Trump's Dubious Outreach to North Korea

Trump's Dubious Outreach to North Korea

by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)

US relations with other countries, especially sovereign independent ones it doesn't control, are long on unacceptable demands, woefully short on seeking cooperative relations.

Two summits between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un failed to improve bilateral relations.

They featured one-sided unacceptable US demands in return for empty promises - how Washington always deals with nations it wants transformed into vassal states.

The Trump regime wants a North Korean client state bordering China. Its hardliners want the DPRK rendered defenseless by eliminating its nuclear deterrent and ballistic missiles.

According to John Bolton earlier, "(w)e have very much in mind the Libya model from 2003, 2004. There are obviously differences. The Libyan program was much smaller, but that was basically the agreement that we made."

In 2011, US-led aggression raped and destroyed the country, Gaddafi sodomized to death, a fate Kim understands, wanting a similar outcome for himself from future US aggression avoided.

On Friday in Osaka, Trump said he'd like to meet Kim at the DMZ, separating North and South Korea - "just to shake his hand and sell HELLO," he tweeted, adding:

"After some very important meetings, including my meeting with President Xi of China, I will be leaving Japan for South Korea (to meet with President Moon)."

"While there, if Chairman Kim of North Korea sees this, I would meet him at the Border..."

Both leaders last met in Hanoi, Vietnam last February. Two Kim/Trump summits achieved virtually nothing toward stepping back from the brink on the Korean peninsula toward regional peace, stability, and normalized bilateral relations.

North Korea maintains a nuclear and ballistic missile deterrent because of the genuine fear of possible US aggression.

Bilateral relations are dismal, pockmarked by multiple rounds of oppressive sanctions, showing extreme US hostility toward the country and its people.

Kim showed good faith during summit talks with Trump - in June 2018, again in February, accomplishing nothing, showing the futility of negotiating with a partner bent on dominating North Korea, unwilling to deal with its ruling authorities cooperatively.

Nothing suggests a change of US tactics ahead. Talks in Hanoi broke down because Trump regime officials refused to offer any concessions, nothing as a show of good faith, something not in the US imperial vocabulary. 

Kim asked DJT for partial sanctions relief alone, wanting only ones affecting North Korea's economy lifted.

Trump refused, insisting on full compliance with his regime's unacceptable one-sided demands, refusing even a modest gesture of good faith in return.

Bilateral talks were suspended following the failed summit. At the time, DPRK Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui blamed Trump regime officials for the breakdown, saying:

"We have no intention to yield to the (one-sided) US demands in any form, nor are we willing to engage in negotiations of this kind," adding:

Pompeo and Bolton "created the atmosphere of hostility and mistrust and, therefore, obstructed the constructive effort for negotiations between the supreme leaders of North Korea and the United States."

Choe quoted Kim saying: "For what reason do we have to make this (65-hour) train trip again? Choe added: "I want to make it clear that the gangster-like stand of the US will eventually put the situation in danger."

"We have neither the intention to compromise with the US in any form nor much less the desire or plan to conduct this kind of negotiation."

On June 20 and 21, days before the Osaka G20 summit, China's Xi Jinping visited Pyongyang, his first state visit as head of state following Kim's invitation, part of efforts by both countries to work cooperatively.

Both leaders said they reached consensus on "important issues," agreeing to further cooperative relations, especially given US hostility toward North Korea.

There's virtually no prospect for normalizing US relations with the country.

An uneasy armistice has persisted between them since US aggression in the early 1950s ended.

It continued endlessly by other means from then to the present day. It won't end as long as the DPRK defends its independence, its sovereign right.

It rejects the acceptable US demand to subordinate its sovereignty to its interests - as it should. The same goes for all nations.

Note: On Sunday, Trump and Kim met in the DMZ, DJT saying talks between both nations will begin "over the next two or three weeks." He also stepped over the demilitarized zone border into North Korea, the first sitting US president to do it.

Talks are better than conflict even if there's no prospect that the Trump regime will take steps toward normalizing bilateral relations.

This is a developing story, more on it as further information becomes available.

VISIT MY NEW WEB SITE: stephenlendman.org (Home - Stephen Lendman). Contact at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

My newest book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Photo: Por The White House from Washington, DC - President Trump's Trip to Vietnam, Domínio público, https://ift.tt/2ZWQ39Z

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Things Back on Track Between the US and China?

Things Back on Track Between the US and China?

by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)

Xi Jinping/Trump talks on the sidelines of the Osaka, Japan G20 summit turned out as expected - replicating the outcome of their talks at the Buenos Aires G20 summit late last year.

Then and now, both leaders agreed to continue trade talks. Trump said he won't impose tariffs on another $300 billion worth of Chinese imports, at least not now, later very possible if stalemate continues. 

Bilateral trade differences have little to do with the trade deficit hugely favoring China.

It exists because corporate America relocated much of its manufacturing and other operations to low-wage countries, notably China.

US policymakers are to blame for permitting unrestricted offshoring of millions of high-pay, good benefits jobs abroad, thirdworldizing America for most of its citizens, letting poverty become the nation's leading growth industry.

Census data show half or more of US households are impoverished or bordering it. Most US workers struggle to get by on one or more part-time, low-pay, poor-or-no benefits, rotten jobs.

The world's richest country serves its privileged class exclusively at the expense of the vast majority of its people, social justice fast eroding, on the chopping block for slow-motion elimination.

Sino/US differences have everything to do with major structural issues, little to do with the trade deficit. 

The US seeks dominance over all other nations. China, the world's second largest economy, is heading toward becoming number one in the years ahead. 

It's already the world's leading economy on a purchase-price basis - what a basket of goods and services costs in the country compared to the US.

In his opening remarks, Xi said "China and United States both benefit from cooperation and lose in a confrontation. Cooperation is better than friction, and dialogue is better than confrontation."

He downplayed major bilateral political, economic, financial, trade, and military differences, adding:

"We have an excellent relationship, but we want to do something that will even it up with respect to trade. I think that is something that is actually very easy to do."

"I actually think that we were very close and then something happened, it slipped a little bit, and now we are getting a little bit closer, but it would be historic if we could do a fair trade deal."

Following talks, Trump said his meeting with Xi was "excellent...as good as it was going to be," adding:

"We discussed a lot of things and we're right back on track and we'll see what happens, but we had a really good meeting."

"I think President Xi will be putting out a statement...and we will too. We had a very, very good meeting with China, I would say probably even better than expected. The negotiations are continuing...We're doing very well."

Remarks by both leaders belied world's apart bilateral differences, unlikely to be resolved as long as the US position remains hardline.

Based on the failure of 11 rounds of talks over the past year to resolve them, chances that the Trump regime will soften its unacceptable demands seem unlikely - leaving bilateral relations at an impasse if things turn out this way.

Both leaders approached summit talks intending to put a brave face  on world's apart bilateral differences.

As long as the US pursues its goal to rule the world unchallenged, major differences with other countries standing in the way of achieving its objectives will remain unresolved.

The US wants its main global competitors, notably China and Russia, marginalized, weakened, isolated, and contained.

Major Sino/US differences have been irreconcilable. They're all about China's growing political, economic, financial, and military clout.

The US wants China's aim to advance 10 economic, industrial, and technological sectors to world-class status undermined.

They include high technology, high-end machinery and robotics, aerospace, marine equipment and ships, advanced rail transport, new-energy vehicles, electric power, agricultural machinery, new materials and biomedical products.

Premier Li Keqiang earlier said that Beijing's blueprint for advancing economically, industrially, and technologically remains unchanged, stressing:

"We will strengthen the supporting capacity of quality infrastructure...and improve the quality of products and services to encourage more domestic and foreign users to choose Chinese goods and services."

Achieving this goal clashes with US objectives, why resolving major bilateral differences have been unattainable.

Blacklisting Chinese tech giant Huawei and its 70 affiliates from the US market remains is a major obstacle to resolving differences, along with barring US tech companies from doing business with Huawei.

Xi's terms for resolving major bilateral differences reportedly include lifting tariffs in place on Chinese imports, removing Huawei and its affiliates from the US blacklist, and rescinding the ban on US technology sales to the company.

There's no indication from summit talks that Trump is amenable to this demand, just the opposite based on his regime's dealings with China, North Korea, Turkey and other countries.

The record shows a US history of making unacceptable demands in return for empty promises, aiming to maintain its global dominance.

The strategy fails times and again. China clearly rejects it. Ahead of Xi/Trump summit talks, the official People's Daily broadsheet said the trade deficit favoring Beijing is not evidence of "being taken advantage of," adding: Wrongfully blaming China reflects  "whole-body smell of selfishness."

China's Global Times noted unacceptable US actions, headlining: "World must contain capricious US actions," saying:

"(T)he US...accus(es) almost all partners of profiting at its expense," adding:

"Washington has adopted a non-cooperative attitude toward the major tasks facing human beings. It is interested in flexing its muscle to maximize its own interests."

Its unacceptable actions "are catastrophic to global governance." Trump's " 'America first' doctrine is dragging global governance into a quagmire..."

"The world needs to rein in the US," GT stressed.

The commentary noted "the perfidy...the US has placed (on) the Persian Gulf region...whose situation (is) under the cloud of (potentially catastrophic) war" on Iran.

Director-General of China's Foreign Ministry department of arms control Fu Cong said "(w)e do not support the US policy of reducing Iran's oil exports to zero," adding:

"We reject the unilateral imposition of sanctions. For us energy security is important." China will continue importing Iranian oil, he stressed - this issue alone to create friction with the US.

Trump and Xi smiles, handshakes, and friendly remarks in Osaka left major structural issues unresolved.

Bilateral discussions will likely continue in the weeks and months ahead, resolution remaining unattainable unless the US side softens its position.

It hasn't happened so far. No evidence suggests a likely change of US policy ahead.

The South China Morning Post noted reality in Osaka, headlining:

"Beneath the smiles and handshakes, tensions simmer as world leaders meet for G20."

Discussions between major world leaders did little to defuse them.

Note: Trump said "at least for the time being we are not going to be lifting tariffs on China." Leaving them in place remains a major obstacle to resolving bilateral differences.

VISIT MY NEW WEB SITE: stephenlendman.org (Home - Stephen Lendman). Contact at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

My newest book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

 Photo: Por Canuckguy et al., amended by en:User:Bazonka, Este ficheiro foi inicialmente carregado por Bazonka em Wikipédia em inglês - Transferido de en.wikipedia para a wiki Commons. Image based on File:BlankMap-World6, compact.svg, Domínio público, https://ift.tt/322DPP2

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Planet Earth 2019: The freak show of the Universe

Planet Earth 2019: The freak show of the Universe

I have a theory: that Humankind is some kind of inter-galactic joke, a comedy reality show watched by quadrillions of cosmic tele-viewers in need of a laugh

The question is, it is not very funny. Let us take a brief look at Planet Earth ahead of the 2019 silly season, if it has not already started. We have a European country about to choose a serial liar, a bigot and allegedly, also a thief, as its Prime Minister, we have the President of the United States behaving like a nine-year-old threatening to "obliterate" an entire country and we now have something called "plasticrusts", an indication that the sea is so polluted and plastic-saturated that crusts composed of coagulated micro-plastic particles are clinging to rocks around the sea-shores like barnacles and limpets.

We have a growing number of species on the endangered list, and in Botswana recently thousands of vultures on this list were purposefully poisoned, probably by poachers who had murdered an elephant or a rhinoceros (also endangered) and poisoned the birds so that they would not give the poachers' position away by circling overhead. We have millions of people in the Far East who believe that eating rhino horn will make the penis grow as big, so they fuel the trade. We have people burning down forests in Indonesia with the orang-utangs still in the trees, so they crash down to the ground, burned to death.

We have the city of Yulin in China once again proceeding to boil dogs alive, fry them alive and skin them alive while the customers look on, giggling and licking their lips and yes it is taking place in 2019, again, despite the protests. Right now. Because they believe that eating dog meat in high temperatures keeps the body cool. We have the same PR China going back on its word to clean up the atmosphere and reopening coal-burning power plants.

We have millions in the United States of America who cannot place a country on a map,millions who think the Ayatollah Khamenei wears a turban to cover his horns and millions who believe Trump should nuke the country and "send it back to the stone age" when there is serious controversy over who placed the mines in the Straight of Hormuz.

We have a USA which has breached its Paris Climate Change Agreement despite clear results from the scientific community which point towards a catastrophic chain of events within the readers' lifetimes (and mine), massive storms of an unimaginable magnitude ravishing our cities one after the other, the sea levels rising, flooding coastal areas and halving the territory of many countries. We already have the phenomenon of climate migration as people are today being forced to flee their homes because of rising sea levels, and yes it is happening as I write. Soon our grandchildren will ask us if we lived in the time when there were polar bears.

Gender violence is as bad as it has ever been, women still do not enjoy gender equality, workers' rights are being swept back one hundred years as a result of the C-word, "crisis", and timetables have been torn up into shreds, salaries frozen and the notion installed that having any form of work is nowadays some kind of favor.

Education has become a business, so those who have, have and those who have not, Devil take the hindmost; dental care has become a business so people are dying, in 2019, from infections caused by rotting teeth. Countries which call themselves civilised have growing numbers of elderly freezing to death because they cannot pay their energy bills. Water, the basic element of life, is sold and not distributed for free. The Internet, the vehicle for free communication, for education, for development, is sold and not distributed for free.

Bad farming practices have seen antibiotics and hormones slip into the human food chain and the result is today, predictably, the appearance of deadly multi-resistant bacteria with no cure, and strange new diseases appearing at holiday resorts. We see reservoirs of viruses in forests being freed because of deforestation; the average human consumes up to one credit card size of plastic per week because of maritime pollution.

The media, as a rule, serves as a means of control through the manipulation of fear "if you wanna control a guy, all you have to do is make him afraid" and so sheer lies are peddled as the truth and the uneducated populus swallows them hook, line and sinker, unable to discern the facts for themselves by using common sense. Moral of the story: the media makes up stories to cover for the criminal activity of the BARFFS, the $inister $ix $isters, namely the Banking, Arms, energy Resources, Finance, Food and drugS lobbies which dictate policy, dictate the foreign policy of NATO member states, invent wars to sell weapons systems to murder people.

We were given this wonderful home, a perfect bioshpere, to live in together, to develop as a family, celebrating difference, learning together, sharing together, cohabiting with our brothers and sisters, the animals and plants. And what have we done? Poisoned the entire planet from the bottom of the seas to space, continue to exterminate up to 100,000 species per year before they are even discovered, and one by one chalk up another wonderful animal's name on the extinction list.

Meanwhile sexually explicit images of children - even babies - are sold over the Internet, elderly people are beaten, abused and robbed, women and children are trafficked as sex slaves, thousands of children are living in filthy, deplorable conditions on the frontiers of more developed nations, trying to flee bad governance and violence. Wars are rife. Raped women in some countries are liable to be stoned to death because they "asked for it", in others, brides can be set fire to if their dowry is not enough, or female students can be gang-raped and murdered for daring to read a book.

And no it is not only "shithole" countries as some say. The entire planet is one giant festering latrine inhabited by the demonic species called Humankind, the author of the horrors I have mentioned above, and many more.

It is getting to the point where you want to wake up in the morning and say "I have had enough" and put an end to this nightmare. The only argument against this and in favor of trying to carry on is the fact that if enough of us share knowledge and work for development, for peace, for equality among genders, for an end to marginalization and discrimination of any kind, working towards mending and healing and brining people together, rather than threatening to destroy whole countries and murder tens of millions of people in an example of shit-headed arrogance, maybe, just maybe, we can collectively bring this planet round.

Now run off on your Summer holidays and forget about every word I wrote. Can you hear the cacophony up in space as the entire Universe points its spindly fingers at us and laughs its collective celestial head off?

Photo: Por Official Star Wars Blog - 2007 Disney Weekends #3: Dance Off, CC BY 2.0, https://ift.tt/31XplzG

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey

Twitter: @TimothyBHinchey

timothy.hinchey@gmail.com

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey works in the area of teaching, consultancy, coaching, translation, revision of texts, copy-writing and journalism. Director and Chief Editor of the Portuguese version of Pravda.Ru since 2002, and now Co-Editor of the English version, he contributes regularly to several other publications in Portuguese and English. He has worked in the printed and online media, in daily, weekly, monthly and yearly magazines and newspapers. A firm believer in multilateralism as a political approach and multiculturalism as a means to bring people and peoples together, he is Official Media Partner of UN Women, fighting for gender equality and Media Partner with Humane Society International, promoting animal rights. His hobbies include sports, in which he takes a keen interest, traveling, networking to protect the rights of LGBTQI communities and victims of gender violence, and cataloging disappearing languages, cultures and traditions around the world. A keen cook, he enjoys trying out different cuisines and regards cooking and sharing as a means to understand cultures and bring people together.

Join the most international forum on the Net

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UNCHR on Venezuela

UNCHR on Venezuela

by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)

Michelle Bachelet serves as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, chosen for the post in August 2018.

She succeeded Zeid Raad Al Hussein, a member of the Jordanian royal family - hostile to democracy in Venezuela and everywhere else.

He falsely accused President Maduro of "widespread and systematic use of excessive force and arbitrary detentions against demonstrators in Venezuela (sic)," along with "patterns of other human rights violations, including violent house raids, torture and ill-treatment of those detained in connection with the protests (sic)."

His remarks followed interviews with anti-Bolivarian extremists, wanting its government toppled. He irresponsibly blamed security forces for doing their job, using crowd control methods to quell violence, arresting and detaining street thugs - what all just societies do to protect their citizens.

He lied saying "responsibility for the human rights violations we are recording lies at the highest levels of government (sic)."

The US in cahoots with Venezuelan fascists turned streets into battlegrounds. Instead of blaming perpetrators, Hussein held defenders of law and order along with Maduro's government.

In June, 2018, his office issued a report titled "Human rights violations in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela: a downward spiral with no end in sight."

It falsely blamed Maduro for crimes committed against the state and its people, orchestrated by foreign dark forces, notably the CIA, National Endowment for Democracy mandated to combat it globally, and USAID.

The report falsely said "human rights violations (were) committed by State authorities...including the use of excessive force in non-protest related security operations, new instances of arbitrary detentions, torture and ill-treatment, as well as violations of the rights to the highest attainable standard of health and to adequate food," adding:

"Further, the report documents human rights violations, such as alleged extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detentions, and torture and ill- treatment, committed by State authorities..."

"The information gathered by OHCHR indicates that human rights violations committed during demonstrations form part of a wider pattern of repression against political dissidents and anyone perceived as opposed, or posing a threat, to the Government."

All of the above disinformation and more in the report are part of longstanding Western hostility toward Venezuelan social democracy, notably by Washington, wanting the country returned to US client state status.

This is the hardline UNCHR's position on Venezuela inherited by Michelle Bachelet last August. As Chilean president for eight years, she failed to fulfill promises made to shift the country away from being one of the hemisphere's most socially unequal - the legacy of Augusto Pinochet's 17-year dictatorship.

In March, she falsely accused Maduro's government of becoming "a worrying destabilizing factor in the region" - failing to lay blame where it belong, US regimes from the Clinton co-presidency to Trump responsible for human rights abuses in the country.

She lied about what she called the "continued criminalization of peaceful protest and dissent" in Venezuela - the hemisphere's most free and open society.

She lied saying Venezuelan Special Actions Forces (FAES) were responsible for scores of extrajudicial killings, adding:

They took place "during illegal house raids carried out by the FAES, which subsequently reports the death as resulting from an armed confrontation..."

She lied expressing concern about (nonexistent) "restrictions on freedom of expression and of the press in Venezuela."

By invitation, she visited Venezuela last week, on Friday saying:

"We have reached an agreement with the Government for a small team of human rights officers to be based here, with the mandate to provide technical assistance and advice, as well as - importantly - to continue to monitor the human rights situation in Venezuela."

Why hasn't she dispatched a team to monitor major human rights abuses in the US, other Western nations, right-wing Latin American ones, Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, and other fascist dictatorships supported by the US - instead of focusing on democratic Venezuela.

Expressing concern about social, economic, and financial hardships in the country, she failed to lay blame where it belongs - giving short shrift to the Trump regime's all-out war by other means, saying:

"The causes of this immense economic crisis, which has been increasing dramatically from at least 2013, are manifold, and I have discussed with the State the need to tackle them as a matter of priority with the support of the UN agencies that have recently been able to strengthen their presence in Venezuela." 

"I am concerned that the sanctions imposed this year by the US on oil exports and gold trading are exacerbating and aggravating the pre-existing economic crisis."

No "pre-existing economic crisis" existed. Venezuela's envoy to Russia Carlos Rafael Faria Tortosa earlier explained that "(a)s a result of the economic embargo imposed by the US from 2015 through the last year, financial damages to Venezuela's economy totaled $130 billion," adding:

"The government headed by President Nicolas Maduro is on the path of a very unequal conflict with the most forceful economic and military power in the world."

If stolen funds were returned to the country and US war by other means ended, normality would return to the republic - despite low oil prices.

Calling for Maduro to release anti-government protesters, she failed to explain they're imprisoned for street violence and other criminal actions - what no societies tolerate.

What Bachelet should have stressed, accusing the Trump regime for Venezuela's troubles, she largely blamed Maduro for, falsely holding him responsibility for what he has no control over.

The UN largely serves US-led Western interests, breaching its own Charter principles, blaming victims for crimes committed against them.

VISIT MY NEW WEB SITE: stephenlendman.org (Home - Stephen Lendman). Contact at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

My newest book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Photo: Por Presidencia El Salvador - http://bit.ly/2X6SCJB, CC0, http://bit.ly/2J8jlvn

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New UN Women report puts forth policy agenda to end gender inequalities within families

New UN Women report puts forth policy agenda to end gender inequalities within families

"Progress of the World's Women 2019-2020: Families in a Changing World" examines how the transformations in families impact women's rights, and reveals most countries can afford family-friendly policies

 

[New York, 25 June 2019]-As women's rights have advanced over the past decades, families around the world have become a place of love and solidarity but also one where fundamental human rights violations and gender inequalities persist, according to UN Women's new flagship report, "Progress of the World's Women 2019-2020: Families in a Changing World," published today.

"Around the world, we are witnessing concerted efforts to deny women's agency and their right to make their own decisions in the name of protecting 'family values'. Yet, we know through research and evidence that there is no 'standard' form of family, nor has there ever been," said UN Women Executive Director, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. "This report counters that pushback by showing that families, in all their diversity, can be critical drivers of gender equality, provided decision-makers deliver policies rooted in the reality of how people live today, with women's rights at their core."

Anchored in global data, innovative analysis and case studies, the report shows the diversity of families around the world and provides robust recommendations to ensure that laws and policies support today's families and meet the needs of all their members, especially women and girls, with analysis of what it would cost to implement them.

Among the trends observed:

• The age of marriage has increased in all regions, while birth rates have declined, and women have increased economic autonomy;
• Globally, a little over one third (38 per cent) of households are couples living with children; and extended families (including other relatives) are almost as common (27 per cent);
• The vast majority of lone-parent families, which are 8 per cent of households, are led by women, often juggling paid work, child-rearing and unpaid domestic work. Same-sex families are increasingly visible in all regions.

As the report shows, families can be places of care, but can also bring conflict, inequality and, far too often, violence. Today, three billion women and girls live in countries where rape within marriage is not explicitly criminalized. But injustice and violations take other forms as well. In one out of five countries girls do not have the same inheritance rights as boys, while in others (a total of 19 countries) women are required by law to obey their husbands. Around one third of married women in developing countries report having little or no say over their own healthcare.

Women continue to enter the labour market in large numbers, but marriage and motherhood reduce their labour force participation rates, and the income and benefits that come with it. Globally, just over half of married women aged 25-54 are in the labour force, compared to two-thirds of single women, and 96 percent of married men, new data in the report shows. A major driver of these inequalities is the fact that women continue to do three times as much unpaid care and domestic work as men in the absence of affordable care services.

The report sheds some positive light on parental leave, with an increase of its intake by fathers, particularly in countries where specific incentives, such as 'daddy quotas', are in place that reserve a non-transferable portion of the leave for them on a 'use it or lose it' basis.

It also puts a spotlight on the challenges that women and their families face when they migrate. Unjust regulations mean that not all families have the right to family reunification and they are often excluded from access to public services. When women's migration status is tied to their partners, it can be difficult or impossible for them to escape violent relationships.

The report calls on policymakers, activists and people in all walks of life to transform families into places of equality and justice-where women can exercise choice and voice, and where they have physical safety and economic security.

Some of the recommendations put forth by the report to achieve this include:

• Amending and reforming family laws to ensure that women can choose whether, when and who to marry; that provide the possibility of divorce if needed; and enable women's access to family resources.
• Recognizing diverse partnership forms, to protect women's rights in both cohabiting and same sex partnerships.
• Investing in public services, especially education and reproductive healthcare, so that women's and girls' life choices are expanded, and they can make informed choices about sex and childbearing.
• Paid parental leave, and State support for the care of children and older persons, must be considered in crafting comprehensive social protection systems that can help to sustain families.
• Ensuring women's physical safety by implementing laws and policies to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls and providing access to justice and support services for survivors of violence.

An analysis produced for this report found that most countries could implement a package of policies, including income support throughout the life course, healthcare, and care services for children and older persons for less than 5 per cent of GDP.

Ensuring that families serve as a home for equality and justice is not only a moral imperative, but essential for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the world's most comprehensive agenda to ensure human progress.

###

The main global facts and figures from the report can be found here.

Insightful regional fact sheets and stories of change featuring civil society initiatives in various countries, along with seven data sets and complimentary videos, are available here.

Interviews are available, please contact: media.team@unwomen.org

Follow the Report launch press conference on Tuesday 25 June 2019 at 11.00 a.m. ET, webcast live on UN Women); or see the archived video on UN Web TV.

Follow @UN_Women on Twitter and join the conversation using the hashtags #WomensProgress2019 and #FamiliesOfToday.

BACKGROUND:

The Progress of the World's Women report series, a periodic thematic investigation of women's rights since 2000, seeks to spur change in laws, policies and programmes, creating an enabling environment for women and girls to realize their rights.

Progress of the World's Women 2019-2020 coincides with UN Women's "Generation Equality: Realizing women's rights for an equal future" campaign-in the lead up to the 25th anniversary commemoration of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action of 1995, which is considered to be one of the most visionary agendas for the empowerment of women and girls, everywhere. Despite some progress, many challenges remain for women's rights.

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Trump Regime Hawks Seek Anti-Iran Coalition for War

Trump Regime Hawks Seek Anti-Iran Coalition for War
 
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)
 
Pompeo, Bolton, and their hardline underlings seek coalition partners of the willing for confronting Iran militarily. More on this below.
 
Sunday on NBC News Meet the Press, Trump made a rare candid statement, saying “(i)f it was up to (John Bolton), he’d take on the whole world at one time…”
 
At the same time, DJT demonized Iran, a nonbelligerent nation threatening no one. 
 
Its ruling authorities have no aim to develop nuclear weapons it doesn’t seek and wants eliminated everywhere, risking catastrophic consequences if used. 
 
Nuclear expert Helen Caldicott earlier said this technology “threatens life on our planet with extinction,” adding:
 
“If present trends continue, the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water we drink will soon be contaminated with enough radioactive pollutants to pose a potential health hazard far greater than any plague humanity has ever experienced.”
 
A “single failure of nuclear deterrence (could) start nuclear war.” 
 
Devastating consequences would follow, potentially killing “tens of millions of people, and caus(ing) long-term, catastrophic disruptions of the global climate and massive destruction of Earth’s protective ozone layer.” 
 
“The result would be a global nuclear famine that could kill up to one billion people.” Enough thermonuke detonations could potentially end life on earth.
 
Nuclear winter is the ultimate nightmare. No antidote exists, no coming back if things go this far. What should terrify everyone is never discussed publicly, largely ignored by Western media.
 
Humanity has a choice – eliminate these weapons entirely or they may eliminate us.
 
Trump, Pompeo, Bolton, and establishment media saying Iran must never be allowed to have nukes ignores its abhorrence of these weapons.
 
They’re also silent about nuclear armed and dangerous Israel, the only Middle East nation with these weapons, their development aided by the US — supplying the country with its first small nuclear reactor in 1955. 
 
In 1964, France built the Dimona nuclear reactor in the Negev. Israeli production of nukes began in the 1960s. South Africa collaborated with Israeli nuclear weapons development until the early 1990s.
 
David Ben-Gurion (Israel’s first prime minister) and Shimon Peres were the driving forces behind Israeli development of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. Its officials maintain ambiguity about them.
 
Its missiles, warplanes and submarines can launch nukes to reach targets far distant from its borders, a menace largely ignored in the West.
 
The Saudis may have nuclear ambitions of their own. Last March, the Trump regime approved the sale of sensitive nuclear technology to the kingdom.
 
Its interest in building nuclear power plants may go beyond wanting another energy source. Giving ruthlessly dangerous Saudi crown prince/de facto ruler Mohammad bin Salman (MBS) access to technology able to produce nuclear weapons should set off global alarm warnings.
 
Earlier he said if Iran “developed a nuclear bomb, we will follow suit as soon as possible.” 
 
Transferring highly sensitive US nuclear technology to the kingdom without required congressional review violates the 1954 Atomic Energy Act, US law regulating civilian and military uses of nuclear material.
 
Consider the irony. Israel and the Saudis are the region’s most belligerent states. Iran is the Middle East’s most prominent proponent of peace and stability, a nation to be embraced and respected, not demonized the way the US mistreated it since its 1979 revolution.
 
US actions threaten everyone everywhere, Trump the latest in a long line of US warrior presidents. “…I have so many targets you wouldn’t believe,” he roared on Meet the Press, adding:
 
“We have targets all over” ready to strike. Claiming he “knocked out the caliphate in Syria…100%” ignored US support for ISIS and other terrorist groups it created.
 
Meanwhile, the Trump regime seeks coalition partners for possible war on Iran. On Sunday, Pompeo said the following:
 
“I’m heading out today. Our first stops will be in…Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, two great allies in the challenge that Iran presents (sic), and will be talking with them about how to make sure that we are all strategically aligned and how we can go about a global coalition…not only throughout the Gulf states but in Asia and in Europe that understands this challenge and that is prepared to push back against the world’s largest state sponsor of terror” (sic).
 
Big Lies about Iran persist because establishment media repeat them endlessly.
 
The Trump regime has willing partners for war on Iran in Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE — fascist police states against peace.
 
It’ll have a hard time convincing most other world community states to support war on the Islamic Republic.
 
At the same time, US sanctions war on the country continues, new ones to be announced on Monday. Russia, China, Turkey and other nations oppose them.
 
Throughout its history, the Islamic Republic has found ways to circumvent illegal US sanctions, including by working cooperatively with private entities and friendly nations.
 
Russia is helping Iran circumvent them. On Russian NTV television, Vladimir Putin said he won’t be “steamroll(ed)” into changing Moscow’s position on Iran and Venezuela, strategic allies the Kremlin supports.
 
Separately, Iran denied US media reports about a Trump regime cyberattack disabling its military command and control computer systems, along with its missile control systems.
 
On Monday, Iranian Minister of Information and Communications Technology Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi tweeted:
 
“The media ask whether the alleged (US) cyber attacks against Iran did take place. They try hard, but they have yet to carry out a successful attack,” adding:
 
“We have been facing with cyber terrorism, like Stuxnet, and the US unilateralism, such as sanctions, for a long time.”
 
Iran’s Dejfa defense shield thwarted all cyberattacks on the nation last year against private and state-operated systems “with (a national) firewall,” he said.
 
Since Trump took office, US hostility toward Iran escalated to a fever pitch.
 
The risk of US preemptive war on the country remains ominously real. If coming it’ll be based on Big Lies and deception like all US wars of aggression.
 
The Gulf of Oman and weeks earlier false flags appaprently weren’t major enough to launch it. 
 
A significant Gulf of Tonkin type incident resulting in US casualties may get what Trump regime hawks wish for — opening the gates of hell, embroiling the region far more than earlier by attacking Iran militarily.
 
Most worrisome is whether war on the country could escalate to a global conflict, risking possible use of nuclear weapons for the first time in earnest — the ultimate doomsday scenario if things go this far.
 
VISIT MY NEW WEB SITE: stephenlendman.org (Home - Stephen Lendman). Contact at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
 
My newest book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."
 
http://bit.ly/1iNPjMF

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Trump Regime Waging Cyberwar on Iran

Trump Regime Waging Cyberwar on Iran
 

The Trump regime is waging all-out war on Iran by other means. Short of turning hot so far, the risk of going this far is ominously real.
 
Longstanding US plans call for toppling its government. Last week, things came perilously close to Trump ordering attacks on Iranian targets, virtually assuring a strong response if this happens ahead.
 
Trump saying on Saturday that he wants to be Iran’s “best friend…when they agree (not) to have a nuclear weapon” its ruling authorities never sought and don’t want belies his extreme hostility toward the country and its people by his malign actions.
 
On Thursday after Iran downed a Pentagon spy drone, provocatively in its airspace after ignoring multiple warnings to leave, the Pentagon’s Cyber Command disabled Iranian military command and control computer systems, its missile control systems also targeted.
 
Reportedly, plans for the attack were in the works for weeks. The US and Israel collaborated in the development of the Stuxnet worm used in 2010 against Iran’s Bushehr nuclear facility.
 
Operations were halted. Israel was blamed. So was Washington. Had the facility gone online infected, Iran’s entire electrical power grid could have been shut down.
 
In 2016, the US reportedly pursued a project called Nitro Zeus, involving malware covertly built into targeted systems when designed, assuring a more effective attack to disrupt and degrade them.
 
In response to the earlier Stuxnet attack, Iran hardened and disconnected its power grid from the Internet to avoid similar attacks. 
 
Days earlier, John Bolton said the Trump regime was increasing cyber operations against Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, and other US adversaries.
 
Days earlier, Tass reported that Russia thwarted US cyberattacks on the control systems of its transport, banking, and energy infrastructure.
 
An unnamed Russian security source said “(w)e see and note such attempts. However, we manage to neutralize these actions.”
 
Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia countered numerous foreign cyberattacks on its systems, adding efforts keep working on more effective ways to thwart them.
 
Iran hasn’t commented about Saturday’s US cyberattack so far. The neocon/CIA-connected Washington Post and other US media reported that Trump authorized it in response to the downing of a US spy plane — illegally operating in its airspace.
 
The White House declined to comment about the issue. Nor did the Pentagon, a spokesperson saying “(a)s a matter of policy and for operational security, we do not discuss cyberspace operations, intelligence or planning.”
 
WaPo said “Thursday’s strikes against (Iran’s) Revolutionary Guard represented the first (known) offensive show of force since Cyber Command was elevated to a full combatant command in May.”
 
It’s unclear how much damage was done to Iranian systems and how long it will take to restore things to normal operational capabilities.
 
Iran is able to retaliate by launching its own cyberattacks. According to DHS cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency head Christopher Krebs, Iranian cyber expertise can “come in and…burn the house down” — referring to shutting down computer networks.
 
The Islamic Republic is a prime US target for regime change. Self-defense is a universal right under international law. 
 
Its authorities are legally entitled to respond defensively to hostile  actions by the US, Israel, and its imperial partners.
 
Iran seeks regional peace, stability and cooperative relations with other countries. It’ll do whatever it takes to defend its security and sovereign rights against hostile actions threatening its security.
 
VISIT MY NEW WEB SITE: stephenlendman.org (Home - Stephen Lendman). Contact at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
 
My newest book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."
 
http://bit.ly/1iNPjMF
 
Photo: By Ulli1105 - Own work, CC BY-SA 2.5, http://bit.ly/31MYCpy

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Lenin’s Head Reservoir in Kyrgyzstan

There were a whole lot of Lenin’s monuments on the territory of the USSR. And still many are solid in the cities of Russia and ex-Soviet countries. They remind of the great epoch and represent the monument to enormous labor and resources spent for the construction of great objects. This Lenin’s head at Kirov reservoir in Kyrgyzstan is of such significant monuments.

The reservoir was built in the 1960-70s for irrigation of the Talas valley in the zone of the 9-point seismic activity. Local farmers got an opportunity to grow vegetables, herbs and feed crops in an arid climate.

They also were given a cool spectacle of a massive Lenin’s head as high as a five-storey building and a picturesque high relief made by a group of artists in honor of workers of Kyrgyzstan.

via  ribalych.ru

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Moms of Graduates 2019 Who Look Better Than Many Students

Graduation is a holiday not only for students, but for their parents as well. Some moms look so good, they can easily be confused with being sisters of these female graduates. We decided to publish some pics of mature, strong and beautiful mothers proud of their children!

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Russian Village: Happy In Its Simplicity

No modern technologies, no Internet and gadgets. Fresh air, tasty organic food, simple life, happy childhood in a Russian village. Does anyone miss these days too?

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