Hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan have resulted in rockets fired at civilian targets and deaths among the fighters. Saturday past, a long standing cease fire between the two republics was broken. The two republics were created during the Stalinist era of the USSR. Peaceful coexistence was the rule until the USSR began to crumble. In 1988 a referendum was held in the predominantly Armenian province of Azerbaijan and the area voted to join Armenia. The Azerbaijani government registered its disapproval by sending in troops to the area. A six year war between the two republics ensued. A cease fire signed in 1994 has held until this past week. The hostilities threaten to escalate with both sides blaming the other for breaking the peace. The past violence saw over 30 000 people killed. While the fighting appears to be between two former Soviet republics, there may be more to the situation. Turkey is a vocal supporter of Azerbaijan and, at the same time, refuses to recognize Armenia. Russia is a supporter of Armenia but sells arms to both countries. Both countries share borders with the warring states. Russia supports President Assad in Syria while Turkey supports the rebels. The area is unstable politically and often peace is enforced with gunfire. Mid March saw five Bangladeshi and Azeri men shot to death as they tried to cross illegally from Iran. Two more were taken into custody. The area is often transited by smugglers of illicit drugs. Adding to the tensions between the countries is the occupation of a large part of Azerbaijan by Armenian troops. The tenuous cease fire of more than twenty years was meant to be temporary with interested countries helping to find a peaceful solution. Sources: AlJazeera Alarabiya
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Canada’s two western provinces are experiencing a revival but not a good one. The Alberta health authorities are concerned that STDs increased by 80% between 2014 and 2015. The two main diseases being spread are gonorrhea and syphilis. Both these diseases are reportable so fairly good statistics can be kept. Cases of gonorrhea are mainly being spread in the heterosexual community. Syphilis is being spread mainly within the male homosexual community with 300 cases reported in 2015. British Columbia hasn’t fared much better. The rate of STDs in this province has the Vancouver Coastal Health people concerned. In particular the concern is with the increase in infective syphilis cases. VCH had nearly 500 cases last year. The largest increase in incidence is in the male, 20 to 24 year old age group. By far the preponderance of cases is in the gay, bisexual or those who have sexual contact with other men. VCH is urging men who fall into those categories to get tested every six months. This disease is spiking in the US as well, mainly among the male, gay communities. Las Vegas recently declared an outbreak in their community. While Syphilis is mainly thought of as a sexually transmitted disease, it can affect the unborn, with serious consequences. WHO estimates that currently, worldwide, about a million pregnant women are infected and they are embarking on a programme to try to eliminate congenital syphilis. The disease is curable with antibiotics. Leaving the infection untreated will result in serious health problems and an early death. It is caused by an organism known as a spirochaete which is corkscrew shaped. Spirochaetes can cause other diseases as well. Bejel, Pinta and Yaws are all spread by contact and attack first the skin and then lead to more serious damages. Other serious infections caused by this class of organism are: leptospirosis, Lyme disease, rat-bite fever and relapsing fever. Sources: CBC News News 11:30 Fox News Opinion: Since the Six Day War 1967, when Israel fought against a coalition of Arab states and defended itself, it has occupied territory in the State of Palestine. It has gradually encroached on the people living there. Settlements have been built on unceded land. In 1980 Israel declared that it ‘owned’ all of Jerusalem in spite of the UN declaration that the move is illegal and null. Many Palestinians have had their farms and villages destroyed as the Israeli state has continued to expand. The occupied territories are the West Bank, and East Jerusalem. While the Gaza Strip is controlled by Israel, it is not actually occupied by the Israeli military. It is estimated that at least half a million Israelis are now living on seized Palestinian land. Crimes against the Palestinians including killing of children, imprisonment of children and killing and imprisonment of civilians for unsubstantiated crimes seem to go unpunished. The horrific murders of a family when someone threw a petrol bomb into their house, killing mother, father, baby and maiming a toddler was just one of many crimes aimed at civilians. So the world could be forgiven if it looked at yet another atrocity by the Israeli state and turned away. An Israeli soldier was filmed stepping toward a man who lay motionless on the pavement, aiming his side arm at the man’s head and shooting. As the blood ran down the street, the soldier was taken away. The dead man, aged 21 joined his companion who had been killed earlier in the day. The soldiers maintain that the two dead were trying to stab them. The prosecutor for the military court initially announced that a murder charge would be brought against the killer, but it has already been downgraded to manslaughter, a much lesser charge. On Wednesday, Christof Heyns, the UN's special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, said: "Whatever legal regime one applies to the case, shooting someone who is no longer a threat is murder." Al Jazeera There is no doubt that some Palestinians have attacked the Israeli military and civilians in the occupied territories. There have been approximately five fatal stabbings. There have been over 100 Palestinians killed who were purportedly trying to stab Israelis. When the state of Israel was created at the end of WW2, those Arabs living there were turned into refugees. They lost their homes and possessions. The Israeli government’s aggressive actions towards the people whose land they occupy(formerly part of Jordan) makes the area a much less safe place. While human rights organization within and without Israel condemn the human rights abuses and the UN censors the actions, the abuses and murders continue. It is a great puzzlement to me why the USA continues to support this terrorist state. Sources: Al Jazeera Wikipedia |
Barbara McPherson
Blogger, gardener, farmer. Working toward food security and a 30 foot
diet. Addicted to reading. Love this planet, especially my little corner
on Vancouver Island, Canada Archives
October 2016
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