(Picture courtesy of mhaithaca at flickr.com.)

In continuing tribute to Southern Dragon’s practice of keeping us informed of what is going on in a wider world, today we take a look at media from outside the usual sources in the U.S.

The small Central American country of Belize has lost an irrecoverable treasure as local construction crews raided a Mayan temple dating from 300 B.C. or earlier for rock to make gravel.

All of Belize’s ancient Maya sites are protected by law. The Institute of Archaeology plans to investigate the destruction and take those responsible to court, Morris said.

“This Maya site is well known to the local community, who have worked on various projects at the site,” he said. “The Institute of Archaeology is going to use this opportunity to really embark on a national awareness campaign for the preservation and protection of the country.”

Though the site of Nohmul had not yet been developed for tourism, it had been excavated off and on since the early 1900s after first being recorded as a site in 1897.

Bangladesh mourned, and retailers using their laborers for products signed an agreement to improve working conditions, as yet another factory collapsed, killing workers, in Cambodia.   Some retailers, including WalMart and The Gap, failed to sign on to the agreement.

The accord on fire and building safety in Bangladesh, which has been signed by H&M, Primark, C&A, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Zara andTesco, aims to compel retailers to pay for rigorous and independent public inspections and blacklist any factories unwilling to comply.

Last night a handful of other retailers did sign up before the deadline, including Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s, New Look and N Brown, a mail order and online retailer whose brands include High & Mighty, Marisota and figleaves.com.

The decision by the handful of retailers not to sign up was criticised by campaigners, who said it undermined any ethical initiatives the companies may have.

Sam Maher from Labour Behind the Label said: “I think they are running out of excuses. No company can say they have the interests of their workers at heart if they can’t sign up.

The continuing depradation of natural resources that loss of rainforest represents is threatening the ability to produce hydroelectric power.   Studies recently show that contrary to previous speculations, rainforest presence contributes to water flow into streams and rivers,

Deforestation in the Amazon region could significantly reduce the amount of electricity produced from hydropower, says a new study.

Scientists say the rainforest is critical in generating the streams and rivers that ultimately turn turbines.

The drought in Brazil continued, making its effect felt in diminishing sources for energy as well as a threat to agricultural output needed.   The new studies that show rainforest protection is needed for energy output constitutes a surprising benefit from the attention that drought has brought to combating water loss.

Never.Give.Up.

(Picture courtesy of mhaithaca at flickr.com.)

Thursday we go to media and news outside the U.S. as Southern Dragon did in his Diner posts not long ago.

The Arctic is a source of food and territory for many species integral to our earth.   The waters there are becoming increasingly acidic, changing the survival conditions.    By overusing petroleum products, we increase CO2 in our planet’s atmosphere.   That in turn produces many results, one being that acidification.

Absorption is particularly fast in cold water so the Arctic is especially susceptible, and the recent decreases in summer sea ice have exposed more sea surface to atmospheric CO2.

The Arctic’s vulnerability is exacerbated by increasing flows of freshwater from rivers and melting land ice, as freshwater is less effective at chemically neutralising the acidifying effects of CO2.

The researchers say the Nordic Seas are acidifying over a wide range of depths – most quickly in surface waters and more slowly in deep waters.

In ongoing efforts to prosecute crimes against civilians, Bangladesh’s war crimes tribunal has declared another former official guilty in recent atrocities committed during the war for independence from Pakistan.

Judges at a war crimes tribunal in Bangladesh have found a fourth senior Jamat-e-Islami leader guilty of charges relating to the country’s 1971 war of independence.

They have upheld five out of seven charges, including crimes against humanity.

One of the charges included being a commander during a massacre of 120 people. A sentence has not yet been handed down.

Targeting infrastructure improvements, Indian leadership is balancing a deficit against future growth, speculating about the possibilities of incurring debt at record low interest levels.

The US is having a third round of quantitative easing, and the Fed is deliberately targeting long-maturity bonds to keep long-term rates low. This greatly increases the case for long-term borrowing by India too, to take advantage of cheap rates. The eurozone has always had low rates, and these have just got lower with ECB action. Japan has gone on a new quantitative easing spree under Premier Shinzo Abe.

(snip)

In the US and Europe too, inflation has remained astonishingly low for years despite huge amounts of monetary expansion, but one day, this mountain of expansion will stoke high inflation.

At that point of time, borrowers will be rewarded with a huge erosion of the real value of their debt. So, borrowers today can look forward to the double advantage of low current rates of interest, plus an erosion of debt value by coming inflation. It is an opportunity not to be missed.

While the Western economies are strangled by powerful financial interests inveighing against any investment that benefits the public, in nations dominated by the people themselves there are great possibilities opening to general prosperity and well-being.

Never.Give.Up.

Ritual figures

Description

For several previous art posts, I’ve been putting up examples of art works preserved from the first century A.D. from the Central American/Caribbean region.   While we know little about the cultures these represented, they have been preserved in various collections which the Smithsonian has acquired.

There are many reasons for collecting art, and one of them is to keep the treasures from the past from being lost.   No doubt, some hopes for profit are also present, but let’s be positive, and be glad these particular artworks will be on view for the descendants and inheritors of the past.

Today, I’m putting up several more, for your enjoyment and for us to appreciate.   While the displays include some tributes to those who brought these works to their collection, the museum does not cover over the fact that these were not legitimately their own to share.   The Smithsonian has a difficult task, to collect and to share with the ages, and does it well.

Incense burner, Rain God figure

Mayan period Pot

Description

Ceramic figure

Description

MesoAmerican bowl of First Century, in Mayan design

(Picture courtesy of mhaithaca at flickr.com.)

In the Thursday tradition, following Southern Dragon’s own practice, media and news from other countries are  our emphasis.

North Korea continued hostilities which have predominated in the early days of the new president’s regime by sentencing a U.S. citizen to 15 years hard labor for ‘hostile’ acts.

The United States has urged North Korea to free the detainee on “humanitarian grounds.”

“The welfare of US citizens is a critical and top priority for this department. We call on the DPRK to release Kenneth Bae immediately on humanitarian grounds,” deputy acting State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said on Monday.

Seoul-based activist Do Hee-Yoon has told the AFP news agency that he suspected Pae was arrested because he had taken photographs of emaciated children in North Korea as part of efforts to appeal for more outside aid.

US officials have pointed out Bae had entered the country on a valid visa, and admitted to concerns that he could be used as a “political bargaining” chip.

Possibilities of new powers from computers entered a hazardous stage as 3-D printers showed abilities to produce weapons in individual homes.

As the gun debate around assault weapons continues in the United States, one company has decided to combat possible legislation by designing a gun that can be made at home.

The design uses 3D printers and is being made available online for free.

An official stamp was given to increasing evidence that austerity bites, as the U.S.  Fed declared that economic decline has shown itself directly caused by sequestration.   Congressional action to create the bad economy was directly cited.

The FOMC released its statement after two key reports suggested that recovery in the jobs market is slowing, as end of year tax hikes and budget cuts – known as sequestration – seem to take their toll.The Fed announced on Wednesday that it would keep pumping $85bn a month into the US economy, citing concerns about the impact Washington’s budget cuts are having on the US recovery.

Dan Greenhaus, chief strategist at the trader BTIG, said: “They increasingly view fiscal policy as an impediment to what they’ve been trying to accomplish and today’s statement is an outright affirmation of that view. Fiscal policy ‘is’ restraining growth, from the Fed’s point of view. And as long as fiscal policy remains constrictive, then the Fed are likely to do more rather than less.”

In a world of hurt, the May Day recognition of truly self-destructive congressional ideology took a step on the possible road to recovery by actions available to the world’s governing bodies, and passed responsibility to them to assist a return to viable actions from them.

Never.Give.Up.

*********

As I am traveling, and times have been confused for purposes of publication, I am putting up this post early to avoid its being unduly delayed.    Apologies for inconvenience, and my absence from comments.

Ceremonial figures

The use of statuary in the area now known as Costa Rica is speculative.   As the above figures demonstrate, there were established poses and these seem to indicate there are rituals involved that we now know only by the figures remaining behind.

Signs included for description in the Smithsonian Native American museum give information about the knowledge we’ve gained about the figures.   What actual celebration or commemoration was involved is not known.

From the trophy heads held, there can be speculation about what was occurring that seems to have involved human sacrifice, but no solid knowledge of factual incidents.  That some sort of battle was involved can be inferred from the spears and shields often included.

 Great variety of belief and practice existed among the ancient Meso-American peoples including various forms and levels of the afterlife, each with its own deity. The religious rituals and practices were governed by priests educated in genealogy and astronomy. These priests were often exquisitely adorned with jewels, feathers, and ornaments of many colors, and many had dual roles as diviners. These traditions had a variety of temples and pyramids used in worship and as tombs. Several of these ancient traditions included rituals of sacrifice to the gods, even human sacrifice. The use of idols (particularly in the form of animals) was common among the various forms of this religion.

As mentioned in earlier posts about the area ceramics, there were probably workshops producing art and household objects for communities.   We can only guess what ceremonies and rituals existed.

The above is labeled as a basalt male figure from the Costa Rica area, A.D. 1000 – 1500.

Over Easy

(Picture courtesy of mhaithaca at flickr.com.)

In the tradition of the original Lakeside Diner, where Southern Dragon kept pups up to date on media and events outside the States, Thursday will be a glimpse into what’s going on in the world this week.

Bangladesh was horrified by the collapse of a large manufacturing building that housed scores of industries supplying clothing items to other countries.   The building had frightened workers by developing fissures, but workers had been sent back inside.

More than 1,000 people were injured when the site housing five garment factories on the outskirts of Dhaka imploded on Wednesday, allegedly after managers ignored workers’ warnings that the building had become unstable.

Flags flew at half-mast on Thursday as the shell-shocked country declared a day of mourning for the victims of the nation’s worst factory disaster, which highlighted anew safety concerns in Bangladesh’s vital garment industry.

(snip)

The disaster came less than five months after a factory fire killed 112 people and underscored the unsafe conditions in Bangladesh’s booming garment industry, the second biggest in the world.

Teachers in Mexico’s Guerrero State stormed local political offices and started fires to protest reforms legislated against claimed corruption in the educational system.

For several hours, masked protesters started fires and attacked the offices with pickaxes and sticks, spraying slogans on the walls.

The state governor has called for support from the federal government.

The reforms impose centralised teacher assessment and seek to end corrupt practices in the education system.

Those practices include the buying and selling of teaching positions.

Innovations to aid in the many afflicted areas of Pakistan are being concentrated in local assistance programs that answer needs outside influences have failed to meet.

To counter perceptions of western influence (the CIA’s connection with a vaccination scheme may have led to attacks on polio workers), the Rural Support Programmes Network and its member organisations draw funds from Pakistan’s federal and regional governments, international aid agencies, corporate sponsors and the beneficiaries.

The US government has acknowledged the difficulties in channelling aid effectively to the neediest in Pakistan and remains supportive, despite repeated attempts in Congress to slash billions from aid. But to continue the progress that is being made, everyone must chip in.

One sign that the needs of Pakistan are not being ignored is a recent decision by the European Union to allocate €42 million (Dh207m) in aid from a fund for five major global hot spots subjected to “long-enduring crises”. The EU acknowledged that “the only new crisis on this year’s list is the one caused by conflict and internal displacement in Pakistan”.

Turning from the courting of outside influences has resolved problems in areas that gain independence along with meeting local needs.

Never.Give.Up.

The books of descriptions are in poor lighting, as are the displays themselves, to keep from bleaching out the designs on the ancient ceramics.

Last week, I featured several ceramic pieces from the Smithsonian’s Indian Museum and some information about them, and ceramics.   This week I’m putting in a few from the collection and the wall that displays them, to give an idea of the way you see them on the top floor of the museum.

As you will notice, the matching of figures with their descriptions takes some painstaking work and if you visit the museum, be prepared to spend time and effort to work out what you’re seeing.    The vast collection has passed into Smithsonian handling after years of collection and study, and has been open to the public since 2004 on the Mall in D.C.

The National Museum of the American Indian is home to the collection of the former Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation. The collection includes more than 800,000 objects, as well as a photographic archive of 125,000 images. It is divided in to the following areas: Amazon; Andes; Arctic/Subarctic; California/Great Basin; Contemporary Art; Mesoamerican/Caribbean; Northwest Coast; Patagonia; Plains/Plateau; Woodlands.

The collection, which became part of the Smithsonian in June 1990, was assembled by George Gustav Heye(1874–1957) during a 54-year period, beginning in 1903. He traveled throughout North and South America collecting Native objects. Heye used his collection to found New York’s Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation and directed it until his death in 1957. The Heye Foundation’s Museum of the American Indian opened to the public in New York City in 1922.

The collection is not subject to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. When the National Museum was created in 1989, a law governing repatriation was drafted specifically for the museum, the National Museum of the American Indian Act, upon which NAGPRA was modeled.^[5]In addition to repatriation, the museum dialogues with tribal communities regarding the appropriate curation of cultural heritage items. For example, the human remains vault is smudged once a week with tobacco, sage, sweetgrass, and cedar, and sacred Crow objects in the Plains vault are smudged with sage during the full moon. If the appropriate cultural tradition for curating an object is unknown, the Native staff uses their own cultural knowledge and customs to treat materials as respectfully as possible.^[6]

The long history of our native population contains many chapters of desecration and abuse, which the Smithsonian facility has tried to avoid.   Respect for native worship and practices developed slowly in this country’s progress, and is welcome in this exhibition.

Over Easy

(Picture courtesy of mhaithaca at flickr.com.)

The Thursday tradition that carries on Southern Dragon’s practice of focus on media and news outside our usual sphere has particular poignance today, in a week of intensely localized reports on the Patriot’s Day marathon atrocity.   While we are horrified by the waste of life here, much has escaped our notice while our media zeroed in on this event.

The Venezuelan election produced results that the opposition and other countries, including the U.S., called to have reviewed.   New Secretary of State Kerry asked that the election of Chavez’ successor Maduro be reviewed before making it official.

“We think there ought to be a recount,” he told the foreign affairs committee in reference to Venezuelan opposition demands for a full audit of the vote.

At least seven people have died in the protests that have riven Venezuela following Sunday’s narrow presidential poll. The National Electoral Council declared Maduro the winner by 262,000 votes out of 14.9m cast.

The Constitution Project concluded that the crime of torture was committed by U.S. officials in conducting its war on Iraq.

It was led by a former Republican and member of George W Bush’s cabinet; and a former Democrat congressman.

The report will make uncomfortable reading for members of both the Bush and the Obama administrations.

It concludes that “the kind of considered and detailed discussions, involving the president and his top advisors on inflicting pain and torment on some detainees in custody” were unprecedented.

Moreover, the taskforce found ‘no firm or persuasive evidence’ that torture produced valuable information and that the policy ‘damaged the standing of the US’.

Mexico’s long reign of lawlessness has led to the rise of local vigilante forces from the ranks of everyday, frustrated, civilians who need order for daily functions.  In Guerrero state, there has developed an ease of authority that ignores local, generally corrupt, existing police officials.

Since they became a force to be reckoned with earlier this year, this is just one of dozens of arrests made by untrained, armed civilians from Ayutla and its surrounding pueblos. But they have no legal authority, and they should not be carrying their guns in the street.

This does not seem to be of concern to the steady stream of locals who come to the HQ to report crime. Dona Juana, a frail elderly woman, is having problems with a neighbour. He is trying to steal her land.

The law can be corrupted, but the need for order can prevail.   Never.Give.Up.

Over Easy

(Picture courtesy of mhaithaca at flickr.com.)

Thursdays the foreign media and news emphasis begun by Southern Dragon, that tradition Over Easy is continuation of, is the main feature that I follow. This past week North Korea’s new leader kept  on with his continuing defiance of the west. He closed off a shared industrial zone to South Korean workers, and ramped up hostilities. The U.S. sent off antimissile weaponry to Guam.

North Korea appears to have moved a medium range missile capable of hitting targets in South Korea and Japan to its east coast, the South’s Yonhap news agency reported today.

The movement was detected by both South Korean and US intelligence, Yonhap said, citing military and government sources.

Today the prospects of opening new realms of discovery is the aim of improvements and enhancements to the abilities of the Hadron Collider. Particle physics is the intended recipient of this upgrade, but many other realms stand to gain from the work.

Scientists believe the upgrade will enable them to discover new particles which will lead to a more complete theory of how the Universe works.

A project leader with the LHC’s Atlas experiment, Dr Pippa Wells, told BBC News that there was much more to come from the LHC.

“The past two years have been the most exciting in my time as a particle physicist. People are absolutely fired up. They’ve made one new discovery (the Higgs) and they want to make more discoveries with the new high energies that the upgrade will give us. We could find a new realm of particle physics.”

Feminism as another tool of elites, instead of international issues about working women’s subjugation, concerns watchers of a struggle between prominent authors Slaughter and Sandberg – who direct attention to high level executives.

Figures show, for example, that in 2009, 27.5 percent of African-American women, 27.4 percent of Hispanic women and 13.5 percent of white women in the US were living below the poverty line. Moreover, 35.1 percent of households headed by single moms were food insecure at some point in 2010, meaning that they did not have enough food at all times for an active, healthy life.

Many working mothers in the US are working double shifts, night shifts or two to three jobs just in order to provide for their families.

Given these blatant class and race-biases, there is something profoundly illiberal – and fundamentally incongruous – in the re-envisioning of liberated womanhood as a reorientation of affect and as a better balancing act. US women do not need to change their attitude; they need, first, job security, good childcare, livable wages for the work they do, and physical security.

Agriculture that incorporates biologically engineered crops was promoted by a recent conference in Egypt. Shortly before the conference convened, reports that the country had destroyed unauthorized genetically altered plantings were contradicted by figures on the existence of 1,000 hectares of genetically modified maise there. Controversy developed that the conference tried to refute.

Another potential threat is the impact of genetically modified crops on biodiversity. Biotech companies flood the market with uniform seeds, devoid of previous traits that made them adaptable to specific soils and environments. By being uniform, crops become much more vulnerable to disease.

Last but not least, some studies have suggested that genetically engineered foods are not safe for consumers, arguing that they did not undergo long-term safety assessments before being introduced to the US market and the rest of the world.

Various experiments on lab rats conducted in Egypt and abroad to evaluate the rats’ physiological reactions to a diet of genetically modified crops reached the same conclusions. These rodents had reproductive problems, weaker immune systems, accelerating aging, high cholesterol, organ damage and gastrointestinal problems.

In preparation for withdrawal of large portions of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, ‘expeditionary’ conditions will be returned for occupation troops there. Lobster is expected to go missing from menus where they have been provided for purposes of MWR (morale, welfare and recreation).

Among the other things to go in the shift to expeditionary living will be franchises such as Popeye’s at Bagram airbase and TGIF at Kandahar. The PX shops for soldiers will also shrink, cutting back on stocks of goods including computers and high-end sunglasses to concentrate on toiletries and necessities.

“Franchise food, coffee and merchandise vendors will also close when expeditionary standards are implemented,” Hawk said. “There will be less MWR-led events.”

Medical services will not be affected, so anyone injured in battlefield can be taken to top-level hospitals within the “golden hour” vital for saving lives. And wireless internet will be switched on until bases close, allowing soldiers to stay in touch with friends and families back home.

The End is Near is good news in this respect, that the wars begun by criminal misconduct in the previous administration are finally being ended. Never.Give.Up.

Over Easy

(Picture courtesy of mhaithaca at flickr.com.)

The weekly view of foreign news and media I have been taking on in memory of Southern Dragon at Lakeside Diner is dominated this week by accounts of the President’s trip to Israel.  After meeting with newly installed Prime Minister Netanyahu, today there will be talks with Palestinian Authority President Assad.   While much accord was reached, the President still was not in agreement with Israel on negotiations with Iran.

Mr Netanyahu mentioned it in his first sentence and again and again. He also reminded us more than once that Israel has the right to self-determination and to defend itself. The obvious implication there is that he thinks President Obama still holds out hope for a diplomatic solution which will prevent Iran obtaining nuclear weapons.

The Parliament of Cyprus will receive ‘Plan B’ for bailing out its economy, in which reports are that Russian aid will be included, though as yet the form is unspecified.

Mr Anastasiades will put a proposal to a meeting of political party leaders meeting at 09:30 (07:30 GMT). It is then expected to go before parliament in the afternoon, according to CNA.

State TV said the plan might include a levy on bank deposits over 100,000 euros.

(snip)

One offer of help has come from Cyprus’s Orthodox Church, which is a major shareholder in the third-largest domestic lender, the Hellenic Bank.

Archbishop Chrysostomos I said on Wednesday the Church was willing to mortgage its assets to invest in government bonds

The establishment of a “bad bank” which would take on risky assets held by Cypriot banks has also been mentioned by officials.

Charges of using chemical weapons were brought against each other by both sides in the Syrian conflict.

Bashar Jaafari, Syria’s UN ambassador, announced on Wednesday that he had asked the UN to ”form a specialised, independent and neutral technical mission” to investigate the use of chemical weapons by the opposition in the attack in the town of Khan al-Assal near northern city of Aleppo.

The attack, which killed 26 people on Tuesday, if confirmed, would be the first use of chemical weapons in the nearly two-year-old conflict.

“The Syrian government, if it has such weapons, will never use it against its own population,” Jaafari said.

Denying any involvement into the incident, the rebels have accused the government forces of using the chemical weapons. They have also called for an inquiry into the deadly attack.

Beginnings were made this week to begin advance planning to head off the growing effects of drought and plan accordingly in endangered areas of Africa.

The High-level Meeting on National Drought Policy marked the first globally-coordinated attempt to move towards science-based drought disaster risk reduction and break away from piecemeal and costly crisis-response, which often comes too late to avert death, displacement and destruction.

The meeting issued a declaration encouraging governments to develop and implement national drought management policies consistent with their development objectives. It also provided detailed scientific and policy guidance on how to achieve this.

“Prevention must be our priority,” said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon in a message to delegates. “Nations need urgently to develop strategies for resilience — especially for the poor, who are always hit first and worst.”

Beginnings with promise could be a beacon to backwards countries presently unable to handle the most obvious effects of disastrous policies, such as the U.S. has headed toward in its present economic loggerheads policies.  Informed planning for handling disasters would improve chances of avoiding the public’s being victimized by officials concerned for other influences than those they serve.

Never.Give.Up.