The Impudent Observer - Global Liberal Issues Analyzes issues of liberal concern and gives readers a digest of what is reported in over forty newspapers throughout the world to engage them in critical thinking issues. Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 0 0 58 8751

Articles from The Impudent Observer - Global Liberal Issues

Animals And Plants Are Dying Say Bali Conferees! 2007-12-06 09:17:05 Butterflies have gone extinct in the Alps. Giant squid are migrating north to commercial fishing grounds off California. Flying foxes are dying in Australia. As humans debate global warming at the Bali Conference, its impact on animals and plants has enormous consequences for their survival. Stephen Williams of James Cook University in Australia, noted “I don’t think there is any doubt we will see a lot of (extinctions)….Most of the species here in the west tropic would be reduced to..15% of their current habitat.” It is estimated if temperatures rise by 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit, about 30% of the earth’s species could disappear. The hardest hit according to those attending the Bali conference would be plants and animals in colder climates or at higher elevations as well as those with limited ranges or little tolerance for temperature change. There is scant doubt in the end, virtually all species will be impacted in one way or another. Australia is current ...

Dueling Banjoes-Ahmadinejad Vs Bush 2007-12-06 09:00:39 The war of words between Western nations and Iran continues at full volume. The United States and Great Britain are pushing ahead to tighten international sanctions against Iran although it is clear Russia and China will not be as ready to accept such actions in light of the recent American intelligence report which claimed Iran did not have nuclear weapons nor was it pushing toward such goals. President Bush told a press conference that most nations “understand that the Iranian nuclear issue is a problem” that must be addressed. China believes, according to a spokesperson, “that the Iran nuclear issue will get resolved appropriately through peaceful and diplomatic means.” Meanwhile, back in Iran, President Ahmadinejad is hailing the US Intelligence report as a personal triumph. “This is a declaration of victory for the Iranian nation against the world powers over the nuclear issue…Today is the day of victory for the Iranian nation and thank God a ...

General Petraeus-Violence Has Declined 2007-12-06 08:31:05 General Petraeus cited a 60% decline in violence within Iraq over the past six months which opens new possibilities regarding the length of deployment of American forces. He attributes the reduction in incidents of violent attacks to actions by US military forces as well as the decision by Shiite cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr to impose a cease-fire on the part of his forces. The main uncertainty about roadside bombings according to Petraeus is the difficulty in determining “if that’s because there has already been a cessation of of provisions of those items, or if there has been direction to stop.” General Petrasue emphasized that he was not claiming there was lights at the end of the tunnel and preferred keeping his head down focused on the reality of what is happening today. General Petraeus raises key issues concerning what exactly is happening in Iraq. Are we witnessing the destruction of hostile forces or have terrorists decided to switch tactics. Are they waiting un ...

Pakistan Election Still Unclear Say Musharraf Opponents 2007-12-06 08:20:00 The political opponents of President Musharraf in Pakistan are still debating their course of action — participate in the January election or institute a boycott in protest against the unconstitutional actions by the president. Nawaz Sharif, who recently returned from exile to lead his party, said he had worked out any differences with Benazir Bhutto who heads the Pakistan People’s Party over what to do about participating in the election. He termed the election a “fraud” and charged Musharraf with having “murdered the judiciary” by his dismissal of the Supreme Court. Benazir Bhutto told representatives of Arab and other countries that she was holding open the option of boycotting the election. She told the American representative that creating a democratic Pakistan was the only way to fight “the plague of terrorism.” Bhutto intends to coordinate her electoral actions with her former enemy, Sharif. The European Union is still undecided a ...

US Military Plans Greater Control Over Security Firms 2007-12-05 16:24:21 Under a new agreement between the Pentagon and the State department, the military would have more control over Blackwater and other private security contractors working in Iraq. Under the new accord there will be more stringent supervision over coordinating movement of the civilian security convoys and the reporting and investigation of any incident they’re involved in, as well as they question when they are allowed to use force. US military commanders in the field have been complaining they frequently they do not know security firms are even moving convoys through their areas of operation, and are then shocked to learn of some incident which might impair their working relations with the people of Iraq. The new agreement came about after Defense Secretary Gates and Secretary of State Rice got together to iron out differences. This agreement will assist in ensuring some type of monitoring of the private security firms given their irresponsible behavior in firing quickly and witho ...

South Africans March For Women’s Rights 2007-12-05 16:13:55 Hundreds of men and women including members of the Cabinet of South Africa marched in Pretoria in support of the 16 Days of Activism For No Violence Against Women and Children campaign. They carried signs saying, “50/50 No Compromise No Going Back” which were intended to support government efforts to ensure that Parliament contained greater representation of women. Bafana Khumalo of the Sonke Gender Justice Network expressed the feeling of marchers with the comment: “We are concerned for the ruling party…thee is a worrying trend to the majority of nominees for the party presidency are men. We need capable women in the presidency.” Ms. Geraldine Fraser-Moiekei, a member of the Cabinet noted that “levels of violence are high because of the psyche of our nation. Until women and children are safe from violence, we cannot move forward.” Many speakers expressed hope that in the future the African National Congress will mandate that at least 50% of p ...

Religious Wars Roll On Between Huckabee and Romney 2007-12-05 10:46:25 The religious conflict between presidential candidates Huckabee and Romney heated up as the Arkansas traveler made clear he is a Christian, but he wasn’t quite clear who was or wasn’t a Christian. When asked about whether or not Mormons could be considered to be Christians, he responded: “I’m not going to go off into evaluating other people’s doctrines and faiths.” He also appeared on the resurrected Don Imus show where he again was asked about his religious views: “It’s like saying Baptists are Christians. The ones who follow Jesus Christ are, the one’s who don’t aren’t.” The reference to Baptists who follow or don’t follow Christ is not analogous to questions about the Mormon religion. One can be a Baptist whose interpretation of “following Christ” differs from that of Huckabee, but the question is more fundamental– is the Mormon religion a truly Christian one? Huckabee has dramatically j ...

Russian Ballot Box Stuffing Helps Putin Landslide Victory 2007-12-05 10:30:16 Golos, the only independent election monitoring body in Russia, criticized the State Duma vote as riddled with serious violations that robbed the Putin machine of any sense of legitimacy. Golos stated:”The lack of political competition, the pressure on the voting process, the mass casting of absentee ballots and the unprecedented use of administrative resources… in favor of one party created serious doubts about whether the vote conformed to accepted international standards.” Representatives from Golos visited 20,000 polling stations in 38 regions by 2,500 volunteers. Its hotline received 4,000 calls reporting electoral irregularities. Opposition parties received support from the European Union which backed their claims concerning the pressure by the Putin government to ensure its victory regardless of whether or not it was achieved by honest methods. A video is working its way through the Internet which depicts a woman feeding ballots into a ballot box. The behavi ...

Sarkozy Backs Palestinian State And Israel’s Security 2007-12-05 09:51:02 French President Nicolas Sarkozy while visiting Algeria came out strongly for the creation of an independent Palestinian state. “it is from a feeling of injustice,’ said Sarkozy, “that the terrorists derive their greatest strengths. Depriving the Palestinians of a nation is an injustice that France will not accept.” He also made clear in his talk with Algerian students ‘that Israel has a right to live in security” and failure to allow that to occur might also be construed as an injustice. While in Algeria, the French president signed a nuclear cooperation accord with Algeria and urged peaceful sharing of nuclear energy between Europe and Muslim nations. Sarkozy also told them Paris would host a conference on December 17 to raise money for the Palestinians. throughout his three day visit, Sarkozy has made clear that French colonial rule of Algeria was wrong and as he put it, “I have not come to deny the past. But, I have come to say that the fu ...

Kosovo Stalemate- The Conflict Goes On 2007-12-05 09:37:53 The European Union has been attempting for years to devise a compromise which would satisfy the desires for people in Kosovo to be independent while still ensuring the people of Serbia’s rights are respected. The effort has not worked and Kosovo will shortly announce its independence. EU mediator Wolfgang Ischinger has noted, ‘the report will conclude that the two sides have not been able to reach an agreement.” The Serbian province which has two million Albanians and about 100,000 Serbs will announce that it has decided to become an independent nation. There are fears the decision about independence will be announced in January and immediately result in violence as bands of Serbs challenge the new Albanian government. The UN tried to negotiate a supervised process of independence that would protect Serbian rights in Kosovo, but Russia blocked the move in the Security Council since it regards itself as the protector of Serbs. Russia wants talks and negotiation to con ...

An Extra Day-A Life Ended! 2007-12-05 09:20:47 War reports from Iraq describe fighting and deaths on a daily basis. Generals and the president boast about the “surge’ which has lowered violence in Baghdad and the surrounding area. To those of us back in the United States, it all appears so far away and so distant from what happens in our work or family lives. But, for the parents of Cpl. Blair William Emery, an explosion in a distant land meant the death of their child. Bill was supposed to complete his tour in October and return to the United States, but the president’s policy of extending deployment an additional three months was a month or a week or a day too long as far as the Emery family is concerned. During the extended three months their son died in an IED blast. William Emery is just a statistic now. He is among the numbers which depict how many died or got wounded in that far off land known as Iraq. His parents will always remember the little boy who wouldn’t even take an apple from the tree of th ...

China’s Migrant Population At 150,000,000! 2007-12-05 09:09:48 The city of Beijing is experiencing a dramatic rise in the number of migrants entering the environs of the nation’s capital. It is estimated there are now 5.4 million migrants among the 17 million people in the city. Experts calculate that Beijing’s water and food facilities can best accommodate about 14 million. The vast majority of migrants work at labor-intensive occupations and they apparently are not adhering strictly to China’s policy of one child per family. There is some evidence they exceed the figure and, given they live in horrible housing it is believed children are experiencing severe social problems during their childhood. China now has about 150,000,000 migrants wandering the nation at any one point in time. The issues facing China in dealing with migrants make other nations like the United States feel as though their migrant situation is not that bad. In the coming years, China’s migrant population will grow even larger causing incredible issues ...

Sexual Abuse Common In Yemen Primary Schools 2007-12-04 18:52:40 A study by the Yemen Ministry of Interior reveals widespread sexual abuse of children in primary schools in Yemen. The report listed 606 incidents but observers believe that is not accurate due to cultural beliefs which prevent people from reporting such cases. A female teacher in Sana’a said poverty plays a major role in sexual abuse because with a little money an older boy can readily obtain cooperation from a younger child. Another teacher noted it was common in Yemen primary schools for 14-17 year-old students to be present since they have been stuck in the same grade for years. She commented: “The presence of older students in children’s classrooms is dangerous enough to poison our children’s minds, so they should be separated.” it is common in Yemen for older students to attend school in the morning and younger ones in the afternoon which places the older one free to harass children. Jamal Al-Sami, chairman of the Democracy School, a local NGO, notes ...

Bush Duplicity Operates At Bali Environment Conference 2007-12-04 16:44:15 At the opening of the Bali Conference dealing with greenhouse emissions and global warming, Paul Dobriasnky of the US State Department assured attendees that a goal of America is, “we’d like to see consensus on the launch of negotiations.” Unknown to people at the conference, Bush was operating behind the scenes to destroy any hope of obtaining a meaningful agreement on global warming. Der Spiegel, reports the United States has been secretly working with India and China to sabotage the goal of strong controls over greenhouse emissions. According to their source, “Washington is hoping that the two greenhouse gas emitters will openly declare during the conference they are unwilling to accept any binding limits on emissions of greenhouse gases.” Bush wants to make certain the United States doesn’t come across as the one halting world efforts to halt global warming. One Washington insider said: “Bush’s people don’t want to make any real ...

Mugabe: It’s Not Me, It’s Colonialism! 2007-12-04 13:32:55 President Robert Mugabe, who has presided over the destruction of his nation’s economy during the past two decades, waved the flag of colonialism to excuse away his own brutality and incompetence. He was pleased that the European Union-African Union meeting next week will allow him to attend event though Great Britain has indicated it will not be present if the pseudo-dictator is allowed to attend. Twenty years ago Zimbabwe was considered among the most prosperous nations in Africa, but under his tutelage it now has an 80% unemployment rate and inflation that has reached 8000%. Mugabe claimed Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s denunciation of his actions as president was merely a reflection of “our former colonisers” to make decisions concerning Zimbabwe. He ignored the brutal campaign being conducted in his own country to deny food for those who oppose his regime or the beatings and torture of political opponents. The president warned political foes they must campai ...