Tag: Humanitarian Crisis

Coming To A State Near You

We have heard about the Afghans that the US helped escape from Afghanistan….and the question is where will they go?

Some of these refugees will be coming to the US….but where?

This article explains where the refugees will settle once they arrive in the US…..

The Biden administration notified governors and mayors on Wednesday of the number of Afghan evacuees their state is expected to receive in the coming weeks, two senior administration officials told Axios.

Why it matters: Although their exact immigration pathway is still unclear, an initial group of 37,000 Afghans will soon be headed to states across the country after many faced harrowing journeys from Afghanistan.

  • Former Delaware Gov. Jack Markell (D), who President Biden appointed on Friday to oversee Afghan resettlement, made calls to state and local leaders notifying them on the number of Afghans to expect.
  • In conversations with nearly every state on Wednesday, not one official declined to take in Afghans, one senior administration official told Axios. “I have to say it was a very warm conversation with state and local leaders.”

https://www.axios.com/afghan-refugees-each-state-data-bea47ca4-0212-4a41-98bd-a2ea9f15a5bc.html

Check out the map included in the article to see how many refugees your state will accept….

How will this play out?

I do not expect these poor people will be welcome with open arms…..I think back to the late 70s and the Vietnamese refugees…that was not always a pretty picture.

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Now What?

First let me say…..I think we are did a marvelous thing helping Afghans and their exodus from the Taleban and the plight to come.

Roughly 88,000 people who worked for the US government during the war, as well as their family members, are in the application pipeline for special immigrant visas (SIVs). Some are being sent to other countries to wait; others who are further along in the process are being sent to the US directly for resettlement.

There are also many thousands more who aren’t eligible for those visas but who might try to apply for refugee status through a recently created US priority program. But they will have to stay in third countries — where they will need financial support, among other kinds of aid — for months while they are being processed. US vetting requirements, capacity limitations at refugee resettlement agencies, and a finite number of slots available under the current refugee admissions cap could all contribute to delays in bringing them to American soil.

https://www.vox.com/22636742/afghan-siv-refugee-resettlement-biden

Just me thinking out loud.

The exodus from Afghanistan has been a humanitarian crisis in warp speed….the refugees are being relocated to Qatar, Germany, Mexico, the US and several other counties….we have seen all this before.

Think 1970s….Think Vietnamese ‘Boat People’…..

Now that we are relocating these people….what we saved them from will create more misery for them in the long run…..I fear.

What will their lives become?

I will use my region as an example….I have no indication of other areas to compare my thoughts with…..

When the Boat People started arriving some were given confiscated fishing and shrimp boats that had been ceased by the Coast Guard….since my region at one time was dependent on seafood as a way of life…this way the new arrivals could earn a living and become a functioning member of society.

This irritated the locals that were already struggling with a diminishing source of income.

The new arrivals caused many violent skirmishes with the locals….the biggest bitch they had was that the Vietnamese trolled the bottom and did not throw back anything that was not the harvest they searched for…..

The new arrivals were not accepted into Gulf Coast society and they set up areas that have become known as “Little Saigon”…..they became a society unto themselves…..it took a generation or more for that to change and yet not much has changed within the area unknown as “Little Saigon”.

Is this the new norm for the entering Afghan refugees?

Refugees are being accepted by poorer countries that are struggling to assist their indigenous people….so how will this improve the lives of people fleeing Afghanistan?

From what are we saving these people?

Some reports state that the US will take around 50,000 refugees….

Up to 50,000 Afghans could be arriving in the U.S. under a rarely used humanitarian program that allows people to enter the country without visas.

Refugee resettlement agencies were told to prepare to receive as many as 50,000 Afghans arriving on “humanitarian parole” in a meeting with government officials last week, Jenny Yang, a senior vice president of advocacy and policy at World Relief, told Newsweek.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/50-000-afghans-could-be-allowed-into-u-s-on-humanitarian-parole/ar-AANJKG0

In today’s America how will this play with the Right and their hatred of refugees and especially Muslims?

Could this generate more violence against minorities…especially the new arrivals?

Questions that NO one is asking or even contemplating for the news is laser focused on the sensationalism of the ‘exit’.

The ‘exit’ helps generate ratings boons….then the next phase will do the same.

We are entering a dangerous time for the new arrivals…..and the news will trot out new ‘experts’ once the generals and other pundits have grown hoarse from bitch and analyzing the ‘exit’.

The question remains……But what now?

As I was writing this draft my question was answered…..

One Republican lawmaker on Tuesday ratcheted up the rhetoric of fear about Afghan refugees and said that accepting them into the United States will endanger Americans.

Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) was asked by Greta Van Susteren on her “Full Court Press” show why he voted against the ALLIES Act, which was a bipartisan effort to help get Afghan military partners and their families to safety in the United States.

“Because I don’t think it’s appropriate to bring poorly vetted people from an Islamic state to the United States of America,” he said. “I represent the United States of America and American citizens, and it’s my job and I think it’s this Congress’s job to ensure their safety.”

https://www.rawstory.com/scott-perry-afghan-refutees/

This should set up the next election rhetoric nicely….scare the shit out of the voter .

Watch This Blog!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–31Aug21

We all have seen the chaos at the Kabul airport with Afghans rushing and pushing to get the Hell out of the country to avoid any Taleban retaliation….so this report makes the situation even more bizarre…..

US gave Taliban lists of names. Some lawmakers and military officials have been outraged by reports that American officials gave the Taliban lists of names of Americans and Afghan allies so they could get past the group’s checkpoints, Politico reports. With the Taliban’s history of killing collaborators with foreign forces, one defense official describes the move as putting the Afghans on a “kill list.” National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Horne acknowledged that the US has “shared information with the Taliban that has successfully facilitated evacuations from Kabul.”

Seriously?

The US gave the names of people trying to avoid the Taleban….what part of that makes sense?

I question the wisdom of this move…..

And now the last soldier is out and has turned off the lights…..

Taliban guards at Kabul’s airport and officials at the Pentagon have confirmed that the last US planes have flown out. Celebratory gunfire erupted across the Afghan capital marking the symbolic end of 20 years of war, with the Taliban back in power, the AP reports. In Washington, the US confirmed the withdrawal of its last troops, which faced a self-imposed Tuesday deadline. In announcing the completion of the evacuation and war effort. Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of US Central Command, said the last planes took off from Kabul airport at 3:29pm Washington time, or one minute before midnight in Kabul. The evacuation effort, set to end Aug 31, was wrapped up a full day early, with military equipment loaded onto transport planes before the last US service members flew out, reports the New York Times.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–27Aug21

Douche Bag Of The Week

It is absolutely NO secret that I have a serious dislike for Erik Prince of Blackwater Fame….as low as this d/bg sinks he has reached a new low as a profiteer of human suffering….

Michigan-born military contractor and former Navy SEAL Erik Prince is offering chartered flights out of Afghanistan at $6,500 a seat, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

Prince, who is the brother of former U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and grew up in west Michigan, told the Journal it would cost more if people needed his aid in getting out of their homes and to the airport with the Taliban in control of the country.

The article, which described the scramble underway by both American forces and private rescue operations to evacuate Afghans, U.S. citizens and others ahead of an Aug. 31 withdrawal of U.S. troops from that country, said it was unclear whether Prince — who founded the military security firm formerly known as Blackwater — was capable of carrying out such rescue missions and flights.

…

The White House criticized any attempts for private actors to make money off the evacuations, with Press Secretary Jen Psaki noting Wednesday the Biden administration is evacuating tens of thousands of people free of charge.

“We wouldn’t be supportive of profiting off of people who are desperate to get out of the country,” she said.

Prince has been involved in controversies before, including during the Iraq War when Blackwater security forces killed more than a dozen Iraqi citizens in Baghdad. Four years ago, President Donald Trump’s advisers brought Prince in to look at ways of using contractors to conduct military operations in Afghanistan rather than using additional troops.

(Detriot Free Press)

WH not supportive?

How about doing something about this douche bag who is trying to profit off human suffering.

He is a disgusting DOUCHE BAG!

More on this…..https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/08/25/monstrous-human-erik-prince-reportedly-charging-6500-seats-out-kabul

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Another Veto Issued

Oh goody our Dear Beloved Supreme Leader has issued is next veto……he has chosen to play favorites on the world stage and to let the Saudis and their minions, UAE, continue their assault on humanity.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday vetoed a bill passed by Congress to end US military assistance in Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen, the AP reports. In a break with the president, Congress voted for the first time earlier this month to invoke the War Powers Resolution to try to stop US involvement in a foreign conflict. The veto—the second in Trump’s presidency—was expected. Congress lacks the votes to override him. “This resolution is an unnecessary, dangerous attempt to weaken my constitutional authorities, endangering the lives of American citizens and brave service members, both today and in the future,” Trump wrote in explaining his veto. Congress has grown uneasy with Trump’s close relationship with Saudi Arabia as he tries to further isolate Iran, a regional rival.

Many lawmakers also criticized the president for not condemning Saudi Arabia for the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi who lived in the United States and had written critically about the kingdom. Khashoggi went into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last October and never came out. Intelligence agencies said Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was complicit in the killing. The US provides billions of dollars of arms to the Saudi-led coalition fighting against Iran-backed rebels in Yemen. Members of Congress have expressed concern about the thousands of civilians killed in coalition airstrikes since the conflict began in 2014. The fighting in the Arab world’s poorest country also has left millions suffering from food and medical care shortages and has pushed the country to the brink of famine.

I just cannot understand the lack of sympathy for children being killed, maimed and starved by out “good friend” the Saudis.

My question is how much does Trumpy owe the Saudis that he can turn his back on starving people?

What a disrespectful toad we elected…well you did for I did not vote for the ego-centric d/bag……are you proud?

I Add My Voice To Bernie’s

For years I have been calling for the US to stop aiding the Saudis in their war on Yemen…..most of my stuff went unread for the most part but now another anti-war person has stepped up and written an op-ed on the Yemen conflict….

Anti-war voices are praising a new “must-read” New York Times op-ed in which Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) called on Congress “to redefine our relationship with Saudi Arabia, and to show that the Saudis do not have a blank check to continue violating human rights” by revoking U.S. support for the Saudi and UAE-led war in Yemen.

https://theantimedia.com/anti-war-bernie-sanders-yemen-war/

Read the op-ed!

Here is something to think about in this Yemen war thing…..

International aid group Oxfam has issued a warning on Friday that the number of civilian deaths in Yemen is soaring since August. During that time, they estimate that a civilian is killed roughly every three hours in a violent attack.

While some get caught in the cross-fire, most are victims of Saudi airstrikes, and that has Oxfam urging the world, and the US and UK in particular, to suspend arms sales to the Saudis. They say this is necessary “because of their disregard for civilian lives.”

Add your voice….help stop this obscene conflict…..help stop the involvement of the US in the killing of civilians for no other reason that to put a smile on their Saudis controllers…..

For the younger readers that need visuals…

Now you know more than you knew at the start of this post…..you are welcome.

Turn The Page!

Why Not Yemen?

For several years now the Saudis have been killing Yemenis at an alarming rate….they call it a conflict against aggression of a Houthi minority…..it is nothing more than a rich monarchy at odds with a poor country to its South……..a country they could possibly end this war in a couple of days if it wanted to….but instead continues to bomb civilians that have no connection to the would-be “bad guys”……

Never a mention on the media….or for that matter nothing being said by our politicians….so this conflict is out of sight out of mind……

Speaking of the media……Stormy Daniels has had 400+ stories and Yemen none…..

On July 2, a year had passed since the cable network’s last segment mentioning US participation in the war on Yemen, which has killed in excess of 15,000 people and resulted in over a million cases of cholera. The US is backing a Saudi-led bombing campaign with intelligence, refueling, political cover, military hardware and, as of March, ground troops. None of this matters at all to what Adweek (4/3/18) calls “the network of the Resistance,” which has since its last mention of the US’s role in the destruction of Yemen found time to run over a dozen segments highlighting war crimes committed by the Syrian and Russian governments in Syria.

By way of contrast, as MSNBC was marking a year without mentioning the US role in Yemen, the PBS NewsHour was running a three-part series on the war, with the second part (7/3/18) headlined, “American-Made Bombs in Yemen Are Killing Civilians, Destroying Infrastructure and Fueling Anger at the US.” The NewsHour’s Jane Ferguson reported:

https://theantimedia.com/msnbc-stormy-daniels-yemen-0/

Children trapped in cave warrants massive coverage…..children dying from Saudi attacks warrants zip….zilch….nothing….bumpkus…..

Hundreds of thousands of people showed up across the United States at more than 600 gatherings three weeks ago. They came out to protest Donald Trump‘s “zero tolerance” immigration policy in highly choreographed, Democratic Party-affiliated “Families Belong Together” rallies and marches. Liberal celebrities marched and spoke. Local, state, and federal Democratic Party politicians and office-holders gave passionate speeches denouncing Trump’s separation of Central American migrant children from their parents at the southern U.S. border.

Marchers carried signs expressing their concern for children and families. Here are some of the messages written on the posters displayed at these gatherings:

https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/07/20/no-liberal-rallies-yet-for-the-children-of-yemen/

When did the murder of children become acceptable?

Apparently when the media tells us it is acceptable…..

Closing Thought–17Jul18

Last week we had the great news that all the kids and their coach had been rescued from the cave in Thailand…..the news was every where and the atta boys were constant…..

The out pouring to love and good wishes was amazing…..but with all that I was wonder after years of conflict why the news media seems to ignore the plight, the suffering the death of the children of Yemen…….

Thanks to a major international effort, a Thai youth soccer team has been successfully rescued from the cave where it has been trapped for nearly 15 days. The boys’ plight and the efforts to rescue them have captured the world’s attention for several days, dominating news headlines throughout much of the world. Ultimately, most of the boys were rescued thanks in large part to an international collaboration as divers from several countries united to save them. Indeed, the rescue team was composed of five foreign divers paired with five Thai Navy SEALs as well as a team of 70 support divers, 50 of whom were from other nations.

The successful rescue of the Thai youth team undoubtedly stands as a testament to how international collaboration stemming from international awareness – thanks in part to in-depth news coverage – can overcome impossible odds to save the lives of children and others in need. Yet, while the now-rescued Thai youth recover out of harm’s way, children elsewhere whose lives are also in danger cannot expect similar treatment.

http://theantimedia.com/thai-boys-yemen-children/

Do not misunderstand…I am thrilled that these kids were rescued from the rising water in that cave….I just do not understand why one group of kids is more important than another…..we can thank the media for this situation…..they alone decide who is important.

Why cannot the media with all its resources do something about all the suffering in Yemen?  Why is there NO stomach for an effort in Yemen?  Why are starving children Yemen less important than kids trapped in a cave?

The Moral High Ground Is Gone

For many years the US has been the champion of human rights…we have tried to help when there has been a refugee crisis…that is until about 25 years ago when we started pulling away from any responsibility for we were helping create the problem.

Misery has become a weapon of war these days……

From Syria to Yemen, from South Sudan to Venezuela, war and political crisis are causing human anguish on a scale unseen in a generation.

That conflict and crisis take a high human toll is hardly new, of course. Yet the scope of suffering today is striking. The number of people displaced globally by conflict and persecution stood at 65.6 million at the end of 2016, the greatest number since World War II. Figures released earlier this month show that there were 11.8 million new internal displacements in 2017, nearly double the 6.9 million in 2016. The number of people facing acute hunger globally due largely to conflict and instability reached almost 74 million across eighteen countries in 2017. The trend is clear: war and crisis are destroying more lives and livelihoods, pushing more people toward starvation and driving more people from their homes.

https://www.crisisgroup.org/global/misery-strategy-human-cost-conflict

In the last 10 years we, the US, has contributed to the Middle East refugee crisis…..and now that we have officially pulled out of the UN humanitarian efforts we can NO longer claim any moral high ground and need to keep our mouths shut.

The crisis in the Syrian desert is just such an example……there is lots of finger pointing and little effort to solve the problem…..

Looking at a map, nothing would seem easier than to drive a convoy of food and medical supplies to Rukban, a camp for refugees and displaced civilians on the Syrian–Jordanian border some 260 kilometers east of Damascus. Though the terrain is rough, the camp is located in an area of relative calm and stability, and it could be reached from Amman, Damascus, or both. But Syria’s seven-year civil war says otherwise.

All sides now blame each other for preventing aid deliveries to the tens of thousands of Syrians trapped in this desolate desert region, and Rukban has emerged as a cruel illustration of how civilians are snared in the tangled threads of sovereignty and proxy control that constitute current-day Syria.

https://tcf.org/content/report/blame-game-syrians-stranded-desert/

Many countries contributed to the creation of this problem, including the US, and few want to help solve the very problems they have created.

Personally, my thoughts are if you had a hand in creating the problem then it is on your shoulders to solve it…..but instead we are asking those countries least able to weather the refugee crisis to do the heavy lifting.

I say that every defense contract has a provision in it that “X” amount of the profits go to a fund to help refugees…administered by Switzerland through the UN.

It is time for Americans to re-claim the moral high ground in war…but that will not happen in this writers lifetime….sad but there is hope, a small glimmer but hope nonetheless.

Then There Is South Sudan

The newest country to enter the UN was the country if South Sudan……a little history of world’s newest independent nation…..

Egypt attempted to colonize the region of southern Sudan by establishing the province of Equatoria in the 1870s. Islamic Mahdist revolutionaries overran the region in 1885, but in 1898 a British force was able to overthrow the Mahdist regime. An Anglo-Egyptian Sudan was established the following year with Equatoria being the southernmost of its eight provinces. The isolated region was largely left to itself over the following decades, but Christian missionaries converted much of the population and facilitated the spread of English. When Sudan gained its independence in 1956, it was with the understanding that the southerners would be able to participate fully in the political system. When the Arab Khartoum government reneged on its promises, a mutiny began that led to two prolonged periods of conflict (1955-1972 and 1983-2005) in which perhaps 2.5 million people died – mostly civilians – due to starvation and drought. Ongoing peace talks finally resulted in a Comprehensive Peace Agreement, signed in January 2005. As part of this agreement, the south was granted a six-year period of autonomy to be followed by a referendum on final status. The result of this referendum, held in January 2011, was a vote of 98% in favor of secession.
Since independence on 9 July 2011, South Sudan has struggled with good governance and nation building and has attempted to control opposition forces operating in its territory. Economic conditions have deteriorated since January 2012 when the government decided to shut down oil production following bilateral disagreements with Sudan. In December 2013, conflict between government and opposition forces killed tens of thousands and led to a dire humanitarian crisis with millions of South Sudanese displaced and food insecure. The warring parties signed a peace agreement in August 2015 that created a transitional government of national unity in April 2016. However, in July 2016, fighting broke out in Juba between the two principal signatories, plunging the country back into conflict.
Now you have a grip on the situation in South Sudan….there is a war going on within the borders ans no one cares especially the West……they give it a bit of lip service but that is as far as it goes…..

The accounts are horrific. A young girl strangled and gang-raped. Children burned alive as government soldiers blocked the door of their hut and set it aflame. These are some of the atrocities revealed in 14 reports, seen by the AP, that have not yet been released by the independent body charged with monitoring a failed cease-fire imposed in December in South Sudan, where civil war is now well into its fifth year, has killed tens of thousands, and has created Africa’s largest refugee crisis since the Rwandan genocide in 1994. The reports should have been released last month at a meeting led by the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission but South Sudan’s government did not attend, preventing the accounts of abuses from being made public because there was not a quorum.

The unpublished reports describe violations by both government and opposition forces but most of the accounts blame the former. One report describes a disabled woman who, unable to flee the fighting, was thrown into a burning house by government soldiers. The US, South Sudan’s largest aid donor, has increased pressure on the Juba government amid widespread allegations that its officials are profiting from the conflict instead of working to end it. Last week the UN Security Council adopted a US-sponsored resolution that warns of an arms embargo and sanctions against six high-ranking officials if the fighting doesn’t stop. The US and others, however, insist that the East African regional bloc, along with the African Union, should take the lead in finding peace and holding perpetrators of abuses accountable.

I have said on many occasions….”No one cares about Africa”……