Tuesday, March 20, 2012
France: Killer May Have Videoed Attack
The murderer may be planning to post a video of his atrocity on the Internet, as reported here.
A neo-Nazi link is suspected as the manhunt for the cold-blooded killer continues.
The radical right in France includes diehard members and supporters of the ultranationalist OAS, as reported here. The terrorist organization, which was a magnet for Nazi collaborationists, cooperated closely with the postwar Nazi underground in Europe and South America.
Click here for a concise history of the French far right.
European neo-Nazis and neo-fascists constitute the Continent's hidden terrorist menace, largely overshadowed by the Islamist terrorist threat since 9/11. Some radical right groups have actually expressed support for the jihadist cause--an alliance of sorts that recalls Hitler's embrace of the Grand Mufti and postwar recruitment of Nazi war criminals by Arab intelligence agencies. Others, such as the suspect in the school attack, apparently, are violently anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish (and anti-black and anti-Asian).
Endnote: For all its "democracy promotion," the United States has basically ignored the neo-Nazi threat. (Washington may be sensitive to its perfidious past in this regard, having secretly saved and recruited legions of Nazi collaborators--and war criminals--during the Cold War and having also supported European far-right groups against Communists, socialists and trade unionists during the Cold War.) Russia, in contrast, has been quite outspoken about the rise of the radical right, as shown by this article. It should also be noted that the anti-Putin alliance, hailed (no pun intended) by so-called democracy promoters, includes avowed racists, anti-Semites and neo-fascists (as well as Stalinist Communists). But that's another story.
Iran Buying, Stockpiling US Wheat
Agricultural Products Exempt
From US, European Sanctions
Iran is buying American wheat for the first time in three years as it seeks to hedge against the growing impact of sanctions and weather-related crop shortages. Some 120,000 tonnes of hard red winter wheat grown in the Plains is on its way to the Islamic Republic, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The sale of another 60,000 tonnes has been finalized, according to trade sources, and Iran may ultimately buy some 400,000 tonnes of U.S. wheat this year.The purchases are part of a massive effort by the Islamic Republic to build up its grain stockpiles amid growing difficulties in financing imports of everything from steel to palm oil. At the same time, Iranian companies are devising elaborate workarounds to ensure find new markets for crude oil exports.Exports of U.S. wheat to Iran are legal. U.S. and European sanctions against Iran exempt agricultural products. The major U.S. commodity traders -- Bunge, Archer Daniel Midland and Cargill -- won't comment on whether they were involved in the deals, but Cargill told CNN that it "does sell agricultural commodities to Iran as food is specifically excluded from the sanctions" implemented because of Iran's nuclear program….
Monday, March 19, 2012
Russia Reportedly Sends Elite Troops to Syria
Members of an elite, Russian anti-terror unit have reportedly arrived at Russia's naval installation in Tartus, Syria. Click here for the (somewhat slanted U.S. news) story.
Foreign Confidential™ analysts believe the commandos have been sent to Syria for the following reasons: to protect Russian personnel and property; to protect and if need be to evacuate Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his inner circle--Russia is determined to prevent them from falling into rebel hands--and as a signal to the Arab world that Moscow has no intention of letting Washington, Ankara, and Riyadh remake the Middle East without regard to Russian interests in the region.
None of this was necessary. The Obama administration's Russian relations reset failed; but the President, in fairness, inherited (and foolishly continued) an anti-Russian policy that Republican and Democratic administrations alike have pursued since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War more than 20 years ago.
Instead of sitting down with Russia (and China) to arrive at real understandings and, frankly speaking, to make order in the world, the United States has done the opposite. It has inexplicably and illogically treated post-Communist Russia (and Communist-in-name-only China) as a slightly better version of Communist Russia/USSR (and Maoist/Communist China).
The urgent need for cooperation concerning Shiite Islamist Iran--a nuclear-arming menace to the entire civilized world--doesn't seem to have even been considered, neither by the present U.S. administration nor by its predecessor (which stupidly invaded Iraq, among other strategic blunders, the likes of which the world has not seen since the Johnson administration tragically decided to extend containment, a policy designed for Europe, to Southeast Asia).
From the White House to Senator John McCain (a so-called maverick who seems to still support the Vietnam War) to the increasingly pathetic field of GOP Presidential hopefuls (none of whom have ever known war, in contrast with McCain, who is, after all, a real hero in this regard) all the American people get is more of the same--unnecessary interventions that backfire and boomerang in the name of "democracy promotion" and simplistic sloganeering in place of serious, informed discussion and analysis.
French Neo-Nazis Sought in Terror Attack
Neo-Nazis are sought in today's attack at a Jewish school that killed four innocent people--a teacher, his two children and another child. Click here for the report, a horrible reminder that the racist, fascist menace is unfortunately alive and well in Europe, and may even be on the rise again as a result of the Continent's worsening economic crisis, which is rapidly becoming a political crisis.
Related: Nazis March in Latvia
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Iranian Advisors in Gaza
Escalation of Proxy War
Iran is also again threatening to cut off the strategic Strait of Hormuz to oil shipping; and the West is bracing for Iranian acts of aggression, as reported here.
Notwithstanding its covert intervention in Gaza and Sinai and encroachment in Latin America, Iran's world on the whole is shrinking--economically and politically. Banking and trade ties are being cut or tightened; and the embattled Syrian regime, which Iran has steadfastly supported, may be on its last legs. At the very least, the Syrian strife, which every day seems more like a civil war, has permanently ended Iran's dream of establishing military/missile bases in Israel's northern neighbor. (Israel's other northern neighbor, Lebanon, is still dominated by Iranian proxy Hezbollah, which is bristling with missiles capable of striking all over Israel.)
All of which means Iran is increasingly likely to lash out at its adversaries--directly and indirectly. Foreign Confidential™ analysts believe Iran could be preparing to take action in Hormuz around the middle of April, in tandem with the planned long-range missile launch by Iran's proliferation partner, North Korea, which Iran is now believed to be heavily subsidizing.
Asymmetric threats and multiple crises, missiles and mines, and Mumbai-style swarming attacks … Iran intends to fight the coming war, which appeasement has made inevitable, on its terms.
Sierra Leone Poised for Oil Production
Sierra Leone's President Ernest Bai Koroma says his country is about to become an oil producing nation, as reported here.
Koroma is committed to striking a balance between natural resource development--Sierra Leone's potential in this regard is enormous--and environmental protection.
Sierra Leone's recovery from a long and particularly horrendous civil war is one of the planet's great peacemaking and peace-preserving success stories. The country is so stable, and the Sierra Leone Army has become so adept at peacekeeping, that it is now able to participate in peacekeeping missions in other countries. Click here to read about the forthcoming deployment of the Sierra Leone contingent of the African Union (AU) mission in Somalia, where Al Qaeda-affiliated, Islamist Al-Shabaab terrorists have been battling pro-government forces who have the support of AU-backed foreign forces.
Koroma is tomorrow's scheduled keynote speaker at the Times CEO Summit Africa conference. Ahmed M. Kamara reports:
Sierra Leone is slowly being transformed into an economic-hub in sub-saharan Africa with rapid developments in the areas of agriculture, mining and tourism. Foreign investors have been engaged in unprecedented ways to help change the economic fortune of this once war-torn state in West Africa. The recent investment by world-class companies like African Minerals has seen the country become one of the largest iron ore producers in the world. The country’s entire road network is facing a complete overhaul with new feeder roads being built to enhance trade locally and with neighbouring countries.
Afghanistan Should Have Been a 10-Day War
Republican Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney says President Obama has failed in Afghanistan.
Maybe so.
But his predecessor failed, too--miserably.
Fact is, the 10-years-old (and counting) war should have been a 10-day war. After 9/11, the United States should have formally declared war on Afghanistan and Al Qaeda--it would have been the first such declaration since World War II--and subjected the enemy to the most punishing aerial campaign since that conflict. The U.S. should have used all necessary means to utterly destroy the clerical fascist foe--and set an example for generations to come of the fate that befalls those who dare to attack the U.S. homeland.
But Bush blundered. He did too little too late, relying on elite forces and, incredibly, on notoriously unreliable Afghan warlords to dislodge, rather than destroy, the enemy, allowing Taliban leader Mullah Omar and Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden and their most senior commanders to flee into neighboring (nuclear-armed) Pakistan.
Bush then attacked Iraq instead of Iran.
But that's another story.
N. Korea Vows to Launch Rocket
North Korea is defiantly vowing to launch a long-range ballistic missile, as reported here.
Foreign Confidential™ believes Pyongyang's proliferation partner, Iran, is encouraging--and financially supporting--the illegal launch in order to divert attention from Iran's nuclear program.
Moreover, in the event of an American or Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear sites, there is a real possibility that North Korea will seize the opportunity to attack South Korea--and U.S. troops stationed there.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Like Lips and Teeth? Maybe Not So Much
China put rare public pressure on ally North Korea regarding its planned ballistic missile launch. Click here for the story.
On Weather and Climate
Warming Here, Cooling There ...
Paul Yeager writes:Reading any article based on statistics is a lesson in interpretation, and the latest global temperature statistics provide an opportunity for some differing opinions on the topic of the climate: While the United States had an exceptionally warm winter (fourth warmest) and global temperatures remained above average in February, global land areas were the coolest since 1994.In other words, just as cold winter in the U.S. during the previous two years did not mean that it was cold globally, a warm U.S. winter this year didn't mean that it was warm globally. Determinations about global temperature trends need to be made based on global data, not the data in one part of the world.The warmth in the U.S. in the winter (December through February) was exceptional, and it's a trend that has continued in earnest in March. However, the extreme cold affecting large portions of Europe from late January into February tempered the overall statistics, especially those for land surface temperatures.
Down by the Glenside
Glory O, Glory O, to the Bold Fenian Men
Russia Urges Syria to Support Annan
Russia's foreign minister to Assad: Support Kofi Annan's UN-Arab League peacemeaking efforts "without delay." Read the news here.
Chilling, Nazi-Like Remarks from Iran's FM
Clerical Fascist Foreign Minister Says Israel
Can't Survive 'Week of Real War,' Describes
Israel as Arm of America, Iran's Real Enemy
When Jews and Muslims Fought a Common Foe
Free Men: French Film Recalls Time When Some
Muslims and Jews Fought Together for Freedom
Click here to read George Robinson's review of Free Men; below, to view the trailer.
Friday, March 16, 2012
Russia Condemns Nazi SS March in Latvia
Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Friday condemned the controversial commemoration of Latvian troops who fought on the side of Nazi Germany during World War II, which took place earlier on Friday in the Latvian capital Riga.
“Odious demonstrations by soldiers on whose conscience are numerous crimes were held against the backdrop of a mass propaganda campaign organized by the Latvian authorities to whitewash these so-called ‘fighters for Latvia’s freedom,’” the ministry said in a statement.
“A flagrant attempt to revise the truth about Nazi atrocities, to review the rulings of the Nuremberg Tribunal that condemned SS members cannot but cause indignation,” it said.
The ministry called on the international community to react to the attempts of the Latvian authorities to “rewrite history.”
Hundreds of Waffen SS veterans and their supporters held a march in the Latvian capital Riga on Friday to mark Legionnaires’ Day, which commemorates Latvians who fought for the Germans during World War II.
Latvian President Defends Event
Anti-fascist organizations all over the world decry the controversial event; but the annual holiday has its defenders, including Latvian President Andris Berzins, who has argued it is foolish to assume that Waffen SS veterans were criminals and that they deserve the public's respect.
A group of people, some dressed as Nazi concentration camp prisoners, gathered at Freedom Monument to protest the march.
Riga’s Duma had voted to ban the event, which honors veterans of the SS Latvian Legion but a court overturned the ban.
The Latvian Legion, formed by the Nazis in 1943, comprised two Waffen SS divisions.
UPDATE: Click here to read the … sympathetic … practically pro-Nazi … Reuters report on the perfidious parade. Where is the outrage? Why does Latvia honor Nazi murderers? Read more here.
From Bitburg to Riga
Fascism has been rearing its ugly head in Latvia for several years. In July 2010, for example, a Latvian court approved a Riga March celebrating Hitler’s 1941 Invasion. Police banned the event; but it went ahead with a wreath-laying at Riga’s Liberty Monument to celebrate the Nazi army’s arrival and warm welcome.
US: N. Korea Missile Launch is Deal Breaker
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged North Korea to reconsider its plan to launch a satellite in April, while the United States says such a launch could affect plans to deliver food aid to the impoverished nation.
North Korea announced Friday that it will use a long range missile to launch the satellite, just weeks after agreeing with Washington to suspend long-range missile tests in return for 240,000 metric tons of emergency food supplies.
The U.S., Russia, South Korea, and Japan all condemned the planned launch, saying it violates a United Nations ban on all North Korean launches using ballistic missile technology.
The Reuters news agency quotes a statement from Ban's office expressing “serious concern” about North Korea's launch plans.
State Department Position
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Pyongyang's announcement of the launch would make implementation of the aid deal “very difficult” because it calls into question whether North Korea's word can be trusted. She said the U.S. would have to rely on North Korean officials to make sure the food is delivered to those in need.
“We make it a practice not to link humanitarian aid with any other policy issues, particularly in the case of the DPRK, and we do want to assist the North Korean people, particularly those who the regime has chosen to neglect," Nuland said.
She added that "a launch of this kind would abrogate our agreement, would call into question the credibility of all the commitments that the DPRK has made to us, is making in general, including the commitments that we've had with regard to the nutritional assistance, which go to the questions of monitoring and ensuring that any food that we would provide would go to the needy folks and not to the regime elites.”
Nuland also said U.S. special advisor Glyn Davies has been in touch with each of the other members of the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program and urged them all to use their influence with Pyongyang to convince the government to cancel the launch.
In a statement carried by official North Korean media, the North's Korean Committee for Space Technology said a long-range Unha-3 rocket would launch a domestic-built polar-orbiting earth observation satellite. The launch is being promoted as a move to honor the 100th birthday of founding leader Kim Il Sung, which falls on April 15.
Three Years After Similar Launch
The blast-off would come three years after a similar launch in April 2009 drew widespread condemnation as a cover for testing North Korea's long-range missile technology.
Diplomats from the United States, South Korea, China, Russia and Japan are seeking to restart negotiations with Pyongyang aimed at ending the North's controversial nuclear program. Six-party talks broke off more than two years ago and remain stalled.
In a statement earlier Friday, the State Department called the rocket launch announcement “highly provocative” and “a direct violation of (North Korea's) international obligations.” It said the U.S. is consulting closely with its international partners” on what steps to take in response.
South Korea has said the launch would be a grave provocation threatening peace and security across Northeast Asia.
Russia said Friday that the announcement provokes “serious concern.”
A Japanese government spokesman told VOA that Tokyo is “responding by closely collaborating with other concerned governments” including the U.S. and South Korea.
-VOA
Related: N. Korea Plans Missile Launch
Iran Backing March on Jerusalem
EARLY WARNING….
The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center reports on plans for coordinated marches on Israel's borders at the end of this month:
1. A number of simultaneous marches to Israel's borders from the various Arab countries are planned for March 30, 2012, referring to themselves as part of the Global March to Jerusalem (GMJ). The marches are expected to take place in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip. The anti-Israeli boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign is also planning a so-called "global activity day," combining propaganda events in various places around the world with Land Day, marked by Israeli Arabs. The organizers of the events set up committees and umbrella networks in the various countries to deal with logistic deployment and propaganda.2. Evidence in our possession indicates that Iran openly and with its own propaganda supports the March 30 events and is also involved in organizational preparations for the marches. To that end it employs proxies, including organizations and individuals, affiliated with Iran.3. Iranian support for the marches and its involvement in their preparations are additional proof of the event's extremist character. That is also manifested by the involvement of Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, extremist organizations in Asia and the terrorist organizations (such as Hezbollah and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad) in the preparations. In our assessment the radical Islamic nature of the marches casts a shadow over the participation of various Western human rights organizations and NGOs, and may even make them reconsider. In addition, the presence of extremist Middle Eastern elements in the planned events, especially in the Lebanese sector, heightens the potential for violence and provocation, despite the fact that the march organizers have repeatedly stated that they will be non-violent.4. To summarize, there is evidence that Iran, both directly and through its proxies, supports the marches and possibly additional propaganda events planned for March 30. In our assessment, Iran has a number of objectives: to strengthen its regional influence by exploiting the sensitivity of the Arab-Muslim world to the issue of Jerusalem, to draw international attention away from itself, and to broaden and deepen the delegitimization campaign being waged against Israel by channeling it to Iran's own political needs.
Israel Issues Ultimatum on Gaza Rocket Fire
Israel has reportedly told Hamas and Egypt to put an end to the rocket attacks by Saturday night, or else the IDF will do what it must. Click here for the story, including an up-to-date report on Iranian intrigue and involvement.
N. Korea Plans to Launch Long-Range Rocket
North Korea announced that it intends to launch a rocket into space carrying a satellite between April 12 and April 16. The announcement comes just weeks after the North agreed to suspend long-range missile tests. Click here for the story.
Even if it is for peaceful/prestige purposes, which is most unlikely, the launch will be closely observed and has most likely been paid for in whole or in part by North Korea's together-"in-one-trench" partner in proliferation, Iran. On March 5, Foreign Confidential™ noted:
The period from April 15, when North Korea will mark the centennial birthday of the country's founder and "Eternal President," Kim Il Sung, to July 27, the day the Korean War armistice was signed in 1953--called a "Commemorative Day of War Victory" in the North--is particularly dangerous in light of a possible U.S. or Israeli conflict with Iran this spring.
Weather permitting, Pyongyang will make every effort possible to fire the missile on April 15.
Click here to read more about North Korea's nuclear and missile tests and Iran.
UPDATE: The launch is to take place at a new facility in North Pyongan province. VOA News published satellite photographs, 13 months ago, showing the progress of construction at the all-weather Tongchang-ri base
North Korea's broadcast announcement emphasized the flight path will be towards the southwest.
The North Korean announcer said the flight path has been safely set and will avoid neighboring states, thus there is no possibility of debris falling on them--an indirect reference to South Korea and Japan.
A statement from South Korea's Foreign Ministry says any attempt by the North to place its own satellite into orbit would clearly violate U.N. Security Council Resolution 1874 banning all launches using ballistic-missile technology. It adds this would be a "grave provocation" for regional peace and security.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Report Ties Israel to New Iran Sanctions
The United States and Europe may have imposed new sanctions on Iran, and China may have reduced oil imports from the nuclear-arming nation, in response to Israeli pressure, as reported here.
Assuming that's true, a key question is this: at some point in the sanctions/strangling process, will Iran make good on its threats to attack first--i.e. to strike the U.S. and Israel preemptively? Most important, is Iran really capable of "burning Tel Aviv" and attacking "U.S. interests" globally--including the U.S. homeland itself?
Afghanistan Looking Like Iraq at its Worst
A never-ending nightmare--read about it here--the war that should have been won in a matter of days or weeks after the mega-terrorist attacks of 9/11. For reasons still not explained and still not understood, Bush blew it. Instead of destroying the Taliban and Al Qaeda, he dislodged them, allowed their most senior leaders and top henchmen to escape into Pakistan.
Ten-and-a-half years later, the United States finds itself in a miserable mess that recalls the Iraq and Vietnam quagmires, trapped, or so it seems, into supporting a corrupt, cowardly regime, desperately seeking so-called victory with honor.
Egyptian Parliament Turns Viciously Anti-Israel
Overlooked (deliberately?) by the mainstream media: Egypt's post-Mubarak parliament demands the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador. More about this over here.
Egypt is a disaster bordering on catastrophe. The Obama administration-assisted overthrow of the pro-Western government of Hosni Mubarak echoes the Carter administration-aided ouster of Iran's modernizing monarch, Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. In the name of democracy promotion, the United States has stupidly and cynically helped antidemocratic, anti-American, anti-Western elements to take power in important countries. Incredible.
Santorum Sparks Furor in Puerto Rico
There he goes again….
Republican Presidential hopeful Rick Santorum is defending his offensive demand that Puerto Rico adopt English as an official language as a condition of statehood--a statement at odds with the U.S. Constitution. Click here for the news.
Santorum, who has referred to himself as a "Jesus candidate," recently revealed a deeply disturbing misunderstanding of the First Amendment to the Constitution. Read about that over here.
'Time to End Jackson-Vanik'
This reporter reveres the memory of Henry M. ("Scoop") Jackson as an estimable--possibly, even, a saintly--defender of democracy and the U.S. national interest. But the time to do away with the law that bears the late Senator's name is long overdue, as a column by Forbes contributor Mark Adomanis makes clear. He writes:
In what is surely a sign that the apocalypse is nigh I find myself fully in agreement with the Obama Administration’s man in Moscow, Michael McFaul about the need to immediately repeal the Jackon-Vanik amendment without preconditions or the passage of additional “human rights” legislation. Although I’ve had many agreements with McFaul over the years, and still undoubtedly have basic differences over the United States’ role in promoting democracy, it’s extremely discouraging to see him criticized and attacked for promoting an eminently reasonable and rational policy.
Another excerpt:
Jackson-Vanik is a self evidently absurd law: if we’re going to keep it on the books we might as well have sanctions against Italy for its cruel occupation of Abyssinia or Japan for its misbehavior in Manchukuo. It is worth re-emphasizing, again, that Jackson-Vanick is designed to remedy a malady that no longer exists. The Soviet Union’s strict control over emigration is on history’s ash heap and Russian citizens are today perfectly free to emigrate if they so desire.
Click here to read the entire essay. Adomanis is an exceptionally interesting and entertaining columnist. His pieces are informative and thought-provoking--essential, enjoyable reading from Forbes.
Click here to read more about the Jackson-Vanik issue. That it should even be an issue--more than 20 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War--speaks volumes.
French Spies Plan Work Stoppage
Spies on strike--what's next?
The main union representing French domestic intelligence officers has called on its members to stage a protest. Click here for the story.
Swedish Defense Ministry Official Used Personal Hotmail Account to Send Secret Information About Controversial Saudi Arms Deal
A high-ranking official at Sweden's defence ministry used her Hotmail account to report on highly confidential negotiations with Saudi Arabia concerning a controversial arms deal, according to a report in the daily Dagens Nyheter (DN).
The four-page long email, which details a secret conversation with a Saudi general, was sent in 2008 from assistant under-secretary Cecilia Looström at the Ministry of Defence, according to the paper. The subject: Sweden's involvement in building a secret Saudi arms factory.
The email recipients reportedly were a Swedish defense ministry colleague; a high ranking official at Sweden's foreign ministry; the director general of the Swedish Agency for Non-proliferation and Export Controls; and a senior official at the Swedish Defence Research Agency.
Looström used her personal email address, which, despite having a Swedish top-level Internet domain, ends up in a Microsoft email server in the United States, DN reported.
The Swedish Defense Research Agency is a member of Sweden's intelligence community. It is unclear if the Agency official who received the email took any action regarding what should have been an obvious security breach, or if the recipient noticed the use of a private account.
The email should also have come to the attention of the Swedish National Defense Radio Establishment, which provides IT security support services to the Swedish Security Service and other government agencies.
Iran Behind Gaza-Based Rocket Attacks
Iranian proxies in Gaza are attacking Israel with rockets in order to divert attention from Iran's menacing nuclear program, raise oil prices--and challenge Hamas, which has more or less outlived its usefulness to Iran, according to one expert. Click here to read his analysis; and here, to read how Iran is arming rebels in Yemen and fighting a "shadow war" in Syria to keep its ally, President Bashar al-Assad, in power.
Syria is arguably a power preserving operation on Iran's part; but proxy attacks on Israel and arms smuggling into Yemen belie attempts to increase Iranian power across the Middle East and should be seen in the context of repeated threats to eradicate Israel and drive the United States from the region. In other words, Iran's foreign policy is imperialist--it seeks to overthrow the status quo, to dominate and destroy. Iran cannot be appeased, and probably can no longer be contained. If it acquires atomic arms, containment will surely be impossible--President Obama is right about that. (The Soviet Union was hard enough to contain.)
An imperialist, nuclear-armed theocracy? The mere thought of that is terrifying.
Copyright © 2012 Foreign Confidential™
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Small Sierra Leone Hospital Tackling Big Health Care Challenges
"The hospital is expanding its services to achieve a measurable decrease
in the infant and maternal mortality rates in Sierra Leone by providing
holistic, community focused care, regardless of ability to pay."
Mercy Hospital in Bo, Sierra Leone's second largest city, is addressing three main health challenges that exist globally, even in the United States: can't get to a doctor, can't afford to get treated, not enough doctors.
People in developing countries receive significantly less primary health care than in developed countries. According to the 2010 WHO Health Statistics the percentage of births attended by skilled health personnel is 92% in the Americas and only 47% in Africa. Mother's visited at least once during pregnancy in the Americas is 94% and in Africa 73%. Africa lags behind in its ability to deliver even the basics.
There is a significant shortage of specialized health resources and infrastructure in Africa that will take years to address. There are 23 physicians for every 10,000 people in the Americas, compared to 2 physicians for every 10,000 people in Africa, according to WHO Health Statistics for 2010.
One of the UN Millennium Development Goals is to reduce the maternal mortality rate three quarters by 2015. Throughout sub-Saharan Africa, a woman's maternal mortality risk is 1 in 30, compared to 1 in 5,600 in developed regions. Every year more than 1 million children are left motherless in the world.
In Sierra Leone, which is still recovering from a long civil war, there are only about 200 doctors for a population of 5.7 million. Where conflict once ruled, there is peace and stability, and the government is making significant progress in socioeconomic development. In spite of the advances, however, 1 in 21 women will not survive child birth, one of the highest rates in the world.
Enter Mercy Hospital--a 26 bed primary care hospital that provides vital, life saving care to over 10,000 patients each year--and the Sierra Leonean United Methodist Church (UMC) health network. Together, Mercy and UMC are looking for opportunities to improve impact and efficiency to reduce maternal and child mortality.
As one local health care expert put it, "It's not about just bringing more equipment, better microscopes and more doctors to Bo--it's about empowering those whom we have to be more efficient and effective in their work.
"Ultimately, it’s about saving lives."
Holistic, Community-Focused Care
The hospital's vision is to achieve a measurable decrease in the infant and maternal mortality rate in Sierra Leone by providing holistic, community-focused care regardless of ability to pay. To accomplish this, Mercy will be transformed into a world-class center of medical excellence supported by intensive community outreach, health worker training and research in maternal and child health.
The transformation--a model for Africa--will occur in several stages, with the first stage focusing on Community Based Primary Health Care. Involving community partners enables a greater impact on the infant and maternal mortality rates. In this regard, Mercy is currently providing community educational programs for HIV/AIDS, malaria, prenatal care, and nutrition, bringing hospital services out into the villages to thousands of people every year.
In the first phase, Community Health Volunteers from outlying villages will be trained. Community Health Volunteers are respected, local villagers that can provide care and referrals within their village to those unable to go to Mercy Hospital, acting as a liaison between Mercy and the village. Community Health Volunteer training involves education around nutrition, dietary supplements, breastfeeding, hand washing, the importance of using clean water, how malaria is contracted, how bed nets are used, how HIV is spread from person to person, and many other basic health topics.
"The Community Health Volunteer is the first line of defense in the fight against infant and maternal mortality," a Mercy spokesperson says.
A program of Helping Children Worldwide, Mercy's record is impressive. The hospital has decreased the prevalence of malaria in the community and is currently working to prevent mother to child transmission of HIV and AIDS.
Mercy is also expanding its services to achieve a measurable decrease in the infant and maternal mortality rates in Sierra Leone by providing holistic, community focused care, regardless of a patient's ability to pay.
China's Rare Earth Export Dispute
US, EU, Japan Charge China
With Unfair Trade Practices
Read the news here; click below for the video report.
Sarkozy Calls Assad 'Murderer'
The French president has called Syria's embattled leader a "murderer" who should face the International Criminal Court. Click here for the news.
Sarkozy says Russia and China must "unblock" their UN Security Council veto and allow "humanitarian corridors" to be created in Syria under UN auspices--code for Western intervention on the side of the armed rebels. But his statements will only make Moscow and Beijing more intransigent, according to Foreign Confidential™ analysts. Russia is bent on preventing another Libyan-style nightmare, which would mean the loss of Russia's naval facility at Tartus, the loss of about $1 billion a year in Russian arms sales to Syria (following the loss of $4 billion in annual arms sales to Libya), and, maybe most important, the installation of a Sunni Islamist, or Islamist-leaning regime in Syria, which could eventually encourage and support Islamist/separatist uprisings in Russia itself. China has similar concerns with regard to its restive areas, suspecting, rightly or wrongly, that the United States secretly seeks China's breakup.
What is urgently needed, given the potential for horrific regional conflict, is statesmanship--as opposed to political posturing and maneuvering--on the part of all concerned parties. Syria should not and does not have to follow Libya's example. Unfortunately, however, the U.S. seems determined to remake the so-called Greater Middle East in the name of democracy promotion without regard to the interests of a great power--Russia--with which relations, more than 20 years after the end of the Cold War, should be at an all-time high instead of at an alarming and apparently steadily declining low point.
