Over Easy

In tribute to Southern Dragon’s Lakeside Diner, today we review news and media from outside the U.S.

Protests in Istanbul have resulted from Prime Minister Erdogan’s attempt to turn an urban park into yet another development.  Today he announced that protesters will be removed at once from Gezi Park.   After clashes over the past week in defiance of his threats, Erdogan had recently offered to bring the development plan to a referendum.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, said on Wednesday he would consider holding a referendum on plans to redevelop Gezi Park that have led to nationwide protests, in his first major concession.

Gezi Park is a leafy corner of Taksim Square where the protesters have set up a makeshift settlement of tents.

The mood in the public square on Wednesday night was subdued and peaceful, in stark contrast to the previous night when protesters fought running battles with riot police.

While NSA head Alexander announced that many terrorist plots had been foiled by surveillance, consternation was an ongoing reaction to the release of information about the program, PRISM.  Reports of extensive U.S. spying on individuals brought clamor in Europe for the U.S. carriers of the internet to be better controlled.

Europe, which lacks internet giants of its own, has long yearned to contain the power of the U.S. titans that dominate the Web, and privacy-focused Germany was quick to condemn their co-operation with the U.S. security services.

“The U.S. government must provide clarity regarding these monstrous allegations of total monitoring of various telecommunications and Internet services,” said Peter Schaar, German data protection and freedom of information commissioner.

“Statements from the U.S. government that the monitoring was not aimed at U.S. citizens but only against persons outside the United States do not reassure me at all.”

(snip)

Some of the companies named in the article have denied the government had “direct access” to their central servers. Nevertheless, the justice minister for the German state of Hesse, Joerg-Uwe Hahn, called for a boycott of the companies involved.

Market spiraled downward as the World Bank reported growth lower than anticipated under austerity plans adopted by governments hit by recession.

It said the global economy was likely to grow by 2.2% this year, a downgrade compared with its January forecast of 2.4% growth. The gloomier outlook came as global markets fell, with the Japanese Nikkei closing down 6.35%, and the FTSE 100, the French CAC, German DAX and Spanish IBEX all down more than 1% in early trading on Thursday.

Against the backdrop of the World Bank report, markets faltered amid fears that central bank stimulus measures – led by the US – might be withdrawn.

Technology under development would create a building method giving environmental integration of structures in their surroundings.

An expanded range of screens and canopies built with minutely balanced filtering layers could work with convective air and currents of heating and cooling air encircling a new urban architecture. Within this kind of city “fabric”, the thermal plumes emitted by each human occupant offer a new form of energy to be captured and used to operate entirely ductless buildings.

Never.Give.Up.

Over Easy

In tribute to Southern Dragon’s Lakeside Diner, today we review news and media from outside the U.S.

The appointment of Susan Rice as National Security Advisor to the president punctuated opponents’ continued efforts to keep Obama appointments from serving in offices standing vacant throughout the government.

Obama had challenged Senator McCain and others, who scuppered her nomination, to go after him they had a problem with him. The scuttlebutt in Congress however was that their issues with Rice extended beyond Benghazi — problems with her included her in-your-face style, her business dealings, and preferences among some leaderships in Africa.

Rice backed off from confrontation, telling Obama in a letter that she was withdrawing her name from consideration because, if nominated, “the confirmation process would be lengthy, disruptive, and costly.” But it was evident even in those days that Obama would bring her into his inner circle getting around the Congress once things had cooled off.

“Rice’s career is far from over. President Obama could make her his national security adviser — a cabinet appointment that does not require Senate confirmation — just to stick it to the Republicans,” this paper had reported during the flap.

Worldwide attention is focused on the trial of Bradley Manning for releasing controversial information to Wikileaks.

After a review of the impunity with which certain international actors are permitted to break the law – as in the case of the United Nations charter, which should have precluded war on Iraq in 2003 but which “was as gleefully flouted as if it were an archaic town ordinance prohibiting jump-rope on the Sabbath” – Madar’s treatise ultimately evolves into an indictment of the law itself:

“We lawyers tend to think that law is by nature something good and just and that it’s dirty politics that fouls everything up. But the WikiLeaks disclosures reveal something far more troubling than violations of the rule of law; [what] they reveal is the pathology of the laws themselves.”

For example, the infamous “Collateral Murder” video allegedly leaked by Manning – in which a US helicopter fires on Iraqi civilians and then on the van, complete with children inside, that arrives to rescue the wounded – did not elicit a condemnation from major international human rights organisations. Explains Madar: “The reason for their silence is disquietingly simple: the gunship’s actions were, under the Rule of Law as codified and accepted in international humanitarian law (IHL), perfectly legal.”

In El Salvador, the child born without a brain did not survive many hours after delivery by C-section to protect the mother’s health.

Her plight drew international attention and a ruling from the Inter-American court on human rights that El Salvador should protect her life and help her end the pregnancy.

The health ministry stepped in late last week after the ruling and said it would allow the C-section because the pregnancy was already at 26 weeks and the country’s strict abortion laws were no longer applicable. Ultrasound images had indicated her foetus was developing with only a brain stem.

The authority to set interbank loan rates, Libor, has been proposed to be transferred to the EU from the British Banking Association, in a remarkably rational move European economic overseers.  The IMF admitted debt restructuring should have been integral to the Greek bailout, another concession to reality.  Krugman notes ‘it vastly underestimated the economic damage austerity would inflict’ as well.

Never.Give.Up.

Over Easy

In tribute to Southern Dragon’s Lakeside Diner, today we review news and media from outside the U.S.

In the possibilities for cybercrime and laundering of monies, the shutdown of Liberty Reserve made a large crimp. The founder of the business was jailed.

Budovsky, a Ukranian who has been reported to be a naturalized Costa Rican citizen, is thought to have financed a number of businesses in Costa Rica with proceeds that are claimed to originate through child pornography sites and drug traffickers who used the Liberty Reserve service.

Liberty Reserve was an unregulated money transfer business where users could keep their identity hidden.  Authorities allege that a large portion if its user base came from underground economies and cybercrime.

However, the Internet has been abuzz since news broke of Liberty Reserve’s shutdown, with hundreds, if not thousands of former users claiming they were not involved in illegal activity, and that their businesses could be devastated should the funds in their Liberty Reserve accounts not be returned.

The region around Syria grew more tense as Russia sent in weaponry to the government forces, Israel talked about neutralizing activities there, and Assad threatened back. Assad claimed dominance of power in the wake of the receipt of Russian aid.

The Syrian army has scored “major victories” against rebels and now holds “the balance of power” in the conflict, President Bashar al-Assad has reportedly told a Lebanese TV station.

In Jordan, the influx of refugees from wartorn Syria increased existing water shortages and stressed the growing population. Meantime, peace conferencing pressure grew for the attendance of government officials from Syria with pressure from the same ally arming them, Russia.

On May 7, Kerry met Lavrov in Moscow. They agreed to another Geneva meeting – but this time with the ambitious goal of face-to-face talks to form that “transitional governing body”. Lavrov would persuade the regime to attend. Kerry would lead western efforts to get the divided opposition to the table at Geneva.

A tight timeline was set. Initially, it was proposed the conference should be held by the end of May. That date has slipped and it is now proposed that the conference should be held during the week of June 10. The idea is to create momentum, which could become unstoppable. It is also considered helpful that the talks take place the week before world leaders meet in Northern Ireland for the annual G8 gathering. The idea, one diplomat said, is that the G8 would be able to, “build on any progress, or if Geneva fails, to pick up the pieces.”

The first wedding in France under new laws allowing gay marriage was celebrated in Montpelier. Scattered demonstrations did not stop the ceremony which drew large media attention and crowds.

In his wedding speech, Autin referred to Martin Luther King. “The law may not be able to make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me.” Boileau added: “After the hatred, it’s time to talk of love.”

It had been billed as the French “wedding of the century” in a southern city which calls itself France’s most gay-friendly place. When France’sgay marriage and adoption law was passed 10 days ago following months of demonstrations, Autin, 40, a gay rights activist who works for the Montpellier tourist office, and Boileau, 30, a civil servant, swiftly published their banns, booked the outfits, organised the rings, the DJ, the car, the sit-down dinner and the honeymoon.

Never.Give.Up.

(Picture courtesy of mhaithaca at flickr.com.)

In continuing tribute to the Diner tradition of Southern Dragon, today we look at media and news outside the U.S.

A scene of horror was created in Southeast London’s Woolwich neighborhood just outside an army barracks when two men hacked a soldier to death then actively publicized their own crime.   They announced to passersby that they were returning a murder there for the deaths of their fellows abroad at British hands.

One was pictured holding a knife and speaking to a woman at the scene….According to the paper, Cub Scout leader Ingrid Loyau-Kennett asked him: “Would you like to give me what you have in your hands?”

“He was covered with blood,” she said. “I thought I had better talk to him before he starts attacking somebody else.”

She says the suspect told her the dead man was a British soldier, adding: “I killed him because he kills Muslims over there and I am fed up that people kill Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Comparisons were being made to the recent atrocity at Boston’s Marathon.

In Egypt’s Sinai region hostages have been taken and the Morsi government is struggling to recapture them from tribes that are in revolt against officials who have failed to give even basic services in that area.

More importantly, there are no indications that authorities even know the whereabouts of the hostages. The presidency says it is not talking to the hostage takers, but there are mediation efforts under way, and it does not seem that these men could be released without some sort of dialogue.

Tribal leaders have been key in talks with assailants in previous hostage situations involving tourists or members of the security forces. There have been claims over the past year that President Morsi had also been resorting to so-called Jihadists to mediate with armed groups in Sinai, which, if true, can be quite risky.

The government is, once again, between a rock and a hard place, but it is arguably a position they could have avoided if a genuine, transparent and wide-reaching dialogue and programme was set to develop the Sinai.

The economic slump in the European Union has ameliorated among signs that the worst part of the decline is over.

“There are signs the rate of decline is easing, which does suggest we may be moving into a period of stabilisation, but it’s taking a lot longer than most people anticipated,” said Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit.

“It’s looking more like the end of the year (until) we’re going to see the numbers start to show signs of stabilising.”

The new orders services index fell to 45.3 from 46.2, meaning a big upturn in the PMI next month looks unlikely.

Williamson said there were signs that the rate of decline eased this month in the “peripheral” euro zone countries outside Germany and France.

“But against that we’ve seen a worrying steep deterioration in service sector expectations for the year ahead.”

The easing of deficit levels in the U.S. has eased pressure here as well, erasing a major factor cited by opponents of public services to erase such basic support systems as social security and medicare.

Never.Give.Up.

(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.

(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.

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.

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.