World News Random, Random

[MJ2004]

I counted 35. Hope they don’t get into an accident.

[ti-amie]

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/20/worl ... d=tw-share

[ponchi101]

Sorry, In Venezuela abortion is illegal, but readily available. I truly doubt anybody knows how many abortions are performed in the country because basically nobody reports it and if, for example, you are an obstetrician, you are perfectly sure that no police or enforcement agency is going to come for you. It is a non-conversation.
The problem is that, being illegal, it is a cash business. And if you don't have the money, that is where the problems start.

[ti-amie]

You can click on Fin Gomez name to see the full read out.

[ponchi101]

I know that it is a bit of mixing different issues but, if you were to allow the Keystone Pipeline to be built, you could get oil from Canada, a country where democracy is respected and that is not a cause for continuous problems, and not have to buy the same oil from a brutal dictatorship with zero respect for human rights and lives, and not have to be involved in a regional massacre that will inevitably bathe your hands in blood.
I mean, MBS is in the same league as Putin, Xi Jinping, however you spell the little North Korean creep's name, and plenty of former despots.
But he has oil, and Aramco.

[ti-amie]

[skatingfan]

I know that it is a bit of mixing different issues but, if you were to allow the Keystone Pipeline to be built, you could get oil from Canada, a country where democracy is respected and that is not a cause for continuous problems, and not have to buy the same oil from a brutal dictatorship with zero respect for human rights and lives, and not have to be involved in a regional massacre that will inevitably bathe your hands in blood.
I mean, MBS is in the same league as Putin, Xi Jinping, however you spell the little North Korean creep's name, and plenty of former despots.
But he has oil, and Aramco.

I'm sure you are already well aware of this information, and I feel slightly embarrassed at the idea that I would try to explain this to someone who works in the industry, but her I go. The US already gets more than half of its total imports from Canada, and Canadian oil imports are approximately 5 times what Saudi oil imports are per day, but the real issue is that the money is just not there to justify building the Keystone XL Pipeline (Keystone Pipeline was completed & has been operational for years.) to the point where the Alberta government invested billions in cash & loan guarantees last fall to help keep the project afloat. Unless oil prices return to the low triple digit prices for West Texas Crude that we saw a decade ago the price of Canadian crude will be too low to justify the type of financial investment needed to complete the project and obtain the political will to make the project important to the public.

[ponchi101]

I am not aware of the issue for Canadian oil as I am not authorized to work in the USA or Canada, so thanks for the info.
My twisted point is that the Saudi family is supported solely by the demand for oil from the USA. When I was in Oman (2002-03) I read a poll done in Saudi Arabia about the USA, and how did people in the KSA felt about them. The poll was eye opening: 60% of all people that answered the poll stated that they HATED the USA. Why? Because the USA kept the monarchy propped up.
So this continuous support of the monarchy by the USA is a no win for the USA as a whole. And propping up these homicidal maniacs is a losing proposition for everybody.

[the Moz]

Until money stops making the world go around, the cycle will continue ponch.

[ti-amie]

I'm sure we're all shocked but they finally released the report of the death of Jamal Khashoggi and guess who gave the go ahead? You only get one guess.






Saudi crown prince approved operation that led to death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, U.S. intelligence report concludes
By
Karen DeYoung
Feb. 26, 2021 at 6:58 p.m. EST

The Biden administration will impose no direct punishment on Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, despite the conclusion of a long-awaited intelligence report released Friday that he “approved” the operation, administration officials said.

“The relationship with Saudi Arabia is bigger than any one individual,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a news conference. By making public the intelligence report — withheld by the Trump administration for two years — and taking other actions, President Biden has moved toward a promised “recalibration” of the U.S.-Saudi relationship, he said.

But for many lawmakers, human rights activists and Saudi dissidents, it was not enough.

The crown prince “should suffer sanctions, including financial, travel and legal — and the Saudi government should suffer grave consequences as long as he remains in government,” said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), whose legislation in early 2019 mandated release of the report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Wyden was joined in those sentiments by a number of Democrats, although others spoke vaguely only of further “accountability.” Few Republican lawmakers ventured a public opinion.

The Open Society Justice Initiative, which has been in court since early last year to force release of intelligence on the Khashoggi murder, said “the U.S. and other governments must take immediate measures to hold the Crown Prince and the Saudi government accountable for their flagrant disregard for the rule of law.”

Senior administration officials sharply rejected suggestions that its decision not to sanction the crown prince was a continuation of President Donald Trump’s cozy relationship with the Saudi rulers, and Mohammedin particular.

The United States, “as a matter of practice has not generally applied sanctions on the highest leadership” of countries with which it has diplomatic relations, said a senior administration official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity under rules set by the White House.

Here's the link to the report.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/ ... _manual_10

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national ... story.html

[the Moz]

On one hand it is worth note that the American's are calling out the Saudi's at that level. But on the other, not much comes from this as both parties exercise foreign policy on their own terms.

[ti-amie]

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy found guilty of corruption, sentenced to year in prison
By
Rick Noack
March 1, 2021 at 12:11 p.m. EST

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was found guilty of corruption and influence peddling on Monday and sentenced to one year in prison, marking a historic defeat for the 66-year-old, who has remained popular among conservative voters even as his legal woes mount.

The verdict included a two-year suspended sentence, but Sarkozy’s attorney said her client would appeal, delaying the sentence from taking effect. Given that short prison sentences in France can typically be waived, it is unclear whether Sarkozy would have to spend any time in prison even if the appeal were to fail. He could also request to serve the sentence at home, subject to electronic monitoring.

The ruling followed years of parallel investigations against the former president, and some others are ongoing. Sarkozy, who was president from 2007 to 2012, will face another trial later this month over accusations that his party falsified accounts during his unsuccessful reelection bid in 2012.

The charges over which Sarkozy was sentenced Monday were centered on whether he was behind a deal with a magistrate to illegally receive information on an inquiry linked to him, using false names and unofficial phone lines.

According to the prosecution, Sarkozy and his then-attorney and longtime friend Thierry Herzog attempted to bribe the magistrate, Gilbert Azibert, by offering him a high-profile position in return for information. The incident occurred after Sarkozy had left office.

The inquiry related to claims that Sarkozy and others had accepted illegal contributions from business executive Liliane Bettencourt, the late heiress of French cosmetics giant L’Oréal, ahead of the 2007 presidential campaign. Sarkozy was later cleared of those illegal-funding charges.

Sarkozy’s attorneys also denied the accusations of corruption and influence peddling last year, arguing that because the magistrate did not receive the allegedly promised position, it proved the former president’s innocence.

Sarkozy said he “never committed the slightest act of corruption.”

The prosecution argued, however, that there were no doubts that the magistrate had conveyed details illegally. Their evidence was largely based on wiretapped conversations.

Azibert and Herzog also were found guilty on Monday and were given sentences similar to Sarkozy’s. Both have appealed, France’s public broadcaster reported.

Prosecutors had originally demanded a four-year sentence for Sarkozy, with a requirement that he serve at least two years. In justifying their request, they cited what they characterized as the damage Sarkozy inflicted on the French presidency.

In its ruling, the court agreed that Sarkozy had “used his status as former French president,” rendering his offenses more egregious.

Sarkozy attempted to run in the 2017 presidential election, but he did not succeed, partially because of his mounting legal woes.

He subsequently suggested that his career in politics had come to an end. But Sarkozy has maintained high approval ratings among French conservatives, prompting hope among some of his supporters that he might run in the presidential election next year. In a sign of Sarkozy’s continued influence in conservative French politics, he received some prominent backing on Monday.

“The severity of the sentence is absolutely disproportionate and reveals judicial harassment,” wrote Christian Jacob, president of the center-right Republican Party, which Sarkozy used to lead. Supporters also questioned why Sarkozy was subjected to wiretapping after he left office.

Investigators deemed those surveillance measures necessary amid mounting questions at the time over how Sarkozy funded his 2007 campaign.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/fo ... story.html

Sarkozy continues to face accusations that he received illegal payments from the regime of then-Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi ahead of the 2007 election.

Sarkozy is the second former French president in a decade to be sentenced. Jacques Chirac, Sarkozy’s predecessor and initial patron, was given a two-year suspended sentence in 2011 for handing nonexistent jobs to political allies during his time as Paris mayor.

[ponchi101]

Remember that crazy idea from NaziPonchi that every woman on earth should have the right to shoot one man in her life? That he said that it started as a joke but then he started taking it seriously?
Wanna think it over?
Devastatingly pervasive: 1 in 3 women globally experience violence

[mmmm8]

There is also this that I saw this morning: Almost all young women in the UK have been sexually harrassed
(Least surprising news...)


But I would continue to argue that the solution isn't reverse violence.

[ponchi101]

Because you are a good hearted woman .
Serious here.
One issue that I would like to see is the typification of sexual crimes; a proper legal definition of what sexual harassment is, what sexual violence is. It is one of those things that we "know" what it is, but when it comes to the legal aspects, it gets fuzzy.
Here in Colombia, a law to do that failed; women were left without protection because the Senate did not pass the law. It was the worst of all cases as now there are no legal frames for anything other then rape and feminicide. And the problem here in Colombia is pressing: those figures about Latin America in the report? No way I can believe them. There is a culture here of silence that completely stops any progress
Then, of course, after such clarification, I would like to see an increase in the severity of punishment. I just don't see how else to begin the process of stopping this. Homicide? 20 years (an example). Feminicide, in equal circumstances? 30.

Here is my logic about my idea. Yes, it is insane. Yes, it cannot be put in practice, and reverse violence is indeed not wanted. Any violence is unwanted. But assume this: you implement it. You see then a decrease in violence against women and an increase in violence against men. There would have to be a trade-off, a point in which an overall decrease in violence would be seen. If, as a society, you would see an increase of 10% more men being hurt, but a decrease of 50% in violence against women, you would have to, mathematically, take it. After all, the whole premise is that the life of a woman is worth equally to the life of a man (false, evolutionarily speaking; it is worth more).
We talked about it in TAT1.0. The need to re-instate civics as part of the basic educational process of young people is crucial. Until then, what you get is an entire cohort of men that grow up being raised by his troglodyte dad (case here in Colombia).
Other than that, I am at a loss about how to end this problem.