Yesterday, I heard from Carrie B that her granddaughter-in-law is facing a double mastectomy and is equesting prayers (or however you communicate with the universe) for good results. Also that it is PatB’s wedding anniversary (48 years – Wow!) so we won’t see her comments for a day or two. I’m reminded of a fellow whom Virgil and I met in AA – he used to say, “Life is so daily,” and how right he was. Also, I got an email from Medicare that the second CoViD booster can be taken four months after the first one … which is the information I was waiting for to put it on my calendar.
Cartoon
Short Takes –
Vice (Motherboard) – Police Records Show Women Are Being Stalked With Apple AirTags Across the Country
Quote – Multiple women who filed these reports said they feared physical violence. One woman called the police because a man she had a protective order against was harassing her with phone calls. She’d gotten notifications that an AirTag was tracking her, and could hear it chiming in her car, but couldn’t find it. When the cops arrived, she answered one of his calls in front of the officer, and the man described how he would physically harm her. Click through for details. Did anyone NOT see this coming?
Smithsonian – Libraries
Quote – Books Online – Most books available here are in the Public Domain unless otherwise noted, and are therefore free to download, use, re-use, and re-mix without regard to copyright. Due to the nature of library collections however, it can be difficult to determine copyright status. Click through and consider bookmarking. If you have this site and Project Gutenberg you can access just about anything that is in the pubic domain. And if you want to quote from them, you can copy/paste and not worry about typos. I have a bookshelf wall and, between them, these can replace most of it. Sigh.
PolitiZoom – Don’t Knock The US/EU/NATO Sanctions. Here’s Why
Quote – Don’t get me wrong. I get the drift here. The biggest bitch about sanctions since day one is that they are not a quick fix, they take months, if not years to ripen enough to have any real effect on the russian people, which is what you’re after, popular pressure on the regime. But things are different this time, for a couple of reasons. Click through for full analysis.
Yesterday, I actually managed to place a grocery order in themorning and schedule it for this evening. And it actually came a little after six (I asked fror a window from 6-8) and by 8 I hadeverything that neded to be put away, put awat. And no substitutes. A couple of things missing or shorted, and the dishwashing liquid leaked over a bunch of things, but didn’t actually destroy anything, just made them icky to put away.
Cartoon 04 MLK loaded
Short Takes –
Crooks & Liars – Fortenberry, Convicted Liar And Thin-skinned Bully, Resigns
Quote – Nebraska Republican Congressman Jeff Fortenberry is a convicted liar who has now resigned. Good. But he has never been held accountable for abusing the power of his office to hunt down and threaten the jobs of people who criticized him with a joke. You might remember his Chief of Staff made national news for threatening a state university professor for LIKING a Facebook post of a sign calling him Fartenberry. Click through for more. While he heeds to be held accountable (and probably won’t) for his bullying, this is still good news. One down, 193 (or thereabouts) to go.
Letters from an American – March 31, 2022
Quote – Today, Judge Mark E. Walker of the Federal District Court in Tallahassee, Florida, struck down much of the new elections law passed by the Florida legislature after the 2020 election. This is the first time a federal court has sought to overrule the recent attempts of Republican-dominated state legislatures to rig the vote, and Walker made thorough work of it…. “This case is about our sacred right to vote,” Walker wrote, “won at great cost in blood and treasure. Courts have long recognized that, because “the right to exercise the franchise in a free and unimpaired manner is preservative of other basic civil and political rights, any alleged infringement of the right of citizens to vote must be carefully and meticulously scrutinized.” Click through for story and sources. While we can’t depend on this not being appeales, not on keeping the ground gained if it’s appealed, it is still hopeful. Heather, BTW, has been on a roll. I’ll be sharing more of her in the next few days.
CPR – CU Boulder to host UN human rights summit on climate change
Quote – The University of Colorado Boulder will host a global climate summit in partnership with UN Human Rights. Thought leaders attending the gathering will examine climate change as a human rights crisis. CU Chancellor Phil DiStefano talked about the “Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Summit” in front of alumni and students in Washington, D.C. earlier this week. The idea for the summit came out of the UN climate change conference that took place in Glasgow last year. Click through for story. This kind of thing is why Colorado MAGAts refer to the city of Boulder as “the People’s Republic of Boulder,” which certainly says at least as much about them as it does about Bloulder.
Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as “unceasing,” “grudging,” and “vengeful destruction.”
There are many terms used in national and world affairs which we all “know” what they mean, but aren’t always aware that ther need to have actual legal or quasi-legal definitions in order for nations, or groups of nations, to take any action on them. One such term is “treason.” We all know what it means – at least we all know what we mean by it – but in the United States, the fact is that the Founders chose to define it in the Constitution very narrowly. That’s not surprising as a matter of history, They were fearful that it might be over-used and lead to despotism.
Another of these terms is “genocide.” We all know what it means. But how many of us realized there are very strict elements of it (or, as this author puts it, “warning signs”) which can provide citizens of a nation, or neighbor nations, to see and raise red flags in order to try to put a stop to it. Here’s a look at Russia in Ukraine through the lens of those warning signs.
==============================================================
Is Russia committing genocide in Ukraine? A human rights expert looks at the warning signs
There’s a real threat that Russia will commit genocide in Ukraine. As evidence of war crimes emerges, there is reason to believe it may already be taking place.
“Russia’s forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement on March 23, 2022. Blinken cited as evidence for his allegation Russia’s destruction of “apartment buildings, schools, hospitals, critical infrastructure” and a maternity hospital in the besieged city of Mariupol that was marked with the Russian word for children.
Russia has killed at least 1,189 civilians and wounded 1,901 additional Ukrainians since it began its attack on Ukraine in February 2022, according to the United Nations. This actual death toll is likely much higher.
Such attacks on civilians during conflict are considered war crimes under international law.
But war crimes also often take place in tandem with other atrocity crimes – a legal term that also encompasses ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity and genocide.
Some observers warn that this violence has the potential to become genocidal, particularly given Russian propaganda and physical destruction of Mariupol and other cities.
Ukrainian officials claim genocide has already begun. “The aerial bombing of a children’s hospital,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on March 9, 2022, “is the ultimate evidence that genocide of Ukrainians is happening.”
Given the scale of Russian violence in Ukraine, however, genocide warnings need to be taken seriously.
The field of genocide studies, in which I have long worked, has developed frameworks for assessing the threat of genocide in such volatile situations. These tools, including one used by the U.N., indicate Ukraine is indeed at considerable risk for genocide.
Genocide refers to “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”
These acts involve not just killing people, but seeking to destroy the target group by causing “serious bodily or mental harm,” creating harsh “conditions of life,” preventing births and “forcibly transferring” children to another group.
One predictor for genocide is a history of mass human rights violations and atrocity crimes, including genocide.
Russia has a long history of mass violence against Ukrainians and other groups.
Perhaps most infamously, the Soviet Union enacted land policies that prompted a food shortage and a famine, killing millions of Ukrainians from 1932 to 1933. This is known as the Holodomor, a Ukrainian word meaning meaning “death by hunger.”
Other Soviet atrocities include forced deportation of national and ethnic groups and massive political purges.
After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Russia committed mass violence against civilians in Chechnya, Georgia and Syria. It bombarded and obliterated cities like Grozny in 1995 and Aleppo in 2016.
Genocide and atrocity crimes are also strongly correlated with political upheaval, especially war. Such upheaval destabilizes a society and makes it less secure – especially for vulnerable groups of people who may be blamed for the political or economic instability.
Genocide has taken place during global conflicts, as illustrated by the Armenian genocide during World War I, and the Holocaust during World War II.
Such countries as China and Cambodia have also undertaken social engineering projects resulting in genocide.
Russia has experienced a number of political upheavals, including a current economic crisis. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is the sort of armed conflict often associated with atrocity crimes.
Ideology and demonization
Genocide is justified by propaganda and language that devalues and demonizes target populations. Historical examples abound, ranging from European colonial caricatures of Indigenous “brutes” and “savages” to Nazi representations of Jews as rats.
Russia is using this type of demonizing language to justify its invasion of Ukraine. First, Russia depicts its violence as necessary to “denazify” Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin, for example, has referred to the Ukrainian leadership as a far-right “gang of drug addicts and neo-Nazis.”
And second, Putin has suggested that Ukrainian identity is not real and that, historically, “Russians and Ukrainians are one people – one nation, in fact.”
Propaganda, like this 1940 antisemitic advertisement demonizing a group of people, is one warning sign of genocide. Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images
Understanding the risk
Proving genocidal intent is difficult, especially in a court of law. This is evident in current debates – including an ongoing court case at the International Court of Justice – about whether Myanmar committed genocide against the Rohingya people, a Muslim minority group.
But it can be inferred by patterns of violence consistent with the legal definition of genocide.
Russia has targeted and killed civilians and reportedly forcibly deported hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians, including children, to Russia. It has bombed a maternity hospital.
Russia seeks to seize and Russify Donbas and other parts of eastern Ukraine, where, if Putin is taken at his word, an “imaginary” Ukrainian identity will be erased.
There is a significant risk that Russia will commit genocide in Ukraine. It is possible that a genocide has already begun.
============================================================== Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone, it’s both interesting and useful that “genocide” can be classified as one of several “atrocity” crimes, any and all of which can be strictly defined. Think of that the next time you want to describe some action or some person as “atrocious.” Sadly, many crimes committed just in the US can fairly be describes as atrocities – particularly when bigotry is involved. You ladies have just about seen everything over the centuries. Help us to recognize what we see.
Yesterday, the radio opera was Eugene Onegin, a title charcter who would certainly be a poster child for FAFO except tht these days our MAGAts are doing so much more. It’s from a work by Pushkin which kind of foreshadoed Pushkin’s own death, containing as it does the death of a poet in a duel. But the music (Tchaikovsky) is gorgeous. And it certainly demonstrates some of the harms of unchecked privilege.And it’s not such an unusual story, especially then. There’s a duet at the beginning there’s a duet between the heroine’s mother and her housekeeper on the theme of “God sends us habit instead of happiness,” which I find terribly poignant.
Cartoon 03 PonyxTrail loaded
Short Takes –
HuffPost – Amazon Workers On Staten Island Vote To Form Union In Historic Upset
Quote – The labor victory in Staten Island is all the more remarkable because of the union’s unlikely roots. Amazon Labor Union was formed just last year by a group of workers in New York. It is led by Chris Smalls, a former Amazon worker whom the company controversially fired early in the pandemic after he spoke out about safety concerns, and Derrick Palmer, who works at JFK8. Click through for this story. There was also a vote in Alabama, of which the results are not in as I type. It’s a long shot – but not impossible – but IF this Chris (short for Christian) Smalls is a direct descendant of Robert Smalls, Jeff Bezos does not have a clue what and who he is up against.
Artists paint Ukrainian sunflowers and dozens of other murals as art returns to the levee in Pueblo
Quote – Pueblo’s levee once held the Guinness World Record for the largest outdoor mural. For decades, hundreds of artists like Ramu painted on the nearly three-mile-long structure, creating one big mural. But eight years ago repairs to the levee destroyed that artwork. Now construction is done and artists have been back at work…. Their first goal is to be the largest outdoor mural in the United States. But they won’t stop there. The plan is to regain the world record, which is currently held by a site in South Korea. There’s a lot more levee to paint before that happens though. Click through for story and some pictures. It’s always fun to hear about something practically in my own back yard I did not know about, especially when it’s somethng I can take pride in.
Ukraine Awards Medal To Border Guard Who Told ‘Russian Warship, Go F*** Yourself’
Quote – The Ukrainian border guard who said “Russian warship, go fuck yourself” during the defense of Snake Island has been released from captivity, Ukraine’s military announced on Tuesday…. Thirteen Ukrainian border guards stationed on the tiny Zmiinyi Island in the Black Sea, known in English as Snake Island, defiantly told a Russian ship to “go fuck yourself” when they were asked to surrender in February. The border guards were originally thought to have then been killed by Russian forces. Click through. There’s a short video (in Ukranian.) “Glory to the hero” indeed.
