A Political Shift in America - Lew Rockwell #N3
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A Political Shift in America - Lew Rockwell #N3
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Read more about A Political Shift in America - Lew Rockwell #N3 and other interesting subjects concerning Top Stories at TheDailyNewsReport.com
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Cutting Aid to Egypt Signals a Big Strategic Shift For ObamaThe decision to withdraw military aid to Egypt should be hailed as a victory for a more conscientious and appropriate American grand strategy. For too long, the U.S. has been policing the world with a puffed-up chest. This move is more than a slight, calibrated adjustment, but a signal that President Obama intends to change course entirely. It shifts the emphasis of American foreign policy away from “Do as I say, not as I do” at the point of a gun and towards a more honest, morally defensible, and humble posture.
Indeed, the symbolic power of this move outweighs the on-the-ground Realpolitik results. Some may argue that we cannot afford to lose our leverage with a country’s military as important as Egypt’s. Indeed, this is an unfortunate side effect of cancelling this deal. However, going through with arms shipments is a mere band-aid solution to the greater crisis of legitimacy in the country and other countries in the region. If the U.S. gets too comfortable with a government that owes its existence to a military coup, we will continue our unfortunate tradition of trampling our own name in the mud.
Obama, for his part, is absolutely right to stay out of the affairs of the Egyptians and take a wait-and-see approach to the situation. The cancelling of the trade of these arms should be seen not as an active move in opposition to the standing government of Egypt but as a sort of “reset” in which all matters are on the table for renegotiation. It is a recognition of the fact that immense political shock has just occurred in Egypt and it is time to tread lightly, rather than blindly assume that the status quo is still the way. It would be hypocritical for the U.S. to ignore the outcome of a fair and free election as being the ultimate legitimating device.
This path that Obama has started down is consonant with the rest of his stated and implied grand strategic approach to international affairs. Ultimately, he is signalling that the U.S. is no longer in the business of international security and that our allies can no longer count on us to blindly deliver security regardless of the particular circumstances. This adjustment, a large step back, sets us on a sustainable path toward the future and allows us more flexibility to ignore crises in which we don’t have a stake and intervene where we do. If the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan prove nothing else, it is that the U.S. is bad at judging its own best interests abroad with a “maximalist” approach.
It’s time for a “minimalist” approach in which we focus on our strengths, export our culture, and support legitimate democracies everywhere. This isn’t to say that military threats have no role in foreign policy. Rather, we should be in complete control of those threats. Giving weapons to others is tantamount to turning over our hard power to others and letting them do what they will, whether we approve or not. This is reckless and counter productive.
Image Credit: AP
SANTA MARIA, Brazil – Every Saturday morning, organic food traders from Santa Maria de Jetibá, a Pomeranian settlement on the mountains of Espírito Santo State, in southeastern Brazil, set up their stalls under a bridge in the beach district. It is Praia da Costa, in Vila Velha, one of the cities that make up the metropolitan region of the capital Vitoria, and they are selling organic products to a loyal clientele who are lucky enough to have the foods brought to their doorstep at a price that’s competitive with non-organic items sold at the supermarket.
Selling organic produce is more than a business choice for these Pomeranians: it is, rather, a health-preservation measure. This ethnic group, which emigrated in the 1840s from a Polish region that used to belong to Germany, chose Santa Maria as one of its mountain settlements. They preserved a dialect that is no longer spoken in Europe and lived in relative isolation for over a century.
Then, some years ago, a high suicide rate in the community called the attention of researchers, who established a link between the deaths and the high use of pesticides in the region – many of which also caused infertility and skin cancer. In response, an organic food movement was born as a local organic certification scheme, called Chão Vivo, in 1999 began stimulating a shift toward organic farming.
One of the reasons that many concerned Brazilians are switching to organic is that the country is also the biggest user of pesticides per capita in the world, an unfortunate distinction Brazil has held since 2008. The situation inspired documentary maker Silvio Tendler to produce O Veneno Está Na Mesa (Poison is On the Table), a film that reveals, among other things, the alarming statistic that Brazil uses 5.1 kilos (11.2 lb) of pesticide per person per year.
In the United States, the equivalent figure is 4.5 pounds per person, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). And besides the amount of pesticides, the situation is exacerbated by the fact that chemicals which have been banned in most other countries get dumped in Brazil due to lax legislation and intense lobbying from chemical companies.
Poison-Friendly Policies
According to Moyses Veiga, an environmental consultant who has lived among the Pomeranians and worked for the Chão Vivo organic certification scheme, the deeper story dates back to the 1960s when different governments started to pursue a policy of “modernizing agriculture.”
In 1965, Brazil’s government introduced a credit line called Sistema Nacional de Crédito Rural, which submitted financing for the purchase of agricultural inputs by farmers. In 1975, another program called Programa Nacional de Defensivos Agrícolas streamed funds toward the creation of national companies, as well as to transnational agricultural input companies willing to open branches in Brazil.
“Another factor that boosted the use of pesticides in Brazil was an outdated and loose regulation that was in place until 1989, which made it easier to register hundreds of toxic substances, some of which had already been banned in developed countries,” said Veiga.
Veiga points out that it was in the period between 2001 and 2008 that the sale of pesticides in Brazil reached frightening proportions, and Brazil moved up to the top of the ranking. Agriculture revenue jumped from $ 2 billion to more than $ 7 billion per year in that period. Then, in 2009, Brazil’s pesticide use soared to 1 million applied tons. (Environmentalists in the country say that if smuggled pesticides are additionally factored in, the figure could be as high as 9.5 kg per capita.)
All of this has had a negative impact on human and non-human health as well as the environment, facts that more and more of the population is coming to understand. According to Sérgio Koiffman, a researcher with Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, pesticides are substances designed to destroy certain animal pests whose structure is similar to our own.
“Some of the most serious effects include neoplasms, defects in the central nervous system, while the more subtle problems are the neurological development of a child, changes in kidney [health] and sexual functions, and cancer,” said Koiffman. He added that more recently, researchers have noted that exposure to pesticides during pregnancy affects the fetus as well.
Contamination happens through food or water, he said, and in the case of workers who handle the products directly, symptoms tend to me more acute while consumers develop less progressive, though not less serious, problems. One particular class of pesticides, known as methamidophos, has called the attention of government and researchers in recent years. The pesticide was used for pest control on cotton, peanut, potato, bean, soybean, industrial use tomato, and wheat crops.
The Brazilian Health Surveillance Agency, Anvisa, banned it in 2012 after toxicological tests indicated the pesticide to be a class of poison can cause damages in embryo and fetal development, besides affecting endocrine and the reproductive systems.
“There was no evidence that the product is safe for people’s health,” said Anvisa’s director, José Agenor Álvares.
Due to a high concentration of this class of chemicals in the waterways of Mato Grosso State, where some of Brazil’s largest monocultures are located, post-graduate student Izabela Gutierrez de Arruda felt compelled to look deeper into their effects. Gutierrez developed a biosensor based on enzyme inhibition, which helps farmers measure levels of contamination using a portable and cheap piece equipment.
The good news is that all over Brazil, organic street markets are cropping up to cater to the growing demand for healthy food. With more information circulating on social networks, and increasing awareness of the country’s pesticide abuse problem, organic farmers markets like the one in Vila Velha are on their way to becoming fixture in many Brazilian cities.
The City of Belo Horizonte, one of the country’s largest metropolitan regions, reported an increase of 10 percent in demand for organics in the first half of 2013 compared with the same period last year. Rising demand is likely to boost the share of organic food in Brazil’s agricultural production – which currently stands at only five percent of the total – and hopefully slows down the poisoning of the country with pesticides.
A man walks by an electronic stock board of a securities firm in Tokyo, Friday, Aug. 16, 2013. Expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will start to phase out its monetary stimulus had a mostly negative impact on Asian stock markets Friday. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)
A man walks by an electronic stock board of a securities firm in Tokyo, Friday, Aug. 16, 2013. Expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will start to phase out its monetary stimulus had a mostly negative impact on Asian stock markets Friday. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)
A woman walks by an electronic stock board of a securities firm in Tokyo, Friday, Aug. 16, 2013. Expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will start to phase out its monetary stimulus had a mostly negative impact on Asian stock markets Friday.(AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)
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BANGKOK (AP) — Expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will start to phase out its monetary stimulus had a mostly negative impact on global stock markets Friday.
A fall in weekly U.S. jobless claims to a near six-year low reinforced views that the economy is strong enough to withstand less extraordinary support from the Fed. The Labor Department reported Thursday that weekly claims slid 15,000 last week to 320,000, the lowest level since October 2007.
Analysts said the sharp fall makes it more likely that the Fed will scale back its $ 85 billion-a-month purchases of government bonds in September. The purchases have helped lower interest rates to spur borrowing and economic growth after the global financial crisis of 2008 sparked a recession.
The stimulus program has been a boon to stocks, into which investors have plowed money in search of investment returns that outpace bonds. Traders have come to view a withdrawal of the Fed program as a negative for stocks even in the face of evidence that the U.S. economy is improving.
In early European trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.1 percent to 6,479.65. Germany’s DAX dropped 0.3 percent to 8,353.71 and France’s CAC-40 lost 0.1 percent to 4,087.56.
Wall Street, though, appeared set to reverse some of Thursday’s losses. Dow Jones industrial futures were up marginally to 15,080. S&P 500 futures advanced 0.2 percent to 1,658.40.
Asian stock markets sustained moderate losses. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 0.8 percent to close at 13,650.11. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.8 percent to 5,113.90. Benchmarks in the Philippines, Indonesia and India also fell.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.1 percent to 22,517.81. South Korea’s Kospi declined 0.2 percent to 1,920.11.
Mainland Chinese share prices briefly surged in a trading frenzy blamed on one brokerage’s mistaken computerized buying orders.
Volume on the Shanghai Stock Exchange soared to 54 percent above Thursday’s level, with 1.5 billion shares changing hands. The main market index jumped 6.5 percent before ending the day down 0.6 percent.
A brokerage, Everbright Securities, said in a statement it suffered an unspecified problem with a computerized trading system. Everbright’s computers sent 7 billion “wrong instructions” to purchase shares, according to the state-run China News Service.
Everbright asked to have its trades canceled, CNS said. The exchange, however, said on its website that transactions already closed would be cleared normally.
Negative corporate news out of the U.S. also led to frayed nerves. Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, cut its profit and revenue forecasts for 2013. It also reported second-quarter results that missed Wall Street’s estimates.
Cisco Systems announced plans to cut 5 percent of its workforce, roughly 4,000 employees, as sales slow. Cisco’s announcement led to selling in other technology stocks because the company is regarded as a bellwether for the industry.
Benchmark oil for September delivery was down 19 cents to $ 107.15 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 48 cents to $ 107.33 late Thursday in New York.
In currencies, the euro fell to $ 1.3332 from $ 1.3349 late Thursday. The dollar rose to 97.50 yen from 97.07 yen.
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AP Business Writer Joe McDonald contributed from Beijing.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has defended Australia’s new asylum policy, saying it targets “merchants in death”.
Under an agreement signed on Friday, asylum-seekers arriving by boat in Australia will be sent to Papua New Guinea for processing.
Those found to be refugees will be settled in PNG, which is to receive Australian investment.
Critics have accused Australia of shirking obligations and outsourcing its problem to a developing nation.
The move comes as Australia tries to tackle a sharp spike in the number of boat arrivals, and just a few weeks out from a general election in which asylum is expected to be a key issue.
Kevin Rudd, who last month ousted Julia Gillard as Labor Party leader amid dismal pre-election polling figures, has described the new policy as “hard-line”.
The Labor party, meanwhile, approved new rules on Monday that change how a leader can be replaced – making it harder for leadership challenges to be launched.
‘Dismantled’
Speaking shortly after the party meeting, Mr Rudd said the government would “make no apology for the decision we’ve taken”.
“These folk are merchants in death and their business model needs to be dismantled, part of this policy response is to do just that,” he said.
Figures from Australia’s Department of Immigration; passenger numbers exclude crew
Australia says the move is aimed at deterring people from making the dangerous journey on often over-crowded or rickety boats, several of which have sunk in recent months.
Over the weekend the government launched an advertising campaign to publicise the new policy aimed at the countries from which the asylum-seekers originate – Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, among others.
It is also offering cash rewards for tip-offs related to people-smugglers, who use Indonesia as a transit point to launch boats bound for Christmas Island, the closest part of Australian territory.
On Sunday, protesters turned out in Sydney to condemn the plan, described by Amnesty International as “the day Australia decided to turn its back on the world’s most vulnerable people”.
Officials in PNG have also voiced concern over the plan, which would see the Manus island detention centre expanded to hold up to 3,000 people.
Former PNG opposition leader Dame Carol Kidu said PNG was a developing country with insufficient services in place.
“We don’t have the developed systems like Australia,” the Australian Broadcasting Corporation quoted her as saying.
“We are facing many problems ourselves, and to me I think it could be an increased problem. It’s called the PNG solution but I think it’s more of an Australia solution.”
Australia’s Immigration Minister Tony Burke, meanwhile, acknowledged the possibility that some asylum-seekers who are not granted refugee status could be detained indefinitely in PNG.
“One, they remain in detention. Two, they return to their home country. Three, they get settled in another country where they have a right of residence. They don’t have a right of residence in Australia, but any of those three options are open,” he told ABC radio.
At Australia’s other offshore processing centre in Nauru, meanwhile, detainees rioted over the weekend, burning buildings.
According to Australian reports, 125 asylum seekers have been charged over the riot, which caused A$ 60m ($ 55m, £36m) worth of damage.
