RS/BS: Under the Radar News

RS/BS Under the Radar:  

 

 

This is a regular feature for my website and my online magazine. There are so many different news organizations and features that are sending out all kinds of articles and statements and some news tends to be buried.

News organizations tend to follow the “bright, shiny object” more and more as we see so much coverage and attention paid to things that, in the long run, seem to hardly matter. But to be fair to our journalists and all purveyors of media content, the amount of information is so overwhelming and the apparatus to convey the news has become so unwieldy and top-heavy, instead of grass-roots and ground-up gumshoe reporting as in “the good old days”, that it’s almost impossible to root out the top stories and to sift through the data of a 24 hour news cycle.

However, this is an attempt to put some things in perspective. If not but for simply a few moments, it might seem to make sense to sort out some of the content and actually take time to digest the news!

Here, submitted for your approval, dear readers, is our humble attempt to do just that.

 

1)      Of Note: Clinton’s policy Agenda laid out; Jeb’s role out; W calls for “boots on the ground; Hillary runs as a Populist; as a Feminist; as a Woman; and as a Fighter.

2)   Need to Know: the Media: Pakistan attempts to kick out the NGO working for 35 years in the country; No more medical research for Chimpanzees.**

3)   Did you know….The Rape Capital of the world is now the Congo Republic in Africa?; the city of Los Angeles has approved a $15.00 an hour minimum wage; Melanoma rates in the US have doubled.?

4)      Calendar dates: Jeb’s announcement on Monday;Barack still pushing TPP trade deal-stay tuned!; In July: US & Cuba are set to re-open the embassies in Cuba; the EU vote will determine Britain’s involvement in EU and Greece’s continuation; August 6th: the Egyptian Suez Canal expansion is set to open.

5)      Future News: What is looming….Yemen is headed for a Humanitarian crisis; US is moving heavy equipment into the Balkans to aid Ukraine; China’s commitment to peak carbon emissions is on track for the year 2030; the battle to re-take Falluja & Ramadi is taking shape; the Pope has indicated he is going to link climate change with the very deleterious effect to the poor; and the first Solar powered plane is set to make history with a historic flight.

 

 

1)      Hillary just finished laying out her agenda. Finally, after weeks of pundits calling her out for not getting into the weeds, she is bogging herself down with just that!

·         Hillary has so many challenges ahead. Not only is the question of “Why” is she running so prevalent, but also “How” is she running? Is she going to the left? Is she stressing her personal story? Is she going to push the angle of being the first woman president? I think all of those questions were addressed in her opening speech on Roosevelt Island Saturday.

·         George W. Bush has been wise to keep a closed mouth about some of the tragic consequences surrounding the invasion of Iraq. But since his brother is so obviously making a bid, he has decided to jump in with an amazing statement about the success of the escalation of troops into Iraq in 2007. The case of amnesia on the right continues. We were losing badly, and when the “surge” happened, General Petraeus did manage to pull Iraq back from the brink with a large injection of troops into the region. Conveniently missing from W’s account is the amount of cash that was given to many of the surrounding tribal leaders and factions in order to bring about stability.

·         The troops did a magnificent job, no one is disputing their contribution. But to suggest that simply inserting a large amount of American troops into a region that is badly disintegrating, as if it is the only answer a la “all problems are nails and the US is the hammer”, is simply disingenuous at best and downright ludicrous for the most part.

  

2)      Need to Know: The Media: Pakistan had decided to remove the “Save the Children” NGO from their country after 35 years of service. For whatever reason, this wasn’t a good thing. Latest word is that they have reversed their position…

 

·         After lobbying and fighting for years, finally the animal rights activists seem to have scored a victory of sorts for our close cousins, the Chimpanzees. We are close to a law outlawing use of Chimps for medical experiments.

 

 

3)      Did you know….that the Republic of Congo in Africa has the distinction of being known as “the Rape Capital” of the world? The amount of atrocities that have been documented there are mind-numbing. Not to discount the work of Boko Haram and ISIS, and so many other war-torn regions where rape is habitually used as a method of terrorism and power.

·         And melanoma rates in the US have doubled in recent years. There is no immediate correlation to climate change, but the evidence is mounting all around us.

4)      Calendar: This week, Obama will still be working to push TPP, the Trade Deal, through a recalcitrant Congress. This is the same Congress that still balks at actually voting on any kind of authorization to support the ongoing war in Iraq and Syria. Just saying….

 ·         July should be the month that brings a re-opening of an embassy in Cuba for the US.

·         The upcoming EU vote will determine if Britain is going to stay in the European Union. And Greece, too, will have to decide whether they are opting out.

·         On August 6th, the Egyptian Suez Canal will open. This is a big deal, as it represents change for the existing Suez connection that has held a monopoly for the past century on trade through the Suez. 10% of all global maritime trade passes through that Canal. The navigation time (they are opening a new lane actually) will be reduced from 22 to 11 hours. The canal is 150 years old and they are making an attempt, at least, to bring it into the 21^st Century.

5)      Yemen will join the ranks of other war-torn countries in that they are headed for a humanitarian crisis with the number of people displaced by conflict.

·         The US is moving heavy equipment into the Balkan region to aid Ukraine in its ongoing fight against blatant Russian military escalation in the region.

·         Some exciting news on the solar front: the world’s first Solar powered plane, the Solar Impulse 2 is set to make history as it completes its flight around the globe…at this point, it’s about halfway through the round-the-world journey which started in March. Phoenix, AZ will mark the halfway point for the trip…

 

**Coming soon: Longer reads and links to the “Don’t miss” category! That’s all in the next issue. Stay Tuned!