Signs Emerge of Major Ukraine Rebel Offensive Looming

Posted on January 23, 2015 by Jim Brennan

The New York Times reports on a potential new development in the conflict in eastern Ukraine:

Signs emerged Friday pointing to a major offensive in eastern Ukraine by rebels fighting to break off from the rest of the country.

A rebel leader said they will continue to fight and won’t join further peace talks — but left unclear whether they would respect this week’s agreement to pull back heavy weapons from the front line.

NATO says it has indications that a major rebel offensive is coming, due to heavy weapons moving in from Russia as they have prior to previous rebel pushes. Meanwhile, the U.N. human rights agency says the overall death toll in the conflict has risen above 5,000 as fighting escalates.

To read more about the changing world and what you can do to prepare, visit: www.greatwavesofchange.org

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Coup Fears Rise in Yemen as Rebels Storm Palace

Posted on January 21, 2015 by Jim Brennan

The New York Times reports on developments in an internal conflict in Yemen:

Houthi rebels have stormed the Presidential Palace in Yemen, which has led many to suspect that a coup has occurred. Image credit: craigbcn on freeimages.com

Houthi rebels have stormed the Presidential Palace in Yemen, which has led many to suspect that a coup has occurred.
Image credit: craigbcn on freeimages.com

Houthi rebel militiamen seized control of the palace of Yemen’s president and clashed with guards outside his residence on Tuesday in an escalation of the violent crisis that has gripped the capital for days, raising fears of a coup in one of the Arab world’s most impoverished and insecure states.

The president, Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, viewed by the United States as a crucial counterterrorism ally, was believed to be in the capital, but his exact whereabouts was unknown. He made no public statements as the fighting escalated, though Houthi leaders insisted that he was safe and in his home.

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The mayhem that has convulsed Yemen, which left at least eight people dead on Monday in Sana, has also left citizens facing a leadership vacuum as the country is seized by crises, including spreading armed conflict and widespread hunger. The turmoil has been increasingly worrisome to American officials because Yemen is the base of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which has asserted responsibility for a number of attacks, most notably the deadly assault on the Charlie Hebdo newspaper in Paris this month.

To read more about the changing world and what you can do to prepare, visit: www.newmessage.org

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Get ready for future crisis in food production in Southeast Asia

Posted on January 18, 2015 by Jim Brennan

This article on the Jakarta Post website discusses the factors threatening food production in Southeast Asia:

Apart from the recent storms and typhoons that have ravaged Southeast Asian agriculture and food production since Cyclone Nargis in 2008, it is hard to envisage the climate extremes that affect Southeast Asia, where 30 percent all world rice is produced.

(Break)

The Southeast Asian region is experiencing an increase in food losses as a result of climate extremes. The Philippines is hit by an average of 20 typhoons a year, while about six to nine typhoons make landfall every year in both the Mekong River Delta and Red River Delta in Vietnam.

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Very recently, at the end of 2014, typhoon Hagupit slammed into the Philippines, causing damage to crops in the Samar provinces. 

In 2013, the devastating Typhoon Haiyan destroyed fish in protected areas, uprooted coconut trees and inundated paddy fields in the Philippines. It is estimated that Haiyan destroyed 170,000 tons of rice ready for harvest. Besides the reduction in food production, the typhoon also caused loss of livelihoods and food stocks. 

The Thailand floods in 2011 caused a total rice loss of about 700,000 ha — equivalent to an at least $500 million loss in revenue. In 2008, Cyclone Nargis caused flooding in 24 percent of Myanmar’s rice-growing area. Anecdote suggests that Cyclone Nargis 2008 killed 50 to 75 percent of livestock in most of the affected regions.

To read more about the changing world and what you can do to prepare, visit: www.greatwavesofchange.org

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Winter Storm Takes Toll on Refugees in Lebanon

Posted on January 16, 2015 by Jim Brennan

The Wall Street Journal reports on the plight facing Syrian refugees living in Lebanon after a winter storm hit the area earlier this month:

Syrian refugees living in Lebanon are struggling to keep themselves warm after a winter storm hit the area in early January. Image credit: ortonesque on freeimages.com.

Syrian refugees living in Lebanon are struggling to keep themselves warm after a winter storm hit the area in early January.
Image credit: ortonesque on freeimages.com.

One of the strongest winter storms in the Middle East in a decade has left hundreds of thousands of refugees—from the streets of Beirut to makeshift tent settlements in the mountainous, rural north—living in inadequate shelter, desperate to find sources of heat.

Storm Zina, as it has been nicknamed in Lebanon, began on Jan. 5, dumping ice and snow on six countries—Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Turkey, Syria and Israel—with temperatures plunging as low as 12 degrees Fahrenheit. The storm began to ease last Friday, but snow continued to fall over Lebanon’s mountains this week.

On Jan. 7, Lebanon’s national news agency reported two deaths during storms that hit the town of Shebaa, in southern Lebanon, including an 8-year-old boy. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees confirmed three deaths from the storm in Lebanon thus far, including the two in Shebaa.

To read more about the changing world and what you can do to prepare, visit: www.greatwavesofchange.org

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Boko Haram’s Insurgency Is Now One Of The Deadliest Conflicts On Earth

Posted on January 14, 2015 by Jim Brennan

Business Insider reports on the deadly insurgency being carried out by militant Islamic group Boko Haram in Nigeria:

Boko Haram’s rampage through the town of Baga and 16 smaller communities near the Nigerian side of Lake Chad has likely killed several hundred people — although it now appears that the early high estimate of 2,000 killed is excessive and has little factual grounding.

Neverthteless, the attack may end up having the largest death toll of any single Boko Haram atrocity.

The massacre in Baga is still typical of the extremist group and fits into an ominous bigger picture. At this point, the insurgency in Northern Nigeria is one of the deadliest conflicts on earth, with over 6,000 people killed in 2014 and nearly 10,500 dead since the beginning of 2011.

To read more about the changing world and what you can do to prepare, visit: www.greatwavesofchange.org

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Bulgaria ‘Unable to Receive More Refugees’ – Deputy PM Kalfin

Posted on January 12, 2015 by Jim Brennan

Novinite reports on comments made by Bulgaria’s deputy Prime Minister on the situation facing his country in regards to refugees:

Bulgaria must state very clearly it has no capacity to accept more refugees, the country’s Deputy PM and Social Policy Minister Ivaylo Kalfin has said.

Kalfin told public broadcaster BNT on Monday that Bulgaria should avoid creating “ghettos” populated by unemployed people with no income, since such people “are prone to committing” radical actions.

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Bulgaria is under pressure to receive thousands or refugees and bearers of humanitarian status who are currently residing in Europe, but have to return to the country that registered them as asylum seekers. There are also daily attempts at crossing the Turkey-Bulgaria border by people from the Middle East and North Africa fleeing their countries and wishing to Enter the EU, with Bulgaria perceived mostly as a stop on their way to Western Europe.

To read more about the changing world and what you can do to prepare, visit: www.greatwavesofchange.org

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Alice Springs and Bendigo flood as South Australia braces for heavy rain

Posted on January 10, 2015 by Jim Brennan

The Guardian reports on events in south Australia as communities there prepare for the heaviest rainfall in decades:

Emergency crews were bracing for a busy weekend, with heavy rain and flooding set to hit South Australia, while Alice Springs and Bendigo were hit by floods.

Up to 200mm is expected to fall by Sunday in parts of South Australia, its heaviest rainfall in 30 years.

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The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe weather warning for heavy rainfall for the Flinders, Riverland, north east pastoral and parts of the mid north districts.

Record rain was expected to fall over Alice Springs putting suburbs at risk of flooding.

To read more about the changing world and what you can do to prepare, visit: www.greatwavesofchange.org

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Libya conflict threatens entire Maghreb

Posted on January 8, 2015 by Jim Brennan

This report by Al-Monitor illustrates the destabilizing threat posed to the Maghreb by the growing presence of extremist groups such as Islamic State in southern Libya:

 

There is growing concern in some quarters about the destabilizing effect that the growing presence of militant Islamic could have on the Maghreb (Islamic North Africa). Image credit: marafet on freeimages.com.

There is growing concern in some quarters about the destabilizing effect that the growing presence of militant Islamic groups in southern Libya could have on the Maghreb (Islamic North Africa).
Image credit: marafet on freeimages.com.

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has constantly warned against the increasing presence of extremist organizations and movements in southern Libya and about the area turning into a safe haven for groups the French army expelled from northern Mali last year. Senior US officials and some military leaders, like Gen. David Rodriguez, the US military commander in Africa, also warned against this “unprecedented” phenomenon. 

Moreover, regional warnings [concerning the movement of groups] have been issued by Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia. Reportedly, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, an [Algerian] jihadist who settled in north Mali before moving to south Libya, executed the Amenas operation in south Algeria [in which an al-Qaeda-linked group affiliated with Belmokhtar took expat hostages at the Tigantourine gas facility in January 2013]. Tunisian authorities believe that there are strong links between Jebel ech Chambi militants and the supporters of the Islamic State (IS) in south Libya. In Egypt, information indicates that terrorist groups in Sinai have received training and weapons in Libya.

Although Le Drian classified this phenomenon as the “most dangerous” because it goes against “the international system and its values,” no one has responded to his call for a quick military intervention in Libya. This includes French President Francois Hollande, who rejected the option for military intervention in Libya in an interview last Monday [Jan. 5]. This means that the “unprecedented phenomenon” is likely to expand and shake the stability of the Maghreb, which has not yet been marred by the “creative and destructive” chaos sweeping the Middle East.

To read more about the changing world and what you can do to prepare, visit: www.greatwavesofchange.org

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India-Pakistan tensions rise after border clashes in Kashmir

Posted on January 6, 2015 by Jim Brennan

The Financial Times reports on renewed tensions between India and Pakistan as a result of violent incidents in recent months along the Indian-Pakistani border in Kashmir:

Tensions flared along the border that separates nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan in disputed Jammu and Kashmir, with five people reportedly killed in shelling and thousands of civilians from both sides forced to flee the area.

India said a member of its paramilitary Border Security Force had been killed in heavy firing and shelling by Pakistani forces on Monday in the Samba district.

Pakistan blamed India for the clashes, saying that four of its civilians, including a woman and a teenage boy, had been killed in “unprovoked” firing since Sunday. Islamabad said its forces had responded “effectively”.

(Break)

The two sides agreed a ceasefire in 2003 but nearly a decade of relative calm ended abruptly in October when 17 people, including Indian and Pakistani civilians, were killed along the border.

To read more about the changing world and what you can do to prepare, visit: www.greatwavesofchange.org

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Cynical Europe, ‘ghost ships’ and the largest refugee crisis since WWII

Posted on January 4, 2015 by Jim Brennan

This report by Deutsche Welle illustrates the situation in Italy in recent months as it faces an influx of refugees fleeing from conflict in the Middle East:

“We are alone, there is no one, help us!”

These were the words used by a Syrian woman in a distress call to the Italian coastguard on January 2, 2015. She, along with 358 other, mostly Syrian, migrants were then rescued by Italian authorities from the 50-year-old Sierra-Leone-registered livestock freight ship Ezadeen, which had been sailing on autopilot without a captain or crew. Among the passengers were pregnant women and eight unaccompanied children. They told authorities that they had boarded the ship in Turkey, where they arrived on a flight from neighboring Lebanon and that the captain and crew had worn hoods to avoid being identified before – presumably – jumping ship.

The Ezadeen was the second dated cargo ship without a captain to be intercepted within a week. The Italian navy rescued Blue Sky M on December 30 after a distress call had been sent out requesting help. That ship had been carrying 768 mostly Syrian refugees and waving a Moldovan flag. The refugees were brought to Gallipoli, in Italy’s southeastern Puglia region.

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The shady, illegal business of people smuggling is booming off the back of conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Eritrea, among others, which have led to a dramatic increase in the number of refugees. A record number of 348,000 people attempted perilous sea crossings in 2014, according to figures released by the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, in mid-December. The majority of those migrants travelled to Europe, with more than 207,000 fleeing across the Mediterranean since the start of last January. (This is about three times the previous high of about 70,000 people attempting this journey during the Libyan civil war in 2011.) And of those people coming to Europe, Italy alone rescued 150,000 of them from sea in 2014.

“The refugee drama is a tragedy. And what you read in the news is only the tip of the eisberg. We estimate internally that between 400 and 500 refugees are rescued by cargo ships every day,” Günther explained, adding that this had been going on for the past eight to ten months. “We have seen pictures from other shipping companies from when these boats capsize and all of a sudden you have 300 people in the water.

“And don’t think for a minute that all of them can be saved.”

To read more about the changing world and what you can do to prepare, visit: www.greatwavesofchange.org

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