Archive for the ‘International Affairs’ Category

Twitter / @markmackinnon: At press conference at her …

Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012

Twitter / @markmackinnon: At press conference at her .... At press conference at her house, Aung San Suu Kyi was asked where Burma was as a democracy, on scale of 1-10. "On the way to 1," she said.

Solidarity, unions, and the unemployed

Saturday, January 28th, 2012

This to me is the key section from George Lakey's piece in the Indypendent's blog: The Depression hit bottom in 1931. More people were jobless there than in any other Nordic country. Unlike in the U.S., the Norwegian union movement kept the people thrown out of work as members, even though ...

Doctors without Borders make claims of torture in Libya

Saturday, January 28th, 2012

Disturbing news out of Libya, where Medicins Sans Frontiers/Doctors without Borders are claiming that prisoners are being tortured: "Aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres has halted its work in detention centres in a Libyan city because it said its medical staff were being asked to patch up detainees mid-way through torture sessions ...

Reducing US spending? Cut the military budget

Wednesday, October 5th, 2011

From Just Foreign Policy: FCNL has established a toll-free number: 1-877-429-0678. Urge your Rep. and/or Senators to press the Supercommittee to end the wars and cut the military budget. In talking to your Rep., urge support for the Lee-Campbell bipartisan letter to the Super Committee on cutting military spending.

Austin Airwaves seeks support for its Borneo project

Thursday, September 22nd, 2011

Jim Ellinger of Austin Airwaves does great work supporting community radio near and far. Their most recent project involves supporting the establishment of community radio on the island of Borneo. They're looking for donations of equipment and cash. Check here to see if you can help.

Traitors

Wednesday, December 1st, 2010

I've been advocating, privately, the prosecution for treason of David Drumm and other Irish former bankers who are manipulating foreign and domestic bankruptcy proceedings to retain their ill-gotten gains. Having made their fortunes by fuelling a speculative bubble, they then engage in clearly deceptive tactics to avoid their personal responsibilities ...

Communicating in a crisis – what the Irish government did wrong (part 1 of 80-180 billion)

Sunday, November 21st, 2010

When I talk with my students about PR I explain that the first rule of crisis communication is to 'fess up - get out in front of the rumours and claims, admitting the truth (in order that you can have a say in framing that truth). This week the Irish government ...

Lessons from Chile: workers’ rights, safety

Wednesday, October 13th, 2010

Posted on the BBC's live coverage of the miners' rescue effort in Chile: Daniel Owusu-Koranteng, a former Ghanian miner and head of a miners' rights lobby group, tells BBC Focus on Africa that African mining could learn valuable lessons from Chile's experience. "It is a wake up call for all of ...

Definitions matter

Saturday, February 6th, 2010

EUObserver reports on internal EU Commission documents that seek to redefine palm oil plantations - "the source of one of the most destructive forms of biofuels" - as forest that "would not per se constitute a breach" of rules on sustainability. While forests are generally seen as desirable under such ...

War declared! (kind of)

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

Well this could be awkward. (Are we expected to cut off all communications?) The EU is threatening a visa war with Canada, because of its withdrawal of visa waivers from visitors from the Czech Republic. That decision, in turn, had been prompted by a large number of applications for asylum ...