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Facing the 21st Century: A Brave New World of Challenge, Change and Caution

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In the past six months, the “brave new world” of the 21st century has erupted  into massive and immediate political, social, economic, and environmental change, foisting challenges of biblical proportions, all of which elicit concern, caution — and jaw-dropping exhilaration. Tanya Domi explains.

Revolutions, biblical-proportion earthquakes, floods, tornadoes and tsunamis, labor union uprisings, tear-gassing of hundred of public school teachers, humanitarian interventions and the execution of a terrorist who held the world at bay and in fear, for over a decade — even before the 9/11 attacks on America. All these events have transpired in a short six months, with unprecedented speed and alacrity that is at once breathtaking, phenomenal, frightening, jaw dropping and exhilarating.

Hard to believe that just a few weeks ago, President Obama was undoubtedly forced to confront Donald Trump’s orchestrated  “birther” allegations. Trump made the rounds with the media, vociferously asserting that Obama was not a bona fide American citizen. The president released the long form of his “live birth” Hawaii State certificate – and even discussed it live from the White House press room — and of course, the debate continued. It also sickeningly elevated Trump into the same breath as the president.

But the execution of Osama Bin Laden by American Navy Seals a week ago marks the end of not only puffed up and combed over Donald Trump, but also marks the end of a decade of American adventurism that included the prosecution of an illegal war in Iraq and the establishment of a dubious prison for suspected terrorists at Guantanamo, a U.S. Navy base that is home to a military court, strategically calculated by Bush Administration Department of Justice officials to be situated outside the jurisdiction of American courts and beyond the reach of the world’s international legal system.

 


April’s spring not only unveiled the unseemly image of a puffed up and combed over Donald Trump, but it also revealed that the Republicans have perhaps blinked from pursuing that Medicare “reform” as their inane heads were handed to them in town halls filled with irate citizens during the Easter break.



 

Also known as “Gitmo,” an island unto its illegal self, it has been criticized by leaders and jurists from every corner of the earth, including by the conservative leaning U.S. Supreme Court in 2007.

All these events have been overwhelming and yet, in tandem, I have been enthralled by them, as major breaking news has regularly washed over my desk since the earliest days of 2011.

Interspersed among these seismic events, included a big moment at home for the LGBT community when Attorney General Eric Holder announced on Feb. 23rd that the Department  of Justice would no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act in federal court, asserting the Administration’s belief that the law banning gay marriages was unconstitutional. DADT repeal implementation has continued, lagging as the military gets trained on integrating openly gay and lesbian service members in the ranks. First Lady Michelle Obama announced a campaign to support military service members and their families on Feb. 28th, called “joining forces,” to the exclusion of LGB families, because DADT remains a policy.

This unforgiving, accelerated international news tempo, has also been buttressed on the home front, first by the Wisconsin labor uprising against Governor Scott Walker’s efforts to bust the Wisconsin public employee unions in February and March, fueled by the mad hatter “Tea Party caucus” in the Republican led House of Representatives, which seems hell-bent on removing whatever is left of an American safety net. The House nut jobs also seem driven to exploit the mandatory raising of the debt ceiling, come what may, even if their reckless actions give the markets not only jitters, but could drive America’s credit rating into a bigger ditch than any of us could ever imagine in our worst nightmares.

Wisconsin’s push back by labor activists and everyday citizens in February and March happened side-by-side with the Libyan uprising that has now morphed into a third American war, this time unanimously backed by the Arab League (unheard of that Arab nations would agree to declare war on a fellow Arab leader or state) and passed by the UN Security Council for humanitarian reasons to prevent a slaughter in the city of Benghazi, and called for by Libyan rebels who are giving Muammar Gaddafi his biggest leadership challenge in 41 years of unchecked power.

Read: Wisconsin Union Uprising: Why This Is The LGBT Community’s Moment

Poor Japan. Pray for Japan. My heart was in my throat as I watched the news video tape roll, capturing the god forsaken images of a 9.0 earthquake that rocked its islands on March 11, igniting a ferociously powerful tsunami that swept thousands of people out to sea and destroyed whole towns, unrecognizable, save for Google map images of before and after. But the destruction did not stop with the receding waters of the tsunami, as its Fukushima nuclear facility began a partial nuclear meltdown, considered the worst nuclear mishap since the Chernobyl nuclear disaster 25 years ago.  Watching these reports, for me, felt like the end of history and perhaps civilization. It was absolutely frightening.

April’s spring not only unveiled the unseemly image of a puffed up and combed over Donald Trump, but it also revealed that the Republicans have perhaps blinked from pursuing that Medicare “reform” as their inane heads were handed to them in town halls filled with irate citizens during the Easter break.  American baby boomers actually like Medicare and are paying close attention to the nutty wonders on Capitol Hill. The Republicans are meeting with Vice President Biden, who is negotiating a budget deal for the White House and in the meantime Budget Chair Paul Ryan, a Wisconsinite, has disappeared, perhaps gagged and rolled into sack cloth, buried in a closet in the basement of Longworth.

Under the guise of excessive spending, the Republicans declared war on women and low-​income Americans and nearly shut down the government over continued funding of Planned Parenthood under Title X, which does not permit funding of abortions. Democratic women senators came out swinging, in what was the most vigorous and articulate defense of Democratic Party principles during the manufactured budget crisis.

 

Watch: Trump vs. Obama – Dueling Birth Certificate News Conferences

I was relieved when Bin Laden was taken out, but I did not share the enthusiasm of  American youth, who gathered  in iconic places, like New York City’s Times Square and World Trade Center, as well as Lafayette Park (across from the White House) in D.C. to cheer his death and mark the demise of Al Qaeda. Let us hope that his death and the certain roll-up of his collaborators across the globe creates enough political space for the president to lighten our military footprint in Afghanistan and accelerate troop withdrawals from there and Iraq.  The costs associated with the Iraq War alone, called “The Three Trillion Dollar War” in a book authored by Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, are unsustainable and are effectively killing America’s future and its dreams. We are broke. Plagued by a soft economy and a weaker job market of more than 14 million persons and many more underemployed, who are working two or more jobs to make ends meet — if they’re lucky to find them. This is the issue that will determine the outcome of the 2012 elections, not the death of Bin Laden.

Americans want to know, and rightfully so, when are we going to build schools, invest in research and innovative technologies and build infrastructure that can support and advance America’s place in a globalized  economy. It isn’t America leading the pack these days–the world’s economy is being upended by the powerhouse go-go “BRIC” countries–Brazil, Russia, India and China–are nearly all on fire. The International Monetary Fund recently projected that China could overtake the U.S. as the number one world economy by 2016. Not a happy thought for America.

Nonetheless, the political changes we are watching transpire in the Middle East and North Africa are a once in a 100 to 150 years phenomenon. It is history in the making that will have unknown ramifications for decades to come. This situation presents great opportunity and speculative risk. Will these changes emerge as democratic (small “d”) states and societies, or will they result in the rise of more illiberal states, perhaps Muslim theocracies or Shi’ia dominated governments, which so many Western policy-makers fear?

Read: Wikileaks, Twitter, Cable News Fuel Tunisia Uprising Perfect Storm

Social media platforms Facebook and Twitter, along with the Doha, Qatar based Al Jazzera Arab and English television broadcasters, have emerged as major global media players in facilitating and, some believe, fueling the revolutionary spirit ricocheting across the region. Recognition that Al Jazzera’s English service has “arrived” was acknowledged last week by the Columbia University School of Journalism (disclosure: I work for Columbia University,) who announced it was bestowing upon the once dismissed Arab news service, its highest award for “singular journalism in the public interest.”

The “let them eat cake” policy approach (subsidized food prices have been recently revoked by governments in the Middle East, as inflation and rocketing food prices have hit the world food commodity markets hard) applied by iron fisted despots, is unsustainable now, because of a revolutionary political marriage between massive poverty, rising food prices and a “youth bulge” — majorities of populations are now under the age of 30 for nearly every country in the Middle East and North Africa. No country seems untouched by these combined factors and are consequently facing popular uprisings that are shaking the foundation of Middle East governments, a hybrid of familiar kleptocracies that have maintained power for at least a half of century, if not longer.

 


 

And now, adding agony to injury, Uganda’s parliament has toyingly played with the “Kill The Gays” bill. The government seems undeterred in its pursuit of legalized brutality. The U.S. State Department has issued statements condemning the Uganda government’s actions, which have been condemned by numerous governments around the world.

 


 

Syria’s iron-fisted President Bashar al-Assad, thought to be one of the most stable (or controlling) governments in the region, during the past seven weeks has sacked his government, announced reforms, while intermittently cracking down by turning tanks on unarmed demonstrators this week. Meanwhile, the president of Yemen has announced he will depart depending on a positive negotiation process with the opposition, and the Bahrain monarchy announced it would lift martial law on June 1st.

And yet these changes have also revealed just how fragile many of these societies are, and the extent to which women are oppressed and routinely subjected to rape, sexual assault and harassment. To wit, the barbaric rape of CBS foreign correspondent Lara Logan by a mob of Egyptian men, during celebrations in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on March 11th. She was rescued by a group of Egyptian women and members of the Egyptian military, who rushed to her aid at the insistence of her TV crew.

 

https://youtube.com/watch?v=GN2BAcATMHg%3Ffs%3D1%26hl%3Den_US

 

Logan’s terse press statement about her rape in Egypt’s Liberation Square was followed by a shocking and brazen attack — captured on video that went viral — of Libyan officials slapping and shoving Eman al-Obeidy, a Libyan woman who had sought out foreign journalists in a Tripoli hotel, when she tried to tell them she had been raped by Libyan militia members near Benghazi. When journalists attempted to protect her, they too were shoved and slapped by government press escorts, who brutally dragged her from the hotel to an unknown location. Al-Obeidy recently emerged in public for the first time, in Tunisia, where she said she had sought diplomatic protection for simply reporting a rape–a cautionary tale about the state of these societies.

But back on the home front, not to be out done by the freakish weather in Asia, Mother Nature, perhaps, fueled by hotter temperatures which have produced more moisture, assaulted the South East on April 28th, when 190 some tornadoes swept through six states, killing more than 300 people, and leveling Tuscaloosa, the home of the University of Alabama. Obama got on a plane to view the devastation and immediately declared significant parts of the south a disaster area. Now we are faced with a flooding Mississippi River — at levels not seen since 1927 — which has risen to more than 48 feet above normal levels in Cairo, Illinois, and Memphis, Tennessee, that are expected to crest in two weeks in New Orleans. Poor New Orleans.

And now, adding agony to injury, Uganda’s parliament has toyingly played with the “Kill The Gays” bill. The government seems undeterred in its pursuit of legalized brutality. The U.S. State Department has issued statements condemning the Uganda government’s actions, which have been condemned by numerous governments around the world. But perhaps in the end, will love conquer all? It seems so in Brazil, whose Supreme Court on May 5th, decisively voted by a overwhelming margin of 10-0, to extend equal legal status and  rights and benefits to gay partners in stable relationships, including inheritance and pensions. Brazil is home to the largest Roman Catholic population in the world.  So Pope Benedict XV, go eat your miter!

 

Tanya L. Domi is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, who teaches about human rights in Eurasia and is a Harriman Institute affiliated faculty member. Prior to teaching at Columbia, Domi worked internationally for more than a decade on issues related to democratic transitional development, including political and media development, human rights, gender issues, sex trafficking, and media freedom.

Read Tanya Domi’s most-recent previous article at The New Civil Rights Movement, “Budget Showdown: Senate Democratic Women Preserve Party’s Principles.”

 

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‘My Family in Danger’: Democratic Congressman Reveals Chilling Details of ‘Potential Plot’

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U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz Friday evening revealed the chilling details of an apparent potential assassination plot he says has endangered his life and his family. The Florida Democrat says police arrested a suspect who is a former felon, had body armor, a rifle, an antisemitic manifesto, with “only my name on the ‘target’ list.”

“The day before the election, I was notified by the Margate Police Department, located in my Congressional District, about a potential plot on my life,” Congresman Moskwitz said in a statement. “The individual in question was arrested not far from my home; he is a former felon who was in possession of a rifle, a suppressor, and body armor. Found with him was a manifesto that, among other things, included antisemitic rhetoric and only my name on the ‘target’ list. There are many other details that I will not disclose as I do not want to interfere with an ongoing investigation. I want to thank local law enforcement, the US Marshalls, the FBI, the US Capitol Police, and the US Attorney’s office.”

READ MORE: ‘Chief Shareholder in the Presidency’: Musk on Trump-Zelenskyy Mar-a-Lago Call Fuels Fears

“As someone who was appointed to the Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump, I understand the failures and importance of fixing the protection of our current and future Commander- In-Chief and Vice President.”

Rep. Moskowitz adds that, “At the same time, I am deeply worried about Congressional member security and the significant lack thereof when we are in the district. Regardless of our political affiliations or differences, we all have families we want to keep safe.”

In a post on social media, Moskowitz added, “Serving my constituents is a great honor, but it has put my family in danger.”

READ MORE: ‘Probably Illegal Rumors’: Trump Calls for Investigations — to Protect His Interests

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‘Chief Shareholder in the Presidency’: Musk on Trump-Zelenskyy Mar-a-Lago Call Fuels Fears

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Elon Musk joined Donald Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, when the billionaire and President-elect were at Mar-a-Lago. The move is raising concerns about Musk’s potential role in the upcoming Republican administration, given his status as a federal contractor with access to U.S. defense secrets and relationships with foreign adversaries, including Russia, and its illegal war against Ukraine, as well as his personal socio-political statements about America.

Axios, in an exclusive on Friday, reported Musk’s presence on Trump’s call with President Zelenskyy, details of which “underscore how influential Musk could be in the second Trump administration,” and offer “uncertainty over how exactly Trump will approach Ukraine.”

“Trump’s public messages throughout the election campaign — promising a quick resolution to the war, declining to say which side he wanted to win and criticizing the massive aid packages flowing from Washington — raised alarm bells in Kyiv and throughout Europe,” Axios added, and claimed, “Trump has yet to speak with Vladimir Putin since the election.”

Axios also reported that Musk “joined Trump’s call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.”

READ MORE: ‘Probably Illegal Rumors’: Trump Calls for Investigations — to Protect His Interests

Last month a bombshell Wall Street Journal exclusive revealed Musk has “been in regular contact” and has had “secret conversations” with the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, “since late 2022.”

Musk has also “forged deep business ties with U.S. military and intelligence agencies, giving him unique visibility into some of America’s most sensitive space programs,” The Journal reported. “SpaceX, which operates the Starlink service, won a $1.8 billion classified contract in 2021 and is the primary rocket launcher for the Pentagon and NASA. Musk has a security clearance that allows him access to certain classified information.”

Calling Musk “a linchpin of U.S. space efforts,” The Journal noted that “Putin asked the billionaire to avoid activating his Starlink satellite internet service over Taiwan as a favor to Chinese leader Xi Jinping.”

During his presidential campaign, Trump claimed if elected, he would end Russia’s illegal war against Ukraine even before being sworn in to office.

READ MORE: ‘Inexperienced, Loyalist Clowns’: National Security Expert Slams Possible Trump CIA Picks

“Donald Trump has failed to meet one of his highest-profile pre-election promises—when the war in Ukraine will end,” reports The Daily Beast on Friday. “’I would fix that within 24 hours. And, if I win, before I get into the office, I will have that war settled. A hundred percent sure,’ Trump said on Hannity in 2023. It’s been over 48 hours since Trump won the presidential election, and there’s no end in sight for the conflict. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Trump actually does not have a specific plan to get Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian president Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table, and is fielding competing ideas from advisers and allies.”

The Daily Beast’s Julia Davis posted this video of Trump:

Meanwhile, news of Musk being at Mar-a-Lago and intimately involved in conversations and possibly negotiations with Trump, Zelenskyy, and possibly even Putin or other world leaders, is drawing great concern.

On Wednesday, Kai Trump, daughter of Donald Trump Jr., posted this photo, leading The New Republic to ask, “Why the hell is Elon Musk in the first Trump family photo after the election?”

“The billionaire tech CEO spent election night with Trump, showing that he is now a part of the president-elect’s inner circle,” TNR added. “The photo perhaps is a look at who will be the public faces of the next first family.”

The Atlantic’s Tom Nichols, a retired Naval War College professor who has a PhD in government from Georgetown University commented on Musk being in the call to Zelenskyy: “This is dangerous and stupid, but it’s what America voted for. They must have doubled over laughing in Moscow hearing about this.”

The New Yorker’s award-winning investigative journalist Jane Mayer, responding to Musk’s presence on the call to Zelenskyy, asked: “Barred by the Constitution from being president because he was born abroad, will Musk be the shadow president?”

And Susan Glasser, also of The New Yorker, added: “Wow. A preview of what happens when the world’s richest man is also chief shareholder in the US presidency.”

Similarly, Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo wrote: “Musk buying Twitter and then going all in with Trump was a bet that is paying off as it looks like he will be majority shareholder in the US Presidency the next 4 years.”

Professor of public policy Robert Reich, a former U.S. Secretary of Labor remarked, “Shocking, but not surprising. Musk put more than $130M of his own money into this election, and he’ll expect to get his money’s worth. I think he’ll be calling a lot of the shots in the Musk-Trump administration.”

Watch the video above or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Someone’s Got to Run the Deportation Camps’: Prison Stocks Soar as Trump Agenda Unfolds

 

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‘Probably Illegal Rumors’: Trump Calls for Investigations — to Protect His Interests

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Although his inauguration is still months away, Donald Trump, just days after winning back the White House, has already started calling for investigations aimed at safeguarding his personal financial interests.

Trump is the majority shareholder in DJT, the Trump Media & Technology Group that holds his Truth Social social media company. His stake is reportedly valued around $4 billion.

“Donald Trump has made clear that upon his return to office, he intends to sic the authorities under his control on his political enemies and critics. He’s getting started with Truth Social speculators,” Rolling Stone reports.

READ MORE: ‘Inexperienced, Loyalist Clowns’: National Security Expert Slams Possible Trump CIA Picks

“The president-elect’s revenge fantasy agenda is getting an early start with a probe into those speculating about Truth Social,” Rolling Stone noted. “Inauguration Day is still months away, but the newly minted president-elect is wasting no time adding to his list of targets – starting with people speculating that he may sell Truth Social.

DJT stock “soared Friday after President-elect Donald Trump reaffirmed he has no plans to sell off his stake in the Truth Social operator, and called on authorities to investigate whoever suggested otherwise,” CNBC reports. “Trump’s announcement, posted on Truth Social, was his first personally written statement since his stunning victory against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in Tuesday’s presidential election.”

If Trump were to sell shares from his DJT holdings, that “would likely further depress the price of Trump Media’s shares,” NPR reported in September.

In his call for an investigation, Trump on Friday wrote: “There are fake, untrue, and probably illegal rumors and/or statements made by, perhaps, market manipulators or short sellers, that I am interested in selling shares of Truth. THOSE RUMORS OR STATEMENTS ARE FALSE. I HAVE NO INTENTION OF SELLING! I hereby request that the people who have set off these fake rumors or statements, and who may have done so in the past, be immediately investigated by the appropriate authorities. Truth is an important part of our historic win, and I deeply believe in it. Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

The federal government watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, CREW, Friday warned: “As a publicly traded company, Truth Social offers even more ways for foreign governments, special interests and wealthy donors to personally enrich Trump as they endeavor to curry favor with him and his administration.”

READ MORE: ‘Someone’s Got to Run the Deportation Camps’: Prison Stocks Soar as Trump Agenda Unfolds

 

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