", but the gasps became more and more frequent. It was then, two hours later, that Mrs. Ogg decided to place a little of her breast milk on her finger and introduce it into Jamie's mouth. "He took it and started regular breathing, normally. A short time later, he opened his eyes. He held out his hand and grabbed my finger. He opened his eyes and moved his head from side to side".

David Ogg told the same program "Luckily, I have got a very strong, very smart wife. She instinctively did what she did. If she hadn't done that, Jamie probably wouldn't be here".

This story brings to light the question of how many babies have been cast aside after doctors gave up on them, when if they had been handed to their mothers immediately after birth, the skin-to-skin contact could have stimulated vital functions.

It is also a poem to those without hope. The world is indeed a beautiful place. Little Jamie is now a very happy and healthy five-month-old boy at home with his parents and his sister. God Bless him and his family.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY

PRAVDA.Ru

The worst nightmare forecast by economic specialists over the previous years has come true: new research by economic gurus in the United States of America has revealed a bleak scenario: the United States' economy is in a state of depression. Yes, it is the Double Dip, a roller-coaster ride to economic catastrophe and it has arrived. To come: massive debt default, the failure of entire nations and widespread starvation in the western world.

The research referring to the works of a number of leading economists (David Rosenberg, Fred Harrison, Arthur Laffer, Nobel Prizewinner Paul Krugman, Robin Griffiths) is revealed in the article by US based analyst and writer, Terrence Aym*. And it makes terrifying reading.

Recent research has pointed towards the existence of a growing number of bacteria which become resistant to drugs, rendering the patient infected with these germs virtually untreatable, because with the current aitibiotics ineffective, there are no alrernative options for therapy.

The alert by the UNO's World Health Organization was issued early this week after research was published in the medical journal The Lancet earlier in the month, identifying a new gene that enables several types of bacteria to become multiresistant, making almost all antibiotics ineffective.

In response, the WHO issued the following statement: "Some bacteria have developed mechanisms which render them resistant to many of the antibiotics normally used for their treatment, so pose particular difficulties, as there may be few or no alternative options for therapy" and urged Governments to implement infection control procedures.

Of crucial importance is that all players in the healthcare structures should be aware of the problem, including "consumers, prescribers and dispensers, veterinarians, hospitals managers and diagnostic laboratories, patients and visitors to health-care facilities, as well as national governments, the pharmaceutical industry, professional societies, and international agencies".

For the World Health Organization, the latest revelation requires "monitoring and further study to understand the extent and modes of transmission, and to define the most effective measures for control".

The four main areas of action targeted by the Who are:

1.      Surveillance for antimicrobial resistance;

2.      Rational antibiotic use, including education of health-care workers and the public in the appropriate use of antibiotics;

3.      Introducing or enforcing laws related to the selling of antibiotics without prescription;

4.      Adherence to infection prevention and control measures, including the use of hand-washing measures, particularly in health-care facilities.

Source: UNO

Timofei BELOV

PRAVDA.Ru

2010 is the UN International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures. As the year draws to a close with Christmas only four months away, what better way to honour and respect this most noble of intentions than by revisiting history, understanding it, accepting the bad along with the good, and moving on as we form a multi-cultural and multi-racial world?

And how wonderful this would be if Mankind could make a start in the Middle East, a tangible new beginning, signed and sealed in the talks beginning in September. Perhaps this time around the international community should give all those involved some breathing space (and this is not "Israelis" and "Palestinians" but rather, multiple factions within both, making a myriad of extremely complex vectors virtually unfathomable to those who reside outside the area).

After all it is for the Palestinians to decide whether they bring to the table the human rights abuses committed by Israeli forces on a daily basis, the bulldozing and forced evacuation of Bedouin camps inside Israel, the theft of lands, the construction of colonies...these stories make the international news sporadically. Attacks by the militant wing of the democratically elected force Hamas make the news whenever they happen. Are the actions of one side more terrorist in nature than the other? However, the many Israeli groups working for equal rights for Palestinians do not make the news at all, neither do the noble actions of Progressive Jews who consider Zionism a blasphemy and nothing less than treason.

In fact, every time that Mankind collectively starts interfering in cultures and areas where he does not belong, the result is disaster. In recent times, foreign elements stirring up inter-ethnic hatred in the Caucasus, the international community getting it fundamentally wrong in the Balkans, two patchworks of cultural and ethnic and religious melting pots of creeds and histories and peoples, created exponential problems which resulted in the latter case in the anomaly called Kosovo.

Kosovo is Serbia. Kosovo has always been Serbia. Kosovo will always be Serbia and just because a handful of spineless sycophantic states willing to score points with Washington do not have the courage to stand up for international law, it does not mean that this does not exist.

Going back in time, we encounter horrific episodes of interference and domination by one group of humans over another. Within the collective conscience of Mankind remains the horrific, degrading and shocking period of the Holocaust against Jews, Poles, Serbs and other Yugoslavs, Eastern Slavs, POWs, Soviets, Romani, homosexuals, left-wing politicians, freemasons, the disabled and Jehovah's Witnesses. This incomprehensible outpouring of hatred, walking hand-in-hand with notions of ethnic supremacy or special rights for one group over another, was and is as unacceptable in Treblinka, Dachau, Belsen or Auschwitz as it is in Gaza, Jerusalem, the West Bank or the Negev Desert.

Going back further, we have other sickening episodes, witness to the ease with which the human spirit can be touched by the hand of Satan and at a stroke descend into depravity. Slavery, a Holocaust not of 25 million human beings but a total of some 70 million lives lost or affected; families torn apart, human beings sold like cattle, whipped, tortured, branded, beaten, sexually abused, destroyed physically and psychologically.

And a synonym with the chapter of human interference is Imperialism, where European nations went globe-trotting, siphoning off resources, drawing straight lines on maps (this is ours and that is yours), interfering in and destroying entire cultures, only today to bar the people from the countries they colonised from those of the colonial powers - the epitome of hypocrisy.

And however far we go back in time, in the equation which constitutes the human being, depravity, cruelty and disrespect for others are constant factors, hangovers from the wilderness times of the law of the jungle, survival of the fittest.

Yet we are not cockroaches and therefore should not behave like them. And here, we address the main theme approached at the beginning of this article: the basic question is, for how much longer are we (collectively) going to engender hatred, intolerance and contempt? While the results of those who launch libellous allegations through hate groups on the Internet (accepted by search engines) are in general terms restricted to the screen, other more sinister movements make a real difference to people's lives.

Bullets and mines kill and maim.

So, would it not make more sense for those of us in a position of symbolic power, whether in government or in the media or as leaders of business corporations, to do something tangible and not sit back and watch further generations grow up in a climate of hatred? After all, while the world belongs to nobody, everybody has the right to her/his space and to a life of dignity.

And this means respect for all by all, remembering that tears taste of salt, whoever sheds them, remembering at all human beings are born naked and die lying down on some planks of wood; what we do here makes the difference. And doing nothing is no longer an option.

Mr. Abbas, Mr. Netanyahu...the ball is in your court. The world is your spectator.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY

PRAVDA.Ru

Silly title? Perhaps. But hey! This is the silly season, one in which Paul the Octopus has engendered more soundbites in the international press than Tony Blair. After predicting the results of eight World Cup matches, Paul now says that the winner of the 2018 FIFA World Cup bid is...England.

Paul the Psychic Octopus belongs to that Summer Fayre of fantasy stories in the international press. When news does not exist, invent it. Politicians are discreetly on holiday, so discreetly in some cases that neither their wives nor their children know where they are, Government melts into a summer lethargy of beaches and buggies and journalists need something to write about.

The "Pike that bit three legs off an Alsation" in some village pond was Top of the Plops in the UK a few Summers ago, yet unfortunately turned out to be a pile of claptrap, the "Surrey Puma" story lasted for three decades in silly summer seasons in the rural area south of London and in 2010 there was the story of the fox that entered a house, savaged two babies and ran out again. No, really.

And since the World Cup, in the absence of wow! stories coming from France (on strike) Italy (no umph) and England (no brains) on the pitch in South Africa, came the story of Paul the Psychic Octopus, wowed in England today because he (no, seriously) predicted that England would land the World Cup bid for 2018, against Russia, Portugal/Spain, Netherlands/Belgium, Australia and the USA.

Paul the Psychic Octopus was born in an aquarium in Weymouth, western England two years ago and has already been elevated to the status of guru alongside David "We done the job" Beckham, Lewis Hamilton, Sting and Noel Gallagher.

Can the hype help?

There is no doubt that Paul the Psychic Octopus already has a certain X factor about him...it?...but let us speak seriously. After all this is FIFA 2018. Isn't London getting the Olympics of 2012? And didn't London get the UEFA 1996? With the next FIFA and Olympics after 2010 going to America (Brazil) it would make more sense to have a European venue for the FIFA 2018.

Netherlands/Belgium (UEFA 2000), Portugal (UEFA 2004) and Spain (1992 Olympics, FIFA 1992) have already hosted major soccer events.

The FIFA delegation headed for Paul the Psychic Octopus' England after an official and "friendly" visit to Russia according to the local press in Moscow.

Surely however, the one who decided will be the FIFA delegation on December 2, not some slimy eight-legged monster sliding around a murky aquarium somewhere in...Germany.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY

PRAVDA.Ru

The people of Pakistan have been left to rot by the international community. The scale of the flood disaster has either been wholly misunderstood or else there are forces at play which wish to take advantage of a destabilized Pakistan; the pitifully weak response by the international community moves this country and the region nearer to the abyss of chaos.

This week UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the UN General Assembly "Make no mistake: this is a global disaster, a global challenge. It is one of the greatest tests of global solidarity in our times".

Putting the catastrophe into context

Putting the August floods catastrophe into scale, Ban Ki-moon called the situation a "slow-motion tsunami" as the flood waters sweep out of the area affected down to the south, affecting an area as large as Italy or England and between 15 to 20 million people - more than the Indian ocean tsunami, the Kashmir and Haiti earthquakes combined. 160,000 square kilometres of land are flooded - an area larger than half the countries in the international community. Six million people are in need of emergency assistance as a result of the floods.

Thursday is the UN World Humanitarian Day, in which the United Nations remembers the heroic efforts of those who risk their lives, and sometimes pay the ultimate price, in the most devastated and dangerous corners of the globe to bring assistance, hope and a life to the victims. A noble precept...but are opposing forces not at play here?

Now the wildfires have been tamed in Russia's vast hinterland and for the first time in weeks the thermometer in Moscow has dropped down to a comfortable cooler 23C, experts are beginning to realise quite how devastating this Summer has been for Russia's wildlife. Among the victims hardest hit are Russia's 30 species of bats.

The United Nations Environment Program conservation project EUROBATS has discovered that 40,000 of the million hectares of forests destroyed in the fires were important breeding grounds for many of Russia's thirty different species of bats.

It's Summer time! So we should be eating lots of fresh tomatoes, tuna salads, fresh vegetables, leafy spinach salads peppered with handfuls of bean sprouts and finish the meal with a healthy plate of fresh berries, right? Wrong! Read on...

A test was conducted on foodstuffs in a kitchen after an outbreak of salmonella food poisoning which left dozens of people ill. Was it the seafood, the eggs, the fish, the meat or the salad? It was the salad. Studies reveal that what people perceive as the "healthiest" foods may in fact be the most dangerous.

Everydayhealth.com has compiled a list of the top ten rogue foods responsible for food poisoning. Top of the list of the study conducted by the Center for Science in the Public Interest and published in everydayhealth.com* is leafy green vegetables such as lettuce and spinach. According to the FDA reports on cases of food poisoning from 1990 to 2006, this was the main source associated to 363 outbreaks and 30 per cent of all foodborne illnesses.

The reason: blood from meat dripping into the vegetable bin and contamination with meats washed in the same sink - or salads prepared last on chopping boards after the seafood, meat and fish have been prepared. Plus, green leaves are often eaten unwashed.

Second, predictably, are eggs (352 outbreaks), where salmonella is the main culprit. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for every one case of salmonella reported, 38 cases are not. Experts say that a simple test, placing an uncooked egg in water and throwing it away if it floats, can avoid most cases of infection, as can cooking the egg until the yolk is hard.

Number three - fish; namely, tuna salad (268 outbreaks). Scombrotoxin, resistant even to cooking, can build up if the fish is not refrigerated properly after being caught; tuna is followed  by oysters (132), which being eaten raw pose more of a risk, mainly through two sources of infection: norovirus or vibrio.

At number five comes potatoes (108), not from the tuber itself but due to cross contamination in potato salads (mayonnaise). Responsible for 83 outbreaks, cheese is number six on the list, mainly through unpasteurized cheeses such as feta, camembert and brie (more likely to be infected with Listeria, according to the report) which is the reason why pregnant women are advised to avoid soft cheeses, due to the fact that they are twenty times more like to succumb to this illness.

Number seven: ice cream (75 outbreaks). Salmonella and staphylococcus bacteria are the main causes of infections - in 1994 thousands of people across 41 states became ill with salmonella from a batch of ice cream.

Places eight, nine and ten in the list are surprisingly occupied by tomatoes (salmonella, getting into the druit through its root system or norovirus entering through damaged skin); bean sprouts (e.coli and salmonella flourish in the warm and moist environments in which they grow) and finally, berries (Hepatitis A virus, Cyclospora parasite infection).

Food safety experts recommend the 5 Cs: clean, cook, combat cross contamination, chill...and fundamentally, use your common sense.

*

http://www.everydayhealth.com/diet-nutrition-pictures/top-ten-food-contamination-culprits.aspx

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY

PRAVDA.Ru

A recent study shows that in the United States of America, the number of girls reaching puberty by the age of seven has doubled in the last decade. Scientists are still investigating the reasons, but early conclusions point towards obesity and the ingestion of chemicals which mimic the female hormone, oestrogen.

Gone are the days when an elderly lady could take a leisurely stroll on a Summer evening, take a bus ride to the nearest city and come back at dusk or go to visit a grandchild by train. Forty years ago, such activities were a normal part of life. Today in 2010, they can be a death sentence.

This article does not refer to any particular country, city, town, village of community but is composed based on reports from communities across the USA, Europe, Latin America and even certain cities in Asia. Wherever they are, it is supposed that readers will feel, how true it is and what is happening to our society?

The buzz-words of the moment are Naomi Campbell and blood diamonds, Cristiano Ronaldo and his troupe of girlfriends and the (sickeningly close) new soccer season. However, where is the story about the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Niger? (Where?) where 670,000 children are at risk of starving to death and eight million people need emergency food assistance?

Dozens of mysterious deaths in the Venezuelan rainforest among indigenous peoples caused two University of California researchers to investigate. Dementia, fever, extreme hydrophobia... the results of their investigation are horrifying: man-attacks by vampire bats infected with rabies.

Thank You, Comandante!

Today Fidel Castro can enjoy his 84th birthday, having recovered totally from the poor health which forced him to step down as President of the Council of State in 2006. More than wishing him a Happy Birthday, it is the right occasion to say Thank You, Comandante as the free world celebrates alongside its hero, hopefully for many more years to come.

Place "Fidel" in any search engine - one word - and see the result. For some reason it must be. And for some reason, today August 13, not only Fidel Castro, but millions of people around the world celebrate the birth of this intercontinental hero.

Fidel Castro Ruz inherited a poor country with a largely illiterate population, 600,000 people were endemically unemployed, 500,000 farmers lived in makeshift huts, most of the rural population had work on the plantations for four months of the year.

Two per cent of the population had access to running water, 43% were illiterate and 14% suffered from tuberculosis.

After Fidel Castro took power in January 1959, a road-building program was started,  medicine prices were cut and the casinos were turned into schools as a massive education program was undertaken, taking Cuba to the status of leader among American and Caribbean countries in educational standards.

The Agrarian Reform laws redistributed land, women were liberated by the Federation of Cuban Women, which launched programs to bring women into the workplace, and in 1975, for the first time in the country's history, the Family Code stipulated that men and women were equal before the law.

An excellent healthcare system was built; Cuba has the second-best doctor to patient ratio in the world (1:170), Cuban hospitals provide world class service in a number of areas of medicine to growing numbers of foreign nationals. In sports, with limited resources and despite the USA's inhuman and inhumane blockade, Cuba ranked ninth in the world at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

However, Fidel Castro did not restrict his ideas and ideals to Cuba, but internationalised his Revolution, bringing freedom and affordable public services to millions of people around the globe.

Tens of thousands of Cuban medical aid workers provide services in over 70 countries in America, Africa, Oceania and Asia; Fidel and Cuba have championed the causes of HIV/AIDS awareness, gay rights, anti-imperialism, the end to world hunger, reforestation and sustainable green development, among others and Fidel was one of the first world leaders to call for a cancellation of Third World Debt.

Cuba's Escuela Latino Americana de Medicina in Havana is attended by 9.000 students from around the world who train - for free- to be the doctors and nurses of tomorrow. Education, development and healthcare programmes have been exported to scores of developing countries, with costs supported by Cuba, despite the blockade, for decades, since the internationalisation program in 1963.

Cuban troops fought alongside their African brothers in the independence movements in numerous African states, such as Namibia (where Fidel is considered a national hero), Angola, Tanzania and Sierra Leone, bringing freedom to millions of oppressed people.

Among the many awards Fidel Castro has earned are numerous Honoris Causa doctorates proffered by European and Latin American Universities, the World Health Organization's Health for All Award in 1998, the Lenin Peace Prize in 1961 and the Russian Writers' Union Mikhail Sholokhov Prize in 1995.

Fidel Castro Ruz resigned formally and definitively in 2008, stating he did not have the health or physical mobility which his position required, stepping upstairs into the position of senior statesman, writing his weekly column, advising not only his Government as General Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party but by keeping abreast of international events, also informing the international community of what is going on behind the scenes at this dangerous moment in world history. A founder and champion of Intervention Journalism, Fidel is as lethal with the pen as he was with the AK-47. Today he calls for peace, bridge-building, debate and dialogue, the fundamental precepts of democracy.

For all of this, we say not only Happy Birthday, Comandante, but also Thank You, as we celebrate with you, with the good news that your health has improved. It is not surprising that the international press does not mention one single Cuban development program or one single success in social and economic development. Those who control the information stand outside the party and remain outside the embrace of the collective goodwill of humanity, today centred very much around the figure of Fidel Castro Ruz on his 84th birthday.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY

PRAVDA.Ru

With the beginning of Ramadan, the Ninth Month of the Islamic Calendar, come hot debates, as to whether Moslems should be allowed to slit the throats of sheep in public, to make the call to prayer (Adhan) in non-Moslem communities, to build a Mosque near Ground Zero.

Religion provides an excellent banner for an "us and them" conflict, where the higher the value of the "them", the greater the justification of "us". While sport, and particularly soccer, constitute an easy-to-grasp graphic opportunity to associate with one side or the other on a primary level (the colours of many soccer teams are the primary red, blue or green), religion, being supra-human, is that much more powerful a vehicle to define who we are, how we behave and what we believe.

There is a reason for everything - the reference to religion or health after the sneeze (it was the first sign of Bubonic Plague), the covering of the mouth during the yawn (so that the soul does not escape and the Devil does not enter), the superstition surrounding Friday 13 (Jesus was crucified on a Friday and there were 13 people at the Last Supper).

And there is a reason for religion, namely to temper the human spirit of ambition, so necessary for our survival; the notion was created that there is something superior to us, so whoever you are and however high you might be, there is something even greater and your end will be the same as the beggar on the street.

Note the words "our" and "us" because if within religions rules are drawn for behaviour within a certain society (this is what we do and we meet regularly to stress the point) then on a planetary scale we are all equal before God, or before Mother Nature.

This message does not go down very well with those who wish to perpetuate conflict by abusing religion, whether it be Islamist blasphemers who warp the noble precepts of the Koran, Jewish Zealots who are criticised in the Talmud, or Christian Crusaders civilizing the world with the Bible and the Bullet (against every single norm in the New Testament) - or crying out against the construction of the Mosque near 9/11.

And the fuel for the fires of these bigots is ignorance, which leads us to the premise that education and religion must go hand in hand, that development and not deployment are the key words involved in crisis management and to the premise that the mix of ignorance and religion is as lethal as it is manipulative, as dangerous as it may be appealing, for some.

Therefore with the start of Ramadan, it is important that people understand its finer cultural and social aspects. Ramadan is basically a concentration upon God, a month of fasting between dawn and dusk, a month of prayer and introspection, and a month of charity. It is a month of giving. It was the month in which the first verses of the Koran were revealed to the Prophet Mohammed.

Charity and Peace are fundamental aspects of the Islamic faith. Abuse of religious texts and bad journalism create sweeping nonsensical beliefs that Islamic is the same as Islamist (extremists) while the reality is that the supposed perpetrators of 9/11 were the antithesis of the religion they were supposed to have defended. In religions terms, 9/11 does not make sense.

And here we reach the crux of the matter: obviously, religions should be a convergence of cultures and not a clash of creeds. And that is why, along with education, common sense comes into the equation.

The words of President Barack Obama regarding the issue surrounding the construction of a Mosque near Ground Zero sum up the way in which the civilized and educated world should think: "This is America and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable"

However, discipline and doctrine can create flash points, and these are the chink in the armour so easy to exploit by those who foster their own position through the manipulation of religion. How provocative is it, or how provocative should it be, for a woman to wear a burqah in public, in Afghanistan, in Tel Aviv, in Paris? Or for a muezzin to call out the Adhan, loudly, at first light, in Riyadh, in Tanger, in Madrid? Or for the right to perform the Thabiha (ritual slaughter of an animal) on a lamb in Damascus, or Detroit, or Moscow? Or indeed how provocative is it for that infernal din of the church bells on a Sunday morning to wake those Saturday night revellers...in London, in Tirana or in Cairo?

"Yo soy yo y mi circunstancia" (I am myself and what surrounds me) said Ortega y Gasset. I believe that by leaving it here, the words of this Spanish philosopher and writer have said it all.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY

PRAVDA.Ru