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Sonja Sedmak – Filef Australia

Author: Sonja Sedmak

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News & Events

Thousands of refugees to be guaranteed permanent visas

ABC News

Thousands of refugees to be granted permanent visas as Labor moves to fulfil election promise

By political reporter Nour Haydar  12th February, 2023

 

Thousands of refugees across Australia who have lived “in limbo” for years will be eligible to stay in the country permanently as Labor moves to enact its pre-election commitment.

From Monday, around 19,000 refugees who arrived in Australia before Operation Sovereign Borders started in 2013 will be able to apply to transition to a permanent Resolution of Status (RoS) visa.

The move affects people who hold Temporary Protection Visas (TPV) and Safe Haven Enterprise Visas (SHEV) which Labor promised to abolish at the last election and have been described as cruel by human rights groups.

Those granted a new visa will have the same rights and benefits as all other permanent residents, and will be immediately eligible for social security payments, access to the NDIS and higher education assistance.

They will also be permitted to apply to become citizens once they meet the necessary citizenship requirements and will be able to sponsor family members to come to Australia.

Read full article on ABC News here

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News & Events

Israel far-right minister enters Al-Aqsa in ‘provocation’

Israel far-right minister enters Al-Aqsa in ‘provocation’

Palestinians and several Arab countries condemn Itamar Ben-Gvir’s visit, which they fear is aimed at changing the holy site’s status quo.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan have joined Palestinians in condemning a far-right Israeli minister’s brief visit to Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, with the Palestinian leadership calling the intrusion “an unprecedented provocation”.

Tuesday’s visit by Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir risks stoking tensions with Palestinians, with the Hamas group that governs the besieged Gaza Strip warning that such a move would cross a “red line”.

Jordan, Egypt and the UAE, which have peace treaties with Israel, have condemned what they called Ben-Gvir’s “storming” of Al-Aqsa. Amman summoned the Israeli ambassador and said the visit had violated international law and “the historic and legal status quo in Jerusalem”.

Saudi Arabia, with which Netanyahu wants to forge a peace deal, also criticised Ben-Gvir’s action. Turkey, which has recently ended a long-running diplomatic rift with Israel, condemned the visit as “provocative” as well.

Read full article here.

What is the status of Al-Aqsa?

  • The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound (also known as al-Haram al-Sharif by Muslims and the Temple Mount by Jews) is a wide, walled plaza in the heart of the Old City in occupied East Jerusalem. It incorporates the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock.
  • It is considered holy by both Muslims and Jews and is a Palestinian national symbol.
  • One of the walls of the compound, the Western Wall – also referred to as the Wailing Wall or the Buraq Wall – is a holy site for Jewish prayer. Jews pray undisturbed on the side of the wall that is outside the compound.
  • Israel has occupied East Jerusalem since 1967. The occupation is illegal under international law.
  • The compound has been managed continuously by Muslims, under a waqf (religious endowment), for hundreds of years.
  • The Jordanian-funded waqf has continued to administer the site since 1967, while Israel has security control. Under a longstanding agreement, the status quo of the site only permits Muslim prayer, and visits from non-Muslims are only permitted at specific times.

 

Who is Itamar Ben-Gvir?

Safa Ben Said
11 November 2022 15:32 UTC | Last update: 2 weeks 2 days ago
A far-right provocateur turned politician. Here is what you need to know about Itamar Ben-Gvir, a key winner in the Israeli elections. Play video here

 

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News & Events

UN seeks International Court of Justice opinion on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine

UN seeks ICJ opinion on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine

Updated: 31 Dec 2022 08:53 PM (GMT)
The United Nations General Assembly adopts a historic resolution referring the question of #Palestine & the legality/illegality of the #Israeli prolonged occupation to the International Court of Justice
The court will also address the responsibility of third states to bring the occupation to an end.

The UN General Assembly asked the ICJ to give an advisory opinion on the legal consequences of Israel’s “occupation, settlement and annexation … including measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and from its adoption of related discriminatory legislation and measures”.

The UN resolution also asks the ICJ to advise on how those policies and practices “affect the legal status of the occupation” and what legal consequences arise for all countries and the UN from this status.

The ICJ last weighed in on the issue of Israel’s occupation in 2004, when it ruled that Israel’s wall in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem was illegal. Israel rejected that ruling, accusing the court of being politically motivated.  Full article here

Editor’s note: Australia was one of the countries which voted AGAINST the resolution
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News & Events

53rd Anniversary of the attack – Piazza Fontana, 12 dicembre 1969/12 December, 1969

12 December 1969 is the 53rd anniversary of the neofascist attack on La Banca Nazionale dell’Agricoltura in Piazza Fontanza, Milano, which killed 17 people and wounded 88. It was the start of the campaign to destabilise Italy, a joint effort by Fascists and the Italian and US State Security Services.
The bombing was the work of the right-wing group Ordine Nuovo (“New Order”), whose aim was to prevent the country falling into the hands of the left-wing by duping the public into believing the bombings were part of a communist insurgency.
Further attacks occurred in the Piazza della Loggia in Brescia, 8 killed, 102 wounded; the bombing of the trains, Italicus in 1974, 12 killed and 48 wounded; the Rapido 904 in 1984, 16 killed and 267 wounded; the bombing at Bologna central railway station. 85 killed and 200 wounded.
Piazza Fontana was not an isolated tragedy but a part of an international ‘strategy of tension’ which saw escalating violence, rather than suppressing it, as being the most effective way to prevent a communist revolution.

 

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News & Events

Francesco Giacobbe for the Senate

Scrive Francesco Giacobbe –

Quando, nel 1982, decisi trasferirmi in Australia, la vita da emigrato era molto diversa da oggi. Tante cose sono cambiate, ma molte possono ancora essere migliorate per agevolare i giovani che vogliono cercare fortuna altrove o vogliono rientrare in Italia dopo un periodo trascorso all’estero.
Negli anni che ho trascorso in Senato ho avviato alcuni progetti che, spero, potranno trovare attuazione nella prossima legislatura.
Fra questi ci sono:
– Il riconoscimento dei titoli di studio e delle qualifiche con accordi bilaterali con diversi Paesi
– L’assistenza sanitaria in Italia per gli iscritti all’AIRE
– L’anagrafe dei ricercatori
– Le agevolazioni per chi rientra
– Creare condizioni di lavoro simili a quelle che si hanno all’estero
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News & Events Nuovopaese 2022

nuovo paese agosto 2022

Nuovo paese agosto 2022 | august 2022

La mano della distruzione
Il 6 e il 9 agosto di 77 anni fa fu commesso il crimine probabilmente più barbaro contro l’umanità, con lo sgancio delle bombe atomiche su Hiroshima e Nagasaki.
Il bombardamento statunitense, che uccise all’istante circa un quarto di milione di giapponesi quando le due città furono disintegrate, segnò la drammatica fine della Seconda Guerra Mondiale.
È inspiegabile come le implicazioni morali e legali dell’uso spietato di tale forza distruttiva non siano state valutate, date le norme e i trattati riguardanti i non combattenti.
Ironia della sorte, quell’esperienza sta probabilmente smorzando l’entusiasmo americano verso un coinvolgimento più diretto nella guerra in Ucraina, dopo la velata minaccia del presidente russo Vladimir Putin ai paesi della NATO.
Keiko Ogura, 84enne sopravvissuto di Hiroshima, ha paura che la storia stia per ripetersi con l’invasione russa dell’Ucraina, preludendo a una nuova Guerra Fredda. In un’intervista all’Australian Financial Review (22 luglio 2022) ha dichiarato di temere la prospettiva che, per la terza volta nella storia, una bomba nucleare possa essere utilizzata in guerra.
“Sono preoccupato non solo per Putin, ma per il modo di pensare della NATO, dell’America e degli altri paesi, tutti di nuovo disposti a usare le bombe nucleari. Pensano che non si faranno male da soli.’’
Tuttavia, i confini nazionali non possono limitare i rischi incombenti che l’umanità deve affrontare e, proprio come le guerre che hanno implicazioni globali, lo stesso vale per il cambiamento climatico e per la forza dirompente dei mercati guidati dai capitali.
Chi non è convinto degli attuali rischi ambientali ed economici può essere persuaso dalla regressione sociale e psicologica, che fa parte del mondo che l’uomo ha plasmato.
La gravità di questa situazione si può percepire guardando la cooperazione tra i ministri della solitudine e dell’isolamento del Regno Unito e del Giappone, nell’affrontare quella che vedono come un’importante sfida internazionale.
The hand of destruction
On 6 and 9 August 77 years ago arguably, the most barbaric crime against humanity was committed with the dropping of the atomic bombs respectively on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The US bombing – that instantly killed about a quarter of a million Japanese when it disintegrated those two cities – signalled a dramatic end to WWII.
It is unexplainable how the moral and legal implications of the merciless use of such destructive force were not, and have not been assessed, given norms and treaties regarding non-combatants.
Ironically, that experience is probably dampening American eagerness for a more direct involvement in the Ukraine war following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s veiled threat to NATO countries.
Hiroshima survivor Keiko Ogura, 84, fears history is about to repeat itself with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threatening a new Cold War, and in an interview with the Australian Financial Review (22 July 2022) dreads the prospect that for a third time a nuclear bomb might be used.
‘‘I am worried, not only about Putin, but the way of thinking of NATO and America and other countries. Countries are again willing to use nuclear bombs if they think they will not get hurt themselves.’’
However, national borders cannot confine the looming risks humanity faces and just like wars that have global implications so do climate change and the disruptive force of capital driven markets.
Anyone who is not convinced of the current environmental and economic risks may be persuaded by the social and psychological regression that is also part of the world humans have shaped.
The seriousness of that is hinted at by the cooperation between the UK and Japanese Ministers for Loneliness and Isolation to tackle what they see as an important international challenge.
 
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Nuovo Paese Nuovopaese 2022

Nuovo Paese luglio | july 2022

READ NP as a PDF via THE LINK IN THE HEADER or  ONLINE VERSION  ======>>>>>

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Nuovo Paese luglio/july 2022

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Nuovo Paese Nuovopaese 2022

NP giugno | June 2022

Nuovo Paese giugno 2022

Leaf through NP  via the link below or the attached giuigno 2022

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Nuovopaese 2022

Nuovo Paese marzo | march 2022

Nuovo Paese marzo | march 2022

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Nuovopaese 2022

Nuovo Paese gennaio/january 2022

Nuovo Paese gennaio/january 2022

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News & Events Nuovo Paese Nuovo Paese 2021

Nuovo Paese dicembre|december 2021

Nuovo Paese – dicembre|December 2021

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or online here

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News & Events

Report claims Australian-supplied helicopters used by Indonesia in West Papua ‘genocide’ By Cathy Harper

 

Report claims Australian-supplied helicopters used by Indonesia in West Papua ‘genocide’

By Cathy Harper
Posted , updated 

A new report claims Australian-supplied helicopters were used by Indonesia’s military to kill civilians in West Papua in the 1970s.

The allegations are among other abuses detailed in the report, by the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission (AHCR), which contains graphic detail of the alleged murder, rape and torture of more than 4,000 Papuans by Indonesian military in the late 1970s.

It names numerous Indonesian military commanders, including the late Indonesian President, General Suharto, as those responsible for ordering or failing to stop the violence, and says they should be tried by a human rights court.

The report “The Neglected Genocide – Human Rights abuses against Papuans in the Central Highlands, 1977 – 1978” attempts to document violence that occurred when Indonesia launched several military operations around Wamena, in response to independence uprisings after general elections in 1977.

The AHRC conducted field visits, interviewed witnesses and examined historical records.

It has collected the names of 4,146 people it believes were killed by the Indonesian military and claims the total number of victims who died from torture, disease and hunger as a result of the violence could be well over 10,000.

Indiscriminate shooting

Papuans of the mountain areas in the 1960s.(Asian Human Rights Commission)

The report says Papuans in the Central Highlands were victims of napalm bombing and indiscriminate shooting from the air, sometimes from aircraft supplied to the Indonesian military by Australia and the US.

It says two Australian-supplied Iroquois helicopters, along with US-supplied Bell UH-1H Huey helicopters, were among aircraft used by local command in the attacks

In one reported incident, villagers in the Bolakme area were told they would be receiving aerial aid from Australia, only to be bombed by American-supplied planes.

The ABC has contacted Australia’s defence and foreign affairs departments, and the office of the foreign minister, and has been told they’re looking in to the matter.

The report also contains details of independence supporters being burned alive, boiled alive, and being forced to perform sexual acts in public.

In other incidents, the report claims women and children were targetted: children’s heads were cut off, women were raped and had their breasts cut off and internal organs pulled out.

AHCR’s Policy and Programs director, Basil Fernando, has told Australia Network the acts amount to genocide.

“What those gruesome details show is that there was a humiliating element, to humiliate the people into submission,” he said.

“So that is the basis – the killings and the other sufferings imposed on the people – and trying to bring them to submission – the we have named [this] as genocide.”

The report names 10 Indonesian commanders and senior military leaders it says were responsible for either ordering or failing to prevent the violence perpetrated by various battalions.

Among those responsible, according to the report, is the former President Suharto, as Supreme Commander of the Indonesian military.

Mr Fernando says some of those named in the report are still in positions of power within the Indonesian military.

The report calls for an ad hoc human rights court to be set up to hear the allegations and try those responsible, as well as the establishment of a truth commission.

The AHRC is calling on the international community to demand the Indonesian government be held to account for human rights violations in Papua.

Posted , updated 
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News & Events Nuovo Paese Nuovo Paese 2021

NP Nov 2021

NP Nov 2021

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editoriale

Usi medicinali dell’autoritarismo

La pandemia ha dato origine a un percettibile autoritarismo, limitando i cittadini con blocchi, coprifuoco e chiusure delle frontiere.
I governi hanno agito con un’autoritarismo raramente mostrato in passato, nonostante i molti mali sociali endemici e l’incombente catastrofe ambientale.
Senza tante domande, la polizia ha isolato gli appartamenti delle commissioni pubbliche e soldati ed elicotteri hanno sorvegliato i residenti mentre a migliaia di australiani è stato impedito di tornare a casa dall’estero o dagli altri stati.
Una simile mancanza di responsabilità è stata mostrata quando il governo federale ha distribuito fenomenali somme di denaro con uguale fervore dittatoriale a società non toccate dalla pandemia.
Al contrario, i governi sono stati servili verso le aziende farmaceutiche, sovvenzionate per sviluppare vaccini di cui stanno tuttora raccogliendo i profitti.Non è democraticamente sano se i governi sono duri con i deboli e mansueti con i forti.
La pandemia è un problema di salute pubblica da trattare con il know-how medico e non con l’autoritarismo, che può mascherare mali socio-economici.
Al 31 ottobre l’Australia ha registrato 1.734 decessi su 170.458 casi di Covid. Circa 1.450 di questi erano persone di 70 anni o più, la maggior parte in cattive condizioni di salute. Ci sono stati decessi trascurabili o nulli nei gruppi di età inferiore ai 40 anni.
Queste cifre del Dipartimento federale della sanità indicano i vulnerabili e le priorità per la distribuzione delle risorse.
Ciò contribuirebbe a ridurre la paura di casi di infezione allarmanti che sono privi di significato, senza che il virus impatti sugli individui.
 Per quanto riguarda la questione controversa dell’obbligo dei vaccini, può essere utile considerare i risultati di uno studio pubblicato online da The Lancet (28 ottobre 2021).
Sebbene lo studio abbia riscontrato che la vaccinazione riduce il rischio di infezione della variante delta e accelera la clearance virale, ha anche concluso che:“Tuttavia, gli individui completamente vaccinati con infezioni rivoluzionarie hanno una carica virale di picco simile ai casi non vaccinati e possono trasmettere efficacemente l’infezione in ambienti domestici, anche ai completamente vaccinati”.

Editorial

Authoritarianism’s medicinal uses

The pandemic has given rise to a discernible authoritarianism, limiting citizens with lockdowns, curfews and border closures.
Governments acted with a determinant authority rarely displayed notwithstanding many endemic social ills and looming environmental catastrophe.
Without much questioning police cordoned off public commission flats and soldiers and helicopters surveilled residents while thousands of Australians were stopped from returning home from overseas or interstate.
A similar lack of accountability was displayed as the Federal Government handed out phenomenal amounts of money with equal dictatorial fervour to unaffected companies.
In contrast governments have been servile to pharmaceutical companies, who were subsidised to develop vaccines and are reaping the profits.
It is not democratically healthy when governments are tough on the weak and meek with the strong.
The pandemic is a public health issue to be treated with medical know-how not authoritarianism, which can mask socio-economic ills.
At October 31 Australia registered 1,734 deaths from 170,458 Covid cases. About 1,450 of those were people of 70 years or older, most in poor health. There were negligible or no deaths in the under 40 year age groups.
These Federal Health Department figures point to the vulnerable and to priorities for resources.
This would help reduce the fear from alarming infection cases that are meaningless without facts about the virus’ impact on individuals.
As for the divisive issue of mandating vaccines it may be useful to consider the results of a study published online by The Lancet (28 October 2021).
Although it found that vaccination reduces the risk of delta variant infection and accelerates viral clearance, it also concluded that:
“Nonetheless, fully vaccinated individuals with breakthrough infections have peak viral load similar to unvaccinated cases and can efficiently transmit infection in household settings, including to fully vaccinated contacts.”
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News & Events Nuovo Paese 2021

Nuovo Paese ottobre/october 2021

NP ottobre/october 2021 

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Editoriale

Affari straordinari

L’atteggiamento politico che circonda l’annuncio del mese scorso di AUKUS, il patto di difesa a tre vie, ha omesso di citare il suo valore commerciale agli interessi degli Stati Uniti.
La decisione dell’Australia di rompere il suo accordo sui sottomarini da 90 miliardi di dollari con la Francia a favore di una flotta a propulsione nucleare con gli Stati Uniti e la Gran Bretagna è stata un’impresa americana magistralmente presentata come politica di difesa.
 Quando l’Australia annunciò che la Francia avrebbe costruito la sua flotta di 12 sottomarini, fu considerato uno dei contratti di difesa più redditizi al mondo.
 Una lunga trattativa ha preceduto l’annuncio del primo ministro Malcolm Turnbull, il 26 aprile 2016, di assegnare al consorzio francese il contratto multimiliardario, il più grande nella storia degli appalti per la difesa australiana.
 C’erano ancora problemi da chiarire, non ultimo quanto del lavoro sarebbe stato svolto in Australia, con il proposito di aumentare la produzione e l’occupazione locali.
 Tuttavia, il primo ministro Scott Morrison ha inaspettatamente annullato l’accordo francese, con costi da determinare, e lo ha consegnato al complesso industriale militare statunitense.
 Con AUKUS, Morrison, per conto dei contribuenti australiani, ha firmato quello che potrebbe essere definito un assegno in bianco, dato che tutti i dettagli sui costi e sulla produzione sono da definire.
 Il grande annuncio di AUKUS potrebbe aver contribuito a rendere tranquillo il presidente Joe Biden, dato il modo spettacolare con cui ha ottenuto un contratto così importante per l’industria della difesa del suo paese.
 Consentire a quel “fellah down under” di annunciare AUKUS, una “fase nuova e strategica” nella difesa, è stato un piccolo prezzo da pagare per Biden.
 In cambio, l’Australia viene ulteriormente coinvolta nelle infruttuose e spesso ingiustificate disavventure militari globali dell’America.
 Questa è stata la conclusione dell’ex primo ministro liberale Malcolm Fraser che ha affermato: “L’Australia ha bisogno della sua alleanza con gli Stati Uniti per la sicurezza, ma l’Australia ha bisogno di sicurezza solo per la sua alleanza con gli Stati Uniti”.

Editorial

Extraordinary business

The policy posturing surrounding last month’s announcement of AUKUS, the three-way defence pact, overlooked its commercial value to US interests.
Australia’s decision to break its $90 billion submarine agreement with France in favour of a nuclear-propelled fleet with the United States and Britain was masterly American business paraded as defence policy.
When Australia announced that France would build its fleet of 12 submarines, it was considered to be one of the world’s most lucrative defence contracts.
A lengthy tendering process preceded Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s announcement on 26 April 2016 awarding the French consortium the multi-billion dollar contract – the largest in Australian defence procurement history.
There were still issues being clarified, not the least how much of the work would be done in Australia and its scope to boost local manufacturing and jobs.
However, unexpectedly Prime Minister Scott Morrison cancelled the French deal, at a cost to be determined, and handed it to the US military industrial complex.
Under AUKUS Morrison, on behalf of Australian taxpayers, has signed what could be described as a blank check, given that all details about costs and production are to be finalised.
It may have contributed to President Joe Biden’s ultra-relaxed mode in the zoomed AUKUS announcement, having spectacularly gained a considerable contract for his country’s defence industry.
Allowing that ‘fellah down under’ to take the lead in announcing AUKUS, a ‘new and strategic phase’ in defence, was a small price to pay for Biden.
In return Australia gets to be further embroiled in America’s unsuccessful, and it could be argued unwarranted, global military misadventures.
That was certainly the conclusion of former Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser who said: “Australia needs its alliance with the USA for security, but Australia only needs security because of its alliance with the USA.”
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Nuovo Paese 2021

Nuovo Paese settembre/September 2021

NP settembre/ september 2021

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Una nazione sballata

Solo gli ingenui credono che le missioni militari guidate dagli Stati Uniti negli ultimi anni avessero come scopo quello di costruire delle nazioni.
Ciò che si sta verificando in Afghanistan è l’ultima dimostrazione del disprezzo per la gente che l’Occidente affermava di voler salvare.
 Quando si pensa al fallimento afghano è ironico prendere nota che l’Occidente, il cui leader non dichiarato è l’America, è alle prese con il tentativo di salvare se stesso, e non dalla pandemia globale, affrontabile con politiche di salute pubblica, quando consentite.
 No, le nazioni occidentali per un po’ hanno cercato di salvarsi dalla loro incapacità di soddisfare le aspettative create da economie individualistiche, consumistiche, confortevoli e basate sul profitto.
 I segni chiave dei rischi che li attendono sono la disoccupazione permanente di lungo periodo, la crescente disuguaglianza, l’incapacità di finanziare i servizi pubblici essenziali e (incubo dell’industrializzazione) il cambiamento climatico.
 Non sorprende che i movimenti globali diffidenti nei confronti della politica e dei politici convenzionali siano all’ordine del giorno e generino frammentazione e non federazione.
 La facilità con cui Talebani hanno conquistato l’Afghanistan non dovrebbe essere una sorpresa, dato che nessuno era pronto a difendere un governo corrotto appoggiato dagli USA, dopo il ritiro delle forze occidentali.
 Il popolo afghano poteva scegliere se continuare lo spargimento di sangue di civili o porre fine a una guerra senza fine.
 Nonostante i modi autoritari del regime talebano, un sondaggio di Integrity Watch Afghanistan ha rilevato che più della metà dei cittadini credeva che ci fosse meno corruzione nelle aree controllate dai talebani rispetto a quelle controllate dal governo.
 Secondo Forbes (16 agosto 2021) gli Stati Uniti hanno speso più di 2 trilioni di dollari per la guerra in Afghanistan.
 Fanno 300 milioni di dollari al giorno per 20 anni o 50.000 dollari per ciascuno dei 40 milioni di afgani. Il costo maggiore è quello dei circa 180.000 che hanno perso la vita.
 Soldi e vite sacrificate senza aver costruito niente, né in Afghanistan né in Occidente.
 

Nation busting

 
Only the naïve believe that the USA driven and led military missions of recent years were about nation building.
What is unfolding in Afghanistan is the latest display of the disregard for people the West claimed it wanted to save.
The irony of the Afghan failure is that the West, whose unstated leader is America, is in the throes of trying to save itself, not from the global pandemic that public health responses can deal with – if allowed.
No, Western styled nations for a while have been trying to save themselves from their inability to satisfy expectations created by individualistic, consumer, comfortable and profit-based economies.
Key signs of the risks before them are permanent long-term unemployment, increasing inequality, inability to fund essential public services, and – industrialisation’s nightmare – climate change.
It is not surprising that global movements distrustful of conventional politics and politicians are commonplace and breed fragmentation not federation.
The ease of the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan should not be a surprise for no one was prepared to defend a US-propped and corrupt government, after the withdrawal of Western forces.
The Afghani people had a choice of continuing the civilian bloodshed or ending an endless war.
Despite the Taliban regime’s authoritarian ways a survey by Integrity Watch Afghanistan found that more than half of citizens believed there was less corruption in Taliban-controlled areas than in those controlled by government.
According to Forbes (16 August 2021) the USA has spent more than $2 trillion on the war in Afghanistan.
That’s $300 million dollars a day for 20 years or $50,000 for each of Afghanistan’s 40 million people. The greater cost is that of the estimated 180,000 who lost their lives.
Money and lives sacrificed for busting not building – neither in Afghanistan nor the West.