Mike Pompeo unveils panel to examine 'unalienable rights' — Caitlin Oprysko

Mike Pompeo?

Politico
Mike Pompeo unveils panel to examine 'unalienable rights'

Caitlin Oprysko

Laugh of the Day

Beijing is able to court both Iran and Saudi Arabia at the same, something the U.S. is unable to do since American foreign policy is often dictated by human rights concerns.

So Iran, a theocratic democracy with a modicum of right is violating human rights, whereas Saudi Arabia, a hereditary hyper-authoritarian dictatorship aka theocratic monarchy that follows the interpretation of Wahhabism, which is the strictest and most anti-liberal form of Islam, is not violating human rights as the liberal West conceives this? What is this guy shooting up with?

Oil Price
China Sticks Up For Iran As Geopolitical Pressure Mounts

Tim Daiss

Xinhua — Xi stresses human rights development in Chinese context

President Xi Jinping pledged to uphold the path of human rights development that fits the Chinese context and promotes well-rounded human development.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, made the statement in a congratulatory letter to a symposium marking the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Beijing Monday.

In the letter, Xi called the declaration a significant document in the history of human civilization and recognized its profound impact on the development of the human rights cause around the world.

Chinese people will work with people of other countries to uphold the common values of humanity, which are peace, development, equality, justice, democracy and freedom, to safeguard human dignity and rights, to promote fairer, sounder and more inclusive global human rights governance, and to build a community with a shared future for humanity, he said.

Noting that the CPC has always taken human development as its goal, Xi said hundreds of millions of Chinese people have had their lives improved since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, particularly over the past four decades of reform and opening-up.

China has been combining the principle of human rights' universality with the reality of modern times and staying committed to a path of human rights development that fits the Chinese context, Xi said in the letter.

China adheres to a people-centered vision of human rights, considers the rights to subsistence and development as the primary and basic human rights, and works for coordinated development of the people's economic, political, social, cultural and environmental rights, the letter read.

Xi also called on people who work in the human rights research field to make greater contributions for the sake of diverse human civilizations and the world's human rights cause...

Ecns
Xi stresses human rights development in Chinese context

Xinhua

See also

Ecns
Human Rights Day: Women left indelible mark on UN Declaration

CGTN

Also

Ecns
Guangxi in a statistical nutshell -- economy
Xinhua

also

ECNS
Senior Chinese official calls for more foreign wisdom for China's development

Xinhua

Bill Mitchell — Greek austerity – a denial of basic human rights, penalty should be imprisonment

I have just finished reading a report published by the Transnational Institute(TNI), which is an “international research and advocacy institute committed to building a just, democratic and sustainable world”. The Report (published November 19, 2018) – Democracy Not For Sale – is harrowing, to say the least. We learn that in an advanced European nation with a glorious tradition and history an increasing number of people are being denial access to basic nutrition solely as a result of economic policy changes that have been imposed on it by outside agencies (European Commission, European Central Bank and the IMF). The Report shows how the food supply has been negatively impacted by the austerity programs; how food prices have been forced up at the same time as incomes have been forced down, and how collective and cooperative arrangements have been destroyed by privatisation and deregulation impositions. The Report concludes that the Greek State and the Eurozone Member States violated the Greek people’s right to food as a result of the austerity measures required by three Memorandums of Understanding (2010, 2012 and 2015). In other words, the austerity packages imposed on Greece contravened international human rights law. Not one person has gone to prison as a result of this deliberate and calculated violation of human rights. 

Bill Mitchell – billy blog
Greek austerity – a denial of basic human rights, penalty should be imprisonment
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia

David Ruccio — Worker rights in the United States

Ambassador Nikki Haley’s decision last week to withdraw the United States from the United Nations Human Rights Council is remarkable. The United States is the first nation in the body’s 12-year history to voluntarily remove itself from membership in the council while serving as a member.

Some have alleged that the timing of Haley’s decision is conspicuous. “The move,” read the second paragraph of a CNN report on Haley’s decision, “came down one day after the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights slammed the separation of children from their parents at the US-Mexico border as ‘unconscionable.’”

It’s true the Trump administration has been threatening to leave the Council for much of the past year. And the condemnation of the administration’s policy of separating children from their parents on the border was perhaps the last straw.

However, in my view, at least as important was a report last month by the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Philip Alston, on his mission to the United States late last year…. 

Occasional Links & Commentary
Worker rights in the United States
David F. Ruccio | Professor of Economics, University of Notre Dame

Reuters — UN report slams US for criminalizing poverty as destitution grows

The report concludes that the persistence of extreme poverty in the US is a political choice made by people in power. It also criticizes US policy for making healthcare a privilege rather than a right.

Deutsche Welle
UN report slams US for criminalizing poverty as destitution grows

Reuters

The Guardian view on a job guarantee: a policy whose time has come

Ministers need to adopt measures that secure a basic human right to engage in productive employment

The Guardian
The Guardian view on a job guarantee: a policy whose time has come
Editorial

China Daily — U.S. report calling China 'force of instability' backfires

The Trump administration may have had not expected that its human rights report about the rest of the world would backfire so badly after it was released last Friday.

That was especially true when U.S. Acting Secretary of State John Sullivan called the governments of China, Russia, Iran and DPRK a "forces of instability" as a result of their human rights issues.

Pointing out China's problems in human rights is one thing and should be welcomed. China, as a developing nation, has much to improve in that regard. But calling China a force of instability is just blown out of proportion and does not at all fit the reality.

During the 2018 IMF/World Bank annual spring meeting that ended Sunday, the message is that China has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty in past decades and has contributed to a third of global economic growth in the past decade, more than any other country.

That is some of the powerful evidence that China is a source of not only stability, but prosperity for its own nation, the region and the world, not to mention China's greater role in United Nations peacekeeping missions and global governance, including playing a leading role in reaching the Paris climate accord. The list is long.

Sullivan should read readers' response when Agence France Presse tweeted last Friday that "U.S. brands China and Russia 'forces of instability.'"

"I keep forgetting; was it China, Russia, Iran or NK who invaded Iraq in 2003, bombed Libya in 2011, and have been arming jihadists in Syria since 2012?" replied Mario Santana.

"Really? Name a country invaded by these forces," wrote Cuanticorojo.

"U.S. caused more war, terror and instability on foreign land than anyone else. Don't kid yourself. And funny how it ignores Israel and Saudi," said Coitnana, clearly referring to the U.S. double standards.

"Not looking in the mirror, hey America," wrote cappygolucky.

"Definitely add Trump's mental state to that list," added Mr. Mason.

The U.S. human rights reports on nearly 200 countries and territories have long been regarded as biased because they never include human rights violations in the U.S.
Compared to China, the U.S. is more deserving of the title "force of instability".

From the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, regime change in Libya, rampant drone strikes in a number of countries that have caused many civilian deaths, covert special forces, spy operations and secret prisons abroad to the withdrawal from the Paris climate deal and cutting funding to the UN, the list could go on and on.

A lawyer by training, Sullivan clearly was deliberately ignoring the human rights violations in the U.S.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch, in its recent World Report 2018, said the U.S. moved backward on human rights at home and abroad across a range of issues in 2017, the first year of the Trump administration.

The report critized Trump's actions on refugees and immigrants by calling them criminals and security threats; equivocated on white nationalism and consistently championed anti-Muslim ideas and policies.

According to the report, the Trump administration has embraced policies that will roll back access to reproductive health care for women and undermined police accountability for abuse.

"Many vulnerable groups endured renewed attacks on their rights during the year. Other longstanding U.S. laws and practices — particularly related to criminal and juvenile justice, immigration, and national security — continued to violate internationally recognized human rights," the report said.

It's not the first time for Human Rights Watch to note the 2.3 million people in U.S. state and federal prisons and jails on any given day, the world's largest reported incarcerated population.

As people just marked the 50th anniversary of the passing of Martin Luther King Jr, on April 4, the report sadly noted that black men are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of white men, and an unarmed black person is five times as likely to be killed by police as an unarmed white person.

At the Guantanamo detention center, the U.S. continues to hold 31 men there indefinitely without charge. And throughout 2017, the U.S. continued to carry out large-scale warrantless intelligence surveillance programs without transparency or oversight, according to the report.

Sullivan should definitely read this report, especially the 18 pages on the U.S., because that is why people disagreed so strongly with his indentifying of "force of instability".

ECNS
U.S. report calling China 'force of instability' backfiresChina Daily

Kevin Gosztola — Who’s Who Of American War Criminals And Torture Apologists Endorse Gina Haspel For CIA Director

The narrative now is "Assad cannot be allowed to normalize use of chemical weapons."

The US has already normalized the use of torture and illegal aggression.

Firedoglake
Who’s Who Of American War Criminals And Torture Apologists Endorse Gina Haspel For CIA Director

Kevin Gosztola | managing editor of Shadowproof Press and producer and co-host of the weekly podcast, "Unauthorized Disclosure"

Jeremy Corbyn — The Corbyn Doctrine

British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn addressed United Nations officials in Geneva this Friday in a speech outlining his vision for a twenty-first century internationalism.

The speech, scheduled to mark International Human Rights Day, examined the roots of global economic inequality, the developing climate crisis and the impact of war across the world. These “threats to our common humanity,” it argues, can only be overcome with “a global rules-based system that applies to all and works for the many, not the few.”

Quoting from late socialist leaders Salvador Allende and Thomas Sankara, Corbyn offers a blueprint for a fundamentally different world order based on international cooperation and solidarity.

The speech is reproduced below in full.

A shot across the bow of neoliberalism and Thatcher's TINA ("there is no alternative").

There is an alternative to this damaging and bankrupt order. The world’s largest corporations and banks cannot be left to write the rules and rig the system for themselves. The world’s economy can and must deliver for the common good and the majority of its people. But that is going to demand real and fundamental structural change on an international level.

Awesome speech. American progressives should familiarize themselves with it.

Jacobin

The Corbyn Doctrine

Jeremy Corbyn

See also

Have you heard of SLAPP lawsuits? You soon will.

SLAPP stands for “Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation.” It is a lawsuit brought by big corporations intended to censor, intimidate, and silence critics by burdening them with the overwhelming costs of a legal defense until they’re forced to abandon their criticism or opposition. And it may be the biggest threat to the resistance you’ve never heard of.

The Evil Empire strikes again.

AlterNet
Robert Reich Reveals the Biggest Threat to American Democracy You've Never Heard Of

Robert Reich

also

Truthout
Trump Takes a Stand for Corruption -- by Withdrawing the US From Anti-Corruption Pact

Emily Ludolf, Occupy.com | News Analysis

John W. Whitehead — America Breaks Down: The Anatomy of a National Psychosis

Whitehead founded The Rutherford Institute to preserve and defend human rights and civil liberties in a non-partisan way. He issues a stark warning to Americans.

Unless we can learn to live together as brothers and sisters and fellow citizens, we will perish as tools and prisoners of the American police state.

Counterpunch
America Breaks Down: The Anatomy of a National Psychosis

John W. Whitehead | President, The Rutherford Institute

Demonizing Venezuela’s Revolution — Dennis Bernstein interviews Daniel Kovali

Exposing faked news about Venezuela, although it is also about Latin America as a whole and the US attempt to control the region to advance the interests of the US.

Dennis Bernstein: You just got back from Venezuela. Why were you there?

Daniel Kovalik: I was invited as an election observer for the regional elections that took place on October 15.

Dennis Bernstein: Jimmy Carter has said that these elections in Venezuela were some of the fairest in the world.

Daniel Kovalik: Yes, he said they have the best election process in the world. I agree with him. They have an incredible uniform process throughout the country. As you know, the US does not. Every state chooses its own way to vote. In Venezuela, they have the same machines throughout the country. They are pretty much foolproof. You have to use a fingerprint to even activate the machine. You get a paper receipt, which you put into a box after you have cast an electronic vote. And if people are unhappy afterward, they can ask for an audit.

Dennis Bernstein: How does that compare to the situation in other countries?

Daniel Kovalik: I would say it is better than in the United States. We know from people like Greg Palast that something like a million people might have been wrongfully thrown off the voter rolls through a process called “cross check.” You see gerrymandering, which even the courts have found to be racist. Venezuela is not affected by that sort of thing.

One thing the Bolivarian Revolution has done under Chavez was to create this very tight, open democratic process. The people are very proud of their system. It pains me to read the mainstream press, which is very critical of Venezuela....

Consortium News
Demonizing Venezuela’s Revolution
Dennis Bernstein interviews Daniel Kovalik, Adjunct Professor teaching International Human Rights Law at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law

Alex Emmons — The U.S. Voted Against a U.N. Resolution Condemning Death Penalty for LGBTQ People

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP’S administration is facing strong backlash from civil rights groups after voting against a U.N. resolution that condemns using death penalty to punish “consensual same-sex relations.”

The U.N. Human Rights Council approved the measure on Friday with a 27-13 vote, with seven countries abstaining....

The Intercept
The U.S. Voted Against a U.N. Resolution Condemning Death Penalty for LGBTQ People
Alex Emmons

Todd E. Pierce — The U.S. Hypocrisy of ‘Human Rights’

Failing to prosecute war crimes is in itself a war crime under international law, and, to use the words of the “Office of Global Criminal Justice,” the opposite of its mission to “expose the truth,” and “judge those responsible.” But taking matters a step further, the U.S. government has designed a legal procedure to deny protection and assistance to victims. This is exactly what leaders of countries that are in line for U.S.-sponsored regime change are routinely accused of doing by the Office of Global Criminal Justice.… 

That was what German military and Gestapo officers said of the prisons they worked in when they went on trial for war crimes at Nuremberg. Most common as their legal defense against war crime charges was that the defendants were only following “superior orders,” in German, “Befehl ist Befehl” (“orders are orders”) — a tactic now known as the Nuremberg defense. In other words, the earlier generation of war criminals effectively claimed their actions were “within their scope of employment.” That defense didn’t work at Nuremberg for Germans, but it works now for U.S. officials in U.S. courts.

The closing the Office of Global Criminal Justice just makes official what has been U.S. policy since 9/11. If it is true that hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to virtue, then the U.S. government has showered tribute upon vice with the hypocrisy of the Office of Global Criminal Justice. If it closes, it means we won’t even pay tribute anymore to virtue, preferring to fully embrace vice in a display of our “authenticity.” And that may be the one example where the “Office of Global Criminal Justice” fulfills its mission to “expose the truth.”

Takes people with no honor and no shame. In other words, low life. And fish rot from the head.

Consortium News
The U.S. Hypocrisy of ‘Human Rights’
(Ret.) Maj. Todd E. Pierce, former Army judge advocate general defense attorney at Guantanamo Bay detention center, Cuba

This article originally appeared at The American Conservative at http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/tillerson-mulls-closing-of-war-crimes-office/

See also

PBS’ Anti-Russia Propaganda Series

Rick Sterling

Branko Milanovic — The welfare state in the age of globalization

In my previous post that looked at policies to reduce inequality in the 21st century, I mentioned that I will next discuss the welfare state. Here it is...

Global Inequality
The welfare state in the age of globalization
Branko Milanovic | Visiting Presidential Professor at City University of New York Graduate Center and senior scholar at the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS), and formerly lead economist in the World Bank's research department and senior associate at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Anonymous — Anonymous Prison Guards Who Boiled A Schizophrenic Man to Death Will Not Be ChargedPrison Guards Who Boiled A Schizophrenic Man to Death Will Not Be Charged

Human rights violation?

Anonymous
Prison Guards Who Boiled A Schizophrenic Man to Death Will Not Be Charged

AP has picked it up. This report contradicts the one above. Which is the fake news?

The Guardian
No charges in case of US inmate left in hot prison shower for two hours

Associated Press

TASS — Russian ex-children’s rights ombudsman: President made a wise choice

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Friday appointing Kuznetsova as the country’s new children’s rights commissioner. Kuznetsova heads the Association of organizations for family protection and an executive committee of the All-Russia People’s Front in Penza, southeast of Moscow.

Kuznetsova, a 34-year-old mother of six, is a public figure and a human rights activist. She also heads the Pokrov regional foundation providing support for families, mothers and children in Penza and is a member of the women’s council subordinated to the governor’s office. She chairs a regional branch of the All-Russian public movement "Mothers of Russia" in Penza.…

Sounds like she is eminently qualified for the post.

TASS
Russian ex-children’s rights ombudsman: President made a wise choice

Will Denayer — Ever more conservative regression. Why Theresa May wants to scrap Human Rights Act

Last Wednesday (August 24), most national newspapers failed to mention on their front page the bombshell that May’s conservative government had dropped: the UK will scrap the Human Rights Act.…

As Kerry-Anne Mendoza rightfully remarks in The Canary, the scrapping of the Human Rights Act is the most authoritarian and regressive decision taken by a UK government in modern history (see here). What is it about and what is behind it?….

Human and civil rights are the only restraint on the tyranny of the majority under liberal political theory.

flassbeck economics international
Ever more conservative regression. Why Theresa May wants to scrap Human Rights Act
Will Denayer

Catherine Rampell — Millennials are increasingly rejecting voodoo economics

Younger people no longer drinking the Kool-Aid?

The Washington Post
Millennials are increasingly rejecting voodoo economics

Catherine Rampell
ht Mark Thomas at Economist’s View

Paul Robinson — Report on the human rights situation in Ukraine

The office of the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights has issued a report on the human rights situation in Ukraine. For those of you who don’t have the time to read the whole thing, here is what I considered to be the main points….

Irrussianality
Report on the human rights situation in Ukraine
Paul Robinson | Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa