The Invisibles
Sometimes when I want a problem to go away I'll wait and do nothing, just in case it solves itself.
He's Still President?
As has often been his forte, Greenwald's readers are reminded how the need for balance is not always about reporting an objective reality:
Goma
Right now, East Central Africa is on the radar of the international news media. Not that anything erupted out of the blue. But in a region that hovered around steadily shitty, some of the scariest rebel fighters (many are the lingering refugees responsible for the genocide in Rwanda, who remember they have no reason to fear UN Peacekeepers) have 17,000 Peacekeepers to look out for in the Democratic Republic of Congo (a real joke of a name)- which is nothing when they are stretched throughout the 905,000+ square miles this massive state envelops. So, five million people have died from the conflict that began twenty-two years ago, why do people care all of a sudden about DR Congo?
Do you have a cell phone?
In addition to the exclusive rights to an ore everyone "needs," this mining haven is built on cobalt, copper, gold, molybdenum, and, wait for it, diamonds. Mining allows for an economy that has disappointing oversight in international trade. And it funds the continuation of hellish conditions for anyone stuck surviving nearby.
This is heartbreaking. And it has been for some time.
Christian Science Monitor
New York Times
Human Rights Watch
BBC
and more BBC
I can't handle more. Read the links, please.
He's Still President?
As has often been his forte, Greenwald's readers are reminded how the need for balance is not always about reporting an objective reality:
What if the actual facts -- i.e., "reality" -- are consistent with the views of "the hard-core left" and contrary to the views of the "hard-core right"? What if, as has plainly been the case, the conservatives' views are wrong, false, inaccurate?Glenn Greenwald reminds us also, that we still have a president, and he sucks at his job. But he still has the job. For another two months and 18 days. Dubya worked both terms to be invisible, to lead behind locked doors. Rather than learning from Watergate and employing transparency, his administration beat the old coot with better secret-keeping. And now nobody is paying attention. I wonder if he has any idea how bad things really are out here.
Goma
Right now, East Central Africa is on the radar of the international news media. Not that anything erupted out of the blue. But in a region that hovered around steadily shitty, some of the scariest rebel fighters (many are the lingering refugees responsible for the genocide in Rwanda, who remember they have no reason to fear UN Peacekeepers) have 17,000 Peacekeepers to look out for in the Democratic Republic of Congo (a real joke of a name)- which is nothing when they are stretched throughout the 905,000+ square miles this massive state envelops. So, five million people have died from the conflict that began twenty-two years ago, why do people care all of a sudden about DR Congo?
Do you have a cell phone?
In addition to the exclusive rights to an ore everyone "needs," this mining haven is built on cobalt, copper, gold, molybdenum, and, wait for it, diamonds. Mining allows for an economy that has disappointing oversight in international trade. And it funds the continuation of hellish conditions for anyone stuck surviving nearby.
This is heartbreaking. And it has been for some time.
Christian Science Monitor
New York Times
Human Rights Watch
BBC
and more BBC
I can't handle more. Read the links, please.
posted by Sara Haxby at
2:19 PM
