Patrick deHahn

• 2013-06-05

  Summer is the killing season in American cities. The temperature rises and, yes, tempers do, too. […] In Los Angeles County, with an estimated 450 gangs that have 45,000 members, about half the murders are gang related. […] In Chicago, gang and gun violence is endemic, with 12 shootings last weekend and one death. And in New York, although the murder rate is much lower than the other cities, in the rougher parts of town that’s no guarantee of immunity. Between Friday and Sunday the first weekend in June, 26 people were shot and seven of them killed. […] The embattled streets of the city and the gunland of the heartland are wildly different places, and the failure to understand that difference, and overcome it, is the great American tragedy of our time.

  — American “gun control isn’t about rights, it’s about survival.”

• 2013-05-21

  Writers with TomDispatch writes on “how America became a third world country.” They cite the unsettling political sphere in America with the poor economy and the new society America has. Give it a read here. 

• 2013-05-18

  ICYMI: White House released over 100 pages of emails about Benghazi (PDF)

  From reuters:

  White House Benghazi Emails

  Source: reuters

• 2013-05-17

  For starters: 17 May 2013

  Things to watch today: Egypt with a possible million man march against its president Morsi, Syria with its conflict unraveling and international relations regarding the war occurring there. Follow @patrickdehahn for updates all day. 

  MIDDLE EAST

  Turkey detains a new prime suspect in car bombings near their country’s Syrian border (Reuters)

  United Nations’ UNCHR say that more than 1.5 million people have fled Syria since January of this year (Reuters)

  Bahrain’s opposition say security forces raided top cleric’s house (Reuters)

  AFRICA

  A new revolutionary group in Egypt says they have collected millions of signatures against their president Morsi (Al Jazeera)

  Nigerian forces bomb Islamist rebel camps using jets and attack helicopters in the northeastern part of their country (Reuters)

  ASIA

  Two bombings hit mosques in Pakistan killed twelve people after Friday prayers (Al Jazeera)

  Myanmar frees 23 political prisoners before President Thein Sein leaves to visit the United States (Reuters)

  Philippine “massacre clan” enjoys election wins, even with their historic political crimes (AFP)

  AMERICAS

  Obama pins hopes on more peace talks regarding Syria, while maintaining a cautious approach (The Guardian)

  Guantanamo hunger strike reaches 100th day (CNN)

• 2013-05-16

  The Guardian hosts a strong and beautiful feature on an Alaskan village with an unique climate predicament

  The Alaskan village, Newtok, is losing to the ferocious sea at a dangerous rate. The state has presented an option to move its its population to a new area while “an entire community will cease to exist and the villagers will become America’s first climate refugees.”

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  ‘But as U.S. president for the last 4-1/2 years,Barack Obama has faced accusation after accusation of impinging on civil liberties, disappointing his liberal Democratic base and providing fodder for rival Republicans as he deals with the realities of office.

  News in the past week of the federal seizure of phone records from the Associated Press news agency and the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative Tea Party groups, has intensified criticism already simmering over the Guantanamo Bay prison camp and aerial drone strikes abroad.

  Asked at a news conference on Tuesday why the administration had not done more for civil liberties, Attorney General Eric Holder said: “I’m proud of what we have done” and emphasized the administration’s shift from Bush era harsh interrogation practices of terrorism suspects that had drawn international criticism.

  When he took office in 2009, Obama promised to close the Guantanamo camp for foreign terrorism suspects, but it remains open with 166 detainees, many on hunger strikes in protest at indefinite detentions. Obama said last month he would revisit that pledge and blamed Congress for blocking his plan to close the camp, partly through restrictions on transfers of detainees.

  The administration has defended its aerial drone strikes abroad, which have included targeting a U.S.-born terrorism suspect, as essential to the fight against al Qaeda and other militants in places such as Pakistan and Yemen.’

  (Reuters)

• 2013-05-06

  

  From Reuters: Americans want the U.S. to keep out of Syria conflict 

  Most Americans do not want the United States to intervene in Syria’s civil war even if the government there uses chemical weapons, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed on Wednesday, in a clear message to the White House as it considers how to respond to the worsening crisis.

  Only 10 percent of those surveyed in the online poll said the United States should become involved in the fighting. Sixty-one percent opposed getting involved.

  The figure favoring intervention rose to 27 percent when respondents were asked what the United States should do if President Bashar al-Assad’s forces used chemical weapons. Forty-four percent would be opposed.

  “Particularly given Afghanistan and the 10th anniversary of Iraq, there is just not an appetite for intervention,” said Ipsos pollster Julia Clark.

  The rebellion against Assad’s government has resulted in 70,000 dead and created more than 1.2 million refugees since it erupted in 2011.

  Read on. 

  [Photo: A Syrian boy plays with an AK-47 rifle owned by his father from REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic]

  Source: reuters

• 2013-04-30

  For starters: 30 April 2013

  AMERICAS

  United States sends extra medics to prison Guantanamo Bay as two-thirds (100) detainees go on hunger strike

  Secretary of State John Kerry seeks to build Arab support for some form of Israeli-Palestinian peace, as Arab League softens peace plan

  Mexico ends open relationship with United States security agencies in fight against drugs and organized crime

  EUROPE

  Cyprus parliament decides on a bailout plan with a thin majority that voted yes

  Italy minister says they want to renegotiate their stability pact; new premier to push growth agenda in Europe

  Spain sinks even deeper into national recession in first quarter

  MIDDLE EAST

  Huge explosion in Damascus kills 13, wounds another 70, Syrian state TV reports

  Syrian opposition frustrated with level of outside support 

  Israel carries out first deadly airstrike in Gaza since November truce, killing one Palestinian

  Turkey taking special precautions when treating Syrians after chemical weapons allegations

  AFRICA

  Database tracks China’s secretive aid to Africa

  Egypt walks out of round of global nuclear talks in protest

  Gunmen surround Libyan justice ministry again for the third day, demand expulsion of officials from ousted regime

  ASIA

  Siri Lankan government now intensifying crackdown on journalists, judiciary, activists, Amnesty reports

  China says they detained 19 and seized weapons after Xinjiang unrest

  United States and South Korea finish up joint military drills in hopes to ease North Korea tensions

  Malaysia braces for tight election

  Thai security chief dismisses southern rebels’ demands

• 2013-03-03

  To American politicians, what is Egypt?

  “These are concepts belonging to an era that came to an end more than two decades ago, yet continue to serve as the foundations of U.S.-Egypt relations. They were outdated even before the uprising that toppled Mubarak. Washington could always tell itself that the aging autocrat was an asset because he kept the Suez Canal open, maintained the peace with Israel, and kept the Islamists down. But following the political turmoil of the past two years and the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, that faulty logic is even clearer — President Mohamed Morsy, after all, hasn’t moved to overturn the regional political order or challenge the peace treaty with Israel. As the Cold War has receded from memory, American policymakers have had a hard time articulating the rationale for an increasingly outmoded relationship. They have been left sputtering about ‘wanting what Egyptians want,’ or leaving well enough alone because the relationship ‘worked.’” Whew. 

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  nslayton:

  Wealth inequality in the United States

  Source: nslayton

• 2013-02-19

  This is not good - regarding press freedom and the current U.S. administration

• 2013-02-18

  Has America's foreign policy died with Obama's administration? Roger Cohen quotes Vali Nasr, "It is not going too far to say that American foreign policy has become completely subservient to tactical domestic political considerations" and also wraps it up by saying "diplomacy has died."

• 2013-02-05

  The list of those nations includes a range of American allies (Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany) and familiar Middle Eastern partners in the messy fight against radical Islam (Jordan, Yemen, the United Arab Emirates). Their alleged levels of participation vary widely, from countries like Poland, which agreed to host CIA black-site prisons, to nations like Portugal and Finland, which merely allowed their airspace and airports to be used for rendition flights.

  — Report finds United States in a global torture scheme, involving more than 50 nations

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  NBC hosts an exclusive on a U.S. Department of Justice memo revealsling the government’s legal case for drone strikes on Americans

  “A confidential Justice Department memo concludes that the U.S. government can order the killing of American citizens if they are believed to be ‘senior operational leaders’ of al-Qaida or ‘an associated force’ — even if there is no intelligence indicating they are engaged in an active plot to attack the U.S.”

  Here’s the full document, provided by MSNBC (PDF)

• 2013-02-02

  U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan, compiled by the New America Foundation based on reports (each strike has a source listed)

  Via Reuters: U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan, compiled by the New America Foundation

  Source: reuters