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Somalia Famine: Politics and Global Warming Causing Disasters
AP reports: "'Somalia is facing its worst food security crisis in the last 20 years,' said Mark Bowden, the U.N.'s top official in charge of humanitarian aid in Somalia. 'This desperate situation requires urgent action to save lives ... it's likely that conditions will deteriorate further in six months.'"
WASHINGTON
AP reports: "'Somalia is facing its worst food security crisis in the last 20 years,' said Mark Bowden, the U.N.'s top official in charge of humanitarian aid in Somalia. 'This desperate situation requires urgent action to save lives ... it's likely that conditions will deteriorate further in six months.'"
JAMES JENNINGS, jimjennings at earthlink.net
Available for a limited number of interviews, Jennings is president of Conscience International. Now in Ethiopia, he is scheduled to be in Kenya tomorrow organizing a medical response devoted to saving the most vulnerable children affected by the famine in Somalia and those two countries. He is scheduled to be back in the U.S. early next week.
ABDI SAMATAR, samat001 at umn.edu
Samatar is a Somali-American professor at the University of Minnesota who has done extensive research on African and Somali political economy. He is also vice-president of the African Studies Association of North America. Samatar said today: "The famine is a politically and militarily induced affair and the culprits are: the U.S. (and its allies') 'war on terror' strategy and involvement in Somalia, IGAD [Intergovernmental Authority on Development] and its Ethiopian instrument, al-Shabaab -- and most clearly the TFG [Transitional Federal Government] -- which has yet to make any effort to come to the rescue of the population.
"Here is what I think should be done immediately and in the long run: bring food and medicine to the villages where people are so those who are still there need not move. Secondly, set aside resources for livelihood reconstruction as it has begun to rain. Finally, thoroughly revamp the TFG so a more legitimate and effective national government can be brought about, which is the best defense against terrorism and famine."
CHRISTIAN PARENTI, christian_parenti at yahoo.com
Parenti is author of the just-released book "Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence," much of which deals with east Africa including Somalia. He said today: "The famine in Somalia is a tragic human catastrophe. But is the drought that is driving the famine really a natural disaster or has it been in large part produced by bad policy? Scientists believe this drought fits the pattern of climate change -- increased drought punctuated by extreme flooding -- that we will see spread across the world if emissions are not cut. But the famine is also the product of bad economic and military policies in the recent past, all of which helped cause state failure in Somalia and continue to cause famine to spread in other countries.
"The international community must respond with aid to save lives now. But we must also think about the warning that is offered by the Somali famine. What history produced this crisis? What future crises might our policies today be producing?"
Parenti's most recent piece, "Reading the World in a Loaf of Bread, Soaring Food Prices, Wild Weather, Upheaval, and a Planetful of Trouble," examines the geopolitics of food.
Background: "Several rich governments are guilty of wilful neglect as the aid effort to avert catastrophe in East Africa limps along due to an $800 million shortfall, Oxfam said today."
The Guardian reported on June, 30: "The U.S. has conducted its first drone strike on Islamist militants in Somalia, marking the expansion of the pilotless war campaign to a sixth country."
Investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill recently wrote the piece "The CIA's Secret Sites in Somalia."
A nationwide consortium, the Institute for Public Accuracy (IPA) represents an unprecedented effort to bring other voices to the mass-media table often dominated by a few major think tanks. IPA works to broaden public discourse in mainstream media, while building communication with alternative media outlets and grassroots activists.
LATEST NEWS
'A Welcome Relief': Transportation Department Suspends Trump-Era LNG 'Bomb Trains' Rule
While celebrating the forthcoming review, campaigners also argued that "Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg should put a new rule in place that restores the ban on LNG by rail once and for all."
Sep 01, 2023
Green groups on Friday applauded as the Biden administration suspended a Trump-era rule allowing liquefied natural gas to be transported by train, delivering another blow to New Fortress Energy's proposal to ship climate-wrecking LNG by rail from Wyalusing, Pennsylvania to Gibbstown, New Jersey.
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA)—in coordination with the Federal Railroad Administration, another U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) agency—announced in the Federal Register on Friday that it is amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) to suspend authorization of LNG rail transportation.
PHMSA had previously finalized the rule in June 2020, complying with an April 2019 executive order from then-President Donald Trump, who went on a deregulatory spree during his four years in office and is now seeking a second term in 2024.
Rail transportation of LNG has not yet occurred "and there is considerable uncertainty regarding whether any would occur in the time it takes for PHMSA to consider potential modifications to existing, pertinent HMR requirements," the DOT agency noted. The suspension "guarantees no such transportation will occur before its companion rulemaking has concluded or June 30, 2025, whichever is earlier."
Food & Water Watch New Jersey state director Matt Smith said that "suspending the outrageously dangerous Trump bomb train rule is a welcome relief to the communities that would be turned into sacrifice zones for a billionaire hedge fund tycoon to bet big on dirty gas exports. The victory goes to the powerful grassroots movement fighting back against the dangerous New Fortress export scheme and the enormous climate threat associated with the expansion of fracking and LNG."
The suspension follows the DOT in April denying New Fortress' permit request for an export facility on the Delaware River in Gibbstown—a move that Smith had said at the time was "long overdue, and provides some measure of protection for the communities across South Jersey."
Smith stressed Friday that "this victory can, and must, go deeper. The Biden administration should take action to eliminate the threat of fracked gas bomb trains entirely, and it must do more to stop new fossil fuel projects across the country."
The administration of Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy "must do more to stop the dirty energy projects that are being proposed across the state," he added. "If our political leaders believe their own rhetoric about the climate crisis, then they must take appropriate action—and that begins by stopping new fossil fuel proposals immediately."
Natural Resources Defense Council senior attorney Kimberly Ong similarly celebrated the development—particularly for frontline communities of the New Fortress project—while also calling for additional action by the Biden administration.
"People of Pennsylvania and New Jersey living near key rail lines would have faced damage to their health, families, and homes in the event of a derailment," Ong said. "After pausing the rule, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg should put a new rule in place that restores the ban on LNG by rail once and for all. That would finally put an end to the threat to communities around Gibbstown and other communities targeted by similar dangerous projects."
"New Fortress Energy's proposed LNG project endangers nearly 2 million people living near truck and rail transport routes," she pointed out. "LNG is a volatile substance that can lead to fires and even explosions. The rail disaster in East Palestine, Ohio earlier this year underscores how serious a train derailment involving hazardous substances can be."
The February derailment and resulting environmental and public health concerns in Ohio have generated nationwide calls for stricter rail safety policies and inspired the introduction of multiple bills in Congress.
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Watchdog Calls On Judge With Pharma Investments to Recuse From Drug Pricing Case
"Any chance that Judge Rose evaluates this case in his own personal financial interest, rather than by the letter of the law, is a significant threat to judicial ethics."
Sep 01, 2023
A federal judge who owns stock in Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, and AstraZeneca is set to preside over corporate lobbying groups' case against allowing Medicare to negotiate medicine prices directly with drugmakers.
The stock positions of Thomas Rose—a George W. Bush-appointed senior judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio—were highlighted by Revolving Door Project (RDP) researchers earlier this week as the Biden administration named the first 10 drugs that will be subject to direct price negotiations with Medicare.
On Friday, RDP called on Rose to recuse himself from Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce v. Becerra, a case that poses a threat to the Biden administration's popular effort to curb drug costs and rein in Big Pharma's price-setting power. The Ohio Chamber of Commerce, Michigan Chamber of Commerce, and U.S. Chamber of Commerce are also plaintiffs in the case.
"The Chamber of Commerce's case against the Inflation Reduction Act, should it succeed, could immediately halt the progress on prescription drug prices that the IRA has been working towards for the past year," Ananya Kalahasti, a research assistant at RDP, said Friday. "In a case as high-stakes as this, any chance that Judge Rose evaluates this case in his own personal financial interest, rather than by the letter of the law, is a significant threat to judicial ethics."
In a letter to Rose, the Revolving Door Project argued that the judge could be in violation of the official Code of Conduct for U.S. judges if he oversees the price-negotiation case while having holdings in Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca. (Johnson & Johnson's blood clot medication Xarelto and AstraZeneca's Type 2 diabetes drug Farxiga are on the Biden administration's initial list of drugs set to face price negotiations with Medicare.)
"Canon 2 of the Code of Conduct states, 'A Judge Should Avoid Impropriety and the Appearance of Impropriety in All Activities,' acknowledging that even the appearance of improper incentives that could influence a judge's decisionmaking can be deeply harmful for public trust in government," RDP noted. "Your most recent financial disclosure reports show that you hold $15,001 to $50,000 of stock in Johnson & Johnson, $15,001 to $50,000 of stock in Moderna, and $1 to $15,000 of stock in AstraZeneca."
"Holding stock in two companies that will be subject to the first round of price negotiations while presiding over a case which may result in the prevention or delay of those negotiations is clearly an instance in which the judge has an 'interest that could be affected substantially by the outcome of the proceeding,'" RDP added, quoting from Canon 3 of the Code of Conduct. "Given the ethics concerns that your apparent conflict of financial interests in the pharmaceutical industry raise, we call on you to recuse yourself from Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce et al. v. Becerra et al. immediately."
Filed in July, the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce's lawsuit is part of a broader legal campaign by industry groups and pharmaceutical giants to prevent Medicare from negotiating drug prices, something it was previously barred from doing under federal law.
Pharmaceutical companies and industry groups have thus far filed a total of eight lawsuits over the impending price negotiations, which are slated to begin for the first batch of drugs later this year and end in August 2024.
"Long-standing legal precedent is no obstacle for this billionaire-friendly Supreme Court, and it seems that given its choice of representation, Big Pharma is prepared for the cases to get that far."
As Bloomberg Lawsummarized, the legal challenges "make various constitutional claims, including that the negotiation process violates the Fifth Amendment's prohibition on taking private property without just compensation and the Eighth Amendment's excessive fines clause, based on the excise tax pharmaceutical companies face if they refuse to comply with the negotiations."
Nicholas Bagley, a professor at the University of Michigan Law School, told Bloomberg Law that "the drug companies are throwing spaghetti at the wall, and they're going to hope that some of it sticks."
Bagley argued that the IRA's corporate opponents are "really facing an uphill challenge, because there's an act of Congress that establishes this program."
But Kalahasti and RDP research intern Will Royce stressed in The American Prospect earlier this week that some legal experts have been "quick to point out that long-standing legal precedent is no obstacle for this billionaire-friendly Supreme Court, and it seems that given its choice of representation, Big Pharma is prepared for the cases to get that far."
"Who is helping Big Pharma in the courts? In Merck and Bristol Myers' respective cases, it's the conservative law firm Jones Day, which famously represented both Trump campaigns, supplied many Trump administration officials, and had a hand in Trump's Supreme Court nominations," Kalahasti and Royce observed. "On the case for both companies is Yaakov Roth, who successfully argued for the gutting of the administrative state in West Virginia v. EPA."
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Trump's Last-Minute Attack on Old-Growth Trees Was Illegal, Judge Rules
The federal judge said that the "highly uncertain effects of this project, when considered in light of its massive scope and setting, raise substantial questions about whether this project will have a significant effect on the environment."
Sep 01, 2023
Two days before he left office, a political appointee for President Donald Trump removed protections from old-growth trees in Oregon and Washington. On Thursday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew Hallman ruled that decision was illegal.
Hallman vacated the U.S. Forest Service's finding that the change would have no impact, and ordered the agency to carry out a full environmental impact statement of the proposal, as The Associated Press reported.
"It's a shame that we needed a court to tell the Forest Service that they must follow the bedrock environmental laws that have been in place for decades," Jamie Dawson of Greater Hells Canyon Council said in response to the ruling. "Completing a full public process and taking a hard look at the environmental impacts of their actions is the least they should be doing, especially when considering such an impactful decision."
"The Forest Service rushed through a politically motivated rule change to log the most ecologically important trees left on our landscape."
The last-minute Trump administration rollback targeted something called the Eastside Screens. These were put in place in the mid-1990s to protect the Pacific Northwest's old-growth forests after decades of logging had put them at risk, Oregon Wild explained. They prohibited loggers from targeting any trees east of the cascades larger than 21 inches in diameter. The screens protected trees in six national forests in eastern Oregon and Washington, comprising more than seven million acres of public land.
While these trees only make up around 3% of trees in the region, they provide vital habitat for wildlife, and recent research indicates that they store 42% of the forests' carbon, playing an important role in combating the climate crisis.
"The Forest Service rushed through a politically motivated rule change to log the most ecologically important trees left on our landscape," Chris Krupp of WildEarth Guardians said in a statement. "Sadly, this is in line with their well-earned reputation for putting logging before the need to address the climate and biodiversity crises."
WildEarth Guardians and Greater Hells Canyon Council were two of the groups that sued to reverse the rollback on June 14, 2022, along with Oregon Wild, Central Oregon LandWatch, Great Old Broads for Wilderness, and the Sierra Club. The groups also had the support of the Nez Pierce Tribe.
In changing the rule, the Trump administration argued that it was protecting the forests from wildfires.
"We're looking to create landscapes that withstand and recover more quickly from wildfire, drought, and other disturbances," Ochoco National Forest supervisor Shane Jeffries told Oregon Public Broadcasting at the time, according to AP. "We're not looking to take every grand fir and white fir out of the forests."
However, in the years since the rule change, the Forest Service has proposed logging larger trees on thousands of acres of Oregon forest, including previously untouched forests in Hells Canyon National Recreation Area.
"Individually and collectively, these projects will damage wildlife habitat, contribute to climate change, deplete important carbon stores, and harm other environmental, social, and cultural values at a time when we simply can't afford to move in the wrong direction," Oregon Wild wrote.
In their lawsuit, the groups said that the last-minute rule change violated the National Environmental Protection Act, National Forest Management Act, and the Endangered Species Act by failing to take into account its impacts and not allowing the public enough time to comment.
The judge agreed.
"The highly uncertain effects of this project, when considered in light of its massive scope and setting, raise substantial questions about whether this project will have a significant effect on the environment," Hallman wrote, as AP reported.
The green groups behind the suit are pleased with the ruling, but also think the Biden administration could do more to protect forests, in line with an Earth Day Executive Order to take stock of the nation's remaining old-growth forests and develop a plan to protect them from wildfires and other threats.
"We call on the Biden administration to stop defending this illegal Trump rule change," Rob Klavins of Oregon Wild said in a statement.
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