Top story in the examiner,

[Stephanie]

And so where is the international outcry , the coalition to stamp out this trafficking ??

"The Observer has learned of the horrific case of Noka Bir Moktan, a 23-year-old who was said to have died of "sudden cardiac arrest" in October 2013, although photos of his corpse show he suffered a collapsed chest, apparently consistent with ill-treatment.

Moktan's family come from a poor village in Nepal's remote hill district of Ilam. His elderly father borrowed 175,000 rupees (about £1,000) to pay for his passage and agency fees to Qatar, in the hope that he would be able to send some of his earnings home. The money, was borrowed from a loan shark and was supposed to be reimbursed by Moktan's Qatari employer, but this did not happen. The family now fear that the loan shark will demand that Moktan's two sisters, aged 14 and 16, who were collateral for the loan, be sent to work in brothels in Mumbai to pay off the debt.

Moktan's tragic case is far from untypical. Last November, Amnesty International issued a report warning that many workers were complaining about poor health and safety standards, including some who said they were not issued with helmets on sites. A representative of Doha's main hospital stated that more than 1,000 people were admitted to its trauma unit in 2012 having fallen from heights at work."

[Stephanie]

It would but that pipeline is a big part of the problem, an ideal would be the Ukrainian people managing their own affairs with no outside interference and if they weren't in an ideal place for pipelines and had few natural resources its likely that's exactly what would happen. Control of the Ukrainian has become a contest between two sides, the west and Russia, and the possibility of the Ukraine running its self never gets mentioned in the popular press. Its a bit like the US's democratic system, a choice between two evils that gives the illusion of freedom but hides the fact their are other possibilities.

It always worries me when the press get behind something. The war on drugs is another example, just before the invasion of Afghanistan the country produced around 80 tons of opium a year, after the west invaded and got established production rose to around 2000 tons a year. That strongly suggests the issue wasn't eradication but establishing control and that puts a very worrying aspect on articles like this making the front page. Its very hard to believe something like that could be happening in this day and age but it is a possibility.

I'm under the impression that's exactly what they were trying to do before the Russian intervention ?

Like Russian tanks rolling in .. ??? for example .


Agree w your post though x

[Snuffleupagus]

I'm under the impression that's exactly what they were trying to do before the Russian intervention ?

Like Russian tanks rolling in .. ??? for example .


Agree w your post though x

The other side of that argument is the west orchestrated the uprising to install a puppet government in Kiev. Like I say, the propaganda machines running hard on both sides and its impossible to see the big picture clearly. Libya was a blatant orchestrated revolution but with the Ukraine its much harder to see what's going on but one of the few things that is clear is the press cannot be trusted. Its most likely this article is just an excuse to put sex on the front page in big letters to boost sales but there are some real scumbags in powerful positions in the world and I'd put nothing past them.

[Stephanie]

.......

The problems with Iraq go back to the post WW1 settlement; with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the League of Nations—of which the US as prime mover wasn't a member—for which read UK and France simply carved up the Levant without regard to ethnicity, subsequently inventing several countries. Policy towards Saddam was, to say the least, mixed; and whatever the reasons for the second Irag war, the major failure was the absence of what to do after Saddam's downfall, and what to do with the army.

I don't see how the US or the UN can usefully be involved in Iraq as it is presently constituted; it's a totally artificial state, and IMO should be broken up into its ethnic constituent...which is easier said than done, when there are so many resentments and scores to be settled.

"Everybody wants their own side, their own benefit, the Sunnis vote for the Sunni leader, the Shia for the Shia and the Kurds for the Kurds, nobody votes for the nation, for Iraq," he said.

Read more: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/n...#ixzz35MyEn8tW

"I think Iraqis need to solve their own problems, not just rely on the US," she said. "We need Iraqi politicians. This is an Iraqi matter."

[Stephanie]

The other side of that argument is the west orchestrated the uprising to install a puppet government in Kiev. Like I say, the propaganda machines running hard on both sides and its impossible to see the big picture clearly. Libya was a blatant orchestrated revolution but with the Ukraine its much harder to see what's going on but one of the few things that is clear is the press cannot be trusted.
Its most likely this article is just an excuse to put sex on the front page in big letters to boost sales but there are some real scumbags in powerful positions in the world and I'd put nothing past them.

I'm not aware of that .

But I do agree : powerful propaganda from each side always at play in such conflicts .



Re Libya : was it not a part off , the continuation and spread of The Arab Spring 0f 2011 ?

That was set of by a young Tunisian man self immolating in protest , on Dec 17 , 2010 ?



Yep , sex sells . And seems the bottom line matters most : circulation , sales , profit .



'

[Snuffleupagus]

I'm not aware of that .

But I do agree : powerful propaganda from each side always at play in such conflicts .



Re Libya : was it not a part of , the continuation and spread of The Arab Spring 0f 2011 ?

That was set of by a young Tunisian man self immolating in protest on Dec 19 , 2010 ?



Yep , sex sells . And seems the bottom line matters most : circulation , sales , profit .

Libya was one of the last few countries with a sovereign central bank (Syria's another one) and had a very solid gold backed economy, they where also about to drop the US dollar and start trading oil for the gold dinar. One of the very first thing the rebels did after taking power was replace the sovereign central bank with an externally controlled central bank and 'lose' 144 tons of gold in the process.

We really shouldn't be derailing this thread with this stuff and its probably not even appropriate for the forum (or maybe I'm just trying to find an excuse to discuss it face to face )

[Paul Carr]

Republic of Ireland is still considered a Tier 1 country, that is the top level ranking, by the latest Trafficking In Persons report which means the US Department of State considers our efforts to be good enough to combat trafficking at a minimum according to ther definition of it. Republic of Ireland has been Tier 1 in every TIP report since 2010

http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/226846.pdf

[Empirical]

1 . Jails and prisons / penitentiaries : jail is short term -- ppl waiting for court dates or ppl convicted of misdemeanour crimes ;

prison / penitentiary is for ppl convicted to long term sentences .

I think US long ago - in effect - had given up on rehabilitation , and now jails/prisons are simply housing facilities .

AND pen-time (penitentiary) , not a deterrent ! At all .

Thanks, I hadn't realised that there was this subtle difference.

[Empirical]

The other side of that argument is the west orchestrated the uprising to install a puppet government in Kiev. Like I say, the propaganda machines running hard on both sides and its impossible to see the big picture clearly. Libya was a blatant orchestrated revolution but with the Ukraine its much harder to see what's going on but one of the few things that is clear is the press cannot be trusted. Its most likely this article is just an excuse to put sex on the front page in big letters to boost sales but there are some real scumbags in powerful positions in the world and I'd put nothing past them.

"In war, truth is the first casualty."

(Origin unclear)