talkpolitics | Entries tagged with anniversary

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/war-in-iraq-begins

( 19 years, my Gods. Where has the time gone? )

The USA will never admit that the follies of the New American Century led straight to the Russian War, for how can it? It would require an honest reckoning with just what its army and air force were unleashing across wide swathes of Asia and parts of Africa and why it was doing this.

It would require accepting that the line of Fallujah and Mariupol is a thin one, that both were exercises in wanton barbarism and folly, and that the inefficiencies of prewar regimes do not by their existence justify the hubris of empires in thinking they can overthrow them in a matter of marching. It would require admitting that US power no less than Russian has seen its teeth drawn, that the USA's arrogance made the world a more dangerous place, not a less dangerous one. That the so-called global lawman has proven yet another empire like all the others and the USA's damage to Baghdad may not quite match that of Hulagu Khan but it was more for the USA not being willing to use Vietnam War-tier destruction in the Information Age (though judging by the fanboys of Milosevic and Putin perhaps it should have. There is always a crowd that thirsts to be voyeurs to genocide and slavishly yield to a stronger force).

That, in the end, is the legacy of the war begun 19 years ago. Devastation, the revival of the premise that empires can act at will, the recurrence of the 1990s mentality that stopping genocides is infinitely worse than perpetrating them......and the reality that now both of the world's most powerful armies are failing and wrecking themselves in the course of entirely avoidable wars that have gone on too long. The world as it is is going to keep changing. History has not stopped, and all empires fall.

nairiporter

June 5 marked 40 years since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published the first report of what would come to be known as HIV/AIDS. In the past 20 years, infections and deaths have fallen dramatically, thanks to awareness and new treatments. But in those early days of the epidemic, fear, discrimination and a lack of understanding of the virus made containing it and defeating it all the more difficult.

At the beginning of the epidemic, HIV/AIDS was articulated as a disease of “homosexuals” and “drug users”, and so the meanings, representations, and political agendas at the time guided the understanding. We currently have more awareness and sensitivity, but HIV still involves complex physical, emotional, social, and legal concerns, making it different from other health conditions.

The changes in understanding, acceptance and fairness in general have not been as dramatic as the advances in our HIV treatment and care. Stigma and discrimination, fueled by hate, ignorance, and intolerance, persist and remain, framing the well-being of people living with HIV and resulting in inadequate and substandard care that often leads to inappropriate interventions, alienation, and mistrust.

The fight is still on.

oportet

One year ago today - one man in Las Vegas killed 58 people, and injured 851 more.

He had no help. He had no motive. He didn't leave a note. He didn't mail a video confession to the local news station, he didn't blog about it, he didn't mention it to anyone. With some help from the unknowing staff, he brought 22 suitcases (containing 24 guns) into his room - a fairly normal number I suppose - as it did not raise any suspicion among anyone. It took ten minutes to narrow down where the 1100+ rounds were coming from, and another hour and twelve minutes before his room was breached and he was found dead.

Who do you consider to be a crazy conspiracy theorist - someone who doesn't buy all that, or someone that does?

I wish there was some kind of job - nay, an entire profession full of people trained to look into stories - figure out the who, what, when, where, and why of events like this.

I'm not putting all the blame on an incompetent(or lying, or both) government/law enforcement, and a completely useless news media.

At the core, it's our fault. Maybe there's only so much room in our brains - each new thing we learn threatens to fill it up and bump an old fact out - so we're forced to choose between knowing what really happened in Vegas, and how many scoops of ice cream Donald Trump likes to have.

tcpip.livejournal.com

Australia Day, the commemoration of the landing of the British First Fleet in Sydney Cove is a day of division. Whilst a large majority of Australians feel positive about the day, that number falls to less than a quarter of indigenous Australians and, currently, only 15% want the day changed, following the lead of the Fremantle City Council. Barnaby Joyce, parading his typical level of knowledge and sensitivity in public affairs indicated his opposition to changing the date.

The choice of date in itself is a rather strange beast. It does not, of course, represent first European contact with Australia. That was when the Dutchman navigator and colonialist Willem Jansz landed on the western coast of Cape York Peninsula in 1606 which resulted in violent conflicts. It certainly doesn't represent the founding of Australia as a country, that was, of course, Federation, on January 1st, 1901. It doesn't even represent the establishment of the colony of New South Wales - that occurred on February 7, 1776 with a formal proclamation, although that had already been down as a claim (rather than a reality) by James Cook on August 22, 1770 at Possession Island in Torres Strait.

( Read more... )

The reality is that protests around Invasion Day are not going to cease whilst indigenous people in this country are denied as Treaty. The impoverishment and dispossession of indigenous Australians from their natural sources of livelihood and common wealth are likewise best initiated and implemented through a Treaty. The indigenous peoples of Australia never gave up their sovereignty and as a result there is a firm legal foundation and arguably even a requirement for a Treaty to be established. Indeed, as part of the political maturity of the nation such a development could be combined with a national discussion about combining a Treaty with a Republic. Until then, Australia will continue to engage in an vile injustice, and justice by definition, involves making recompense and reconciliation to past and current wrongs.

htpcl.livejournal.com

Greetings, ma'fellow ~~procrastinators~~ politics junkies! Today is the so called Europe Day. Whatever that's supposed to mean. All I know is, it's being commemorated with lots of staged official events in a number of EU member countries. Our cities are no exception. Most of them will illuminate their most prominent landmarks in the colors of the EU flag. There'll be a music and light show at the National Palace of Culture in Sofia, at the Municipality Hall in Plovdiv, and the Festival and Congress Center in Varna. Famous dignitaries are going to read "Stories about Europe", including the ambassadors of the major EU countries. The EU flag will be raised at a special ceremony at the Presidency. The President himself will be greeting the Honorable Guard. Etc.

In the meantime, a Reuters poll suggests that almost half of the Europeans want referenda in their respective countries about their future EU membership, fashioned after the Brexit referendum in the UK. The poll included countries like Germany, Spain, Italy, Poland, Hungary, France and Sweden. And this is happening just a month before the UK referendum. The poll shows that nearly 45% of the respondents want referenda of their own, and about 1/3 want their country to get an opportunity to leave the EU, as they don't like the way it is being run, the way its institutions are being set up, and the disconnect between the ruling elites and the people - the former seemingly ignoring the interests and the voice of their constituents. Especially regarding issues like the trade agreement with the US, and the handling of the refugee crisis.

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Talk politics.

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Entries tagged with anniversary

Next year will be 20 years since Shrub sent the US Army into Iraq

The 40th anniversary of another pandemic

(no subject)

Australia's Invasion Day

What are you celebrating, m'dear?

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May 2025

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